Extreme events become disasters at tipping points that push human infrastructure beyond its limits. The damage, disruptions and casualties resulting from recent climate-related events of extreme heat, wildfires, flooding and drought highlight how unprepared we are to cope with a rapidly changing environment. By considering important precursory indicators trending toward tipping points, however, we could vastly reduce the risk of disaster.

In this webinar on Multi-Sector Dynamics (MSD), we share our latest efforts to understand how the convergence of human and natural systems, and their interactions, both influence and are influenced by multi-scale socioeconomics. Our research at the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change explores the scope, specificity, model forms, details and data requirements for meaningful understanding of dynamics spanning scales. 

To that end, we have developed a multi-system, multi-sector modeling framework that includes land use, water supply and use, energy resources, multi-scale socioeconomics and Earth systems. We use this framework to investigate potential tipping points and transition states for regional to sub-regional scales, the dynamics and potential new states that may emerge, and the driving forces contributing most significantly at the appropriate scales.