A Forum for Identifying Solutions to Grand Challenges in Sustainability

Wicked problems demand new approaches.

A wicked problem — one that is difficult to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize — is the very definition of a sustainability challenge. Feeding a planet of 11 billion people, decarbonizing our energy systems, managing agriculture’s nitrogen problem, securing access to clean water — these challenges are not owned by individual stakeholders, nor can they be solved alone. They have social, political, legal, economic, and technical dimensions.

Our institute’s Critical Conversations facilitate inclusive discourse leading to solutions.

Grand challenges in sustainability have many facets, and their solutions will depend on engagement and dialogue among stakeholders who rarely find themselves at the same table. The ideas and strategies stemming from such Critical Conversations among engineers, social and physical scientists, politicians, lawyers, industry leaders, and nongovernmental organizations can move us toward solutions. A Critical Conversation is an intellectual forum for discovering solutions. It will follow Chatham House rules to be a “safe space” for those with very different points of view to explore commonalities.

Critical Conversations are supported by a generous gift from the Alvin H. Baum Family Fund, iSEE’s founding benefactor, administered by Joel Friedman and Loretta Namovic.