Our modern civilization has created a triple challenge that is threatening the future of humanity and the health of the Earth's life-support system, on which the welfare of all human and non-human life depends. Here at MARI, we aim to provide transformational education with the goal to foster holistic systems thinking, literacy in information, risk, and sustainability as well as carry out research related to the triple challenge. We want to bring into the public discussion use-ready knowledge on adaptation to modern global change to the public.
We welcome new members who want to collaborate with us on education, research and outreach.
[Nov. 04, 2025] AI Perception Survey: A short survey on perceptions of Artificial Intelligence is open for students and faculty. Go to the Survey or use the QR code to take the survey. Results will be published in a Story here in the AI VCC.
[Aug. 24, 2025] National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR): The National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) will be held in Richmond April 13-15, 2026. If you are an undergraduate students conducting research, then you might consider presenting your work at the NCUR. Abstracts open Sep. 9 to Dec. 5, 2025. See https://ncur.secure-platform.com/2026/ for more details.
[Apr. 19, 2025] A Call to Action for Humanity: The new book by Rutger Bregman is a “Call to Action for Humanity” (Trevor Noah). Read the extract in the Guardian.
[Mar. 21, 2025] Impact Learning Community in Sustainability Leadership in Fall 2025:
Platform News
[Feb. 02, 2026] A World of Inequality: "The data presented here are striking. The richest 10% of the global population own close to three-quarters of all wealth, while the poorest half hold barely 2%. Fewer than 60,000 multi-millionaires now control three times more wealth than half of humanity combined." From the World Inequality Report 2026. In this world of growing inequality, the global population appears to be dominate and exploited by the few super wealthy.
[Jan. 28, 2026] ThirdActTWVCC VCC opened: The "Third Act Tidewater VCC" has been initialized and is open now.
[Jan. 28, 2026] It may not be too late to fix the Web: The article titled “ ‘It’s not too late to fix it’: internet inventor Tim Berners-Lee says he is in a ‘battle for the soul of the web’” by Daisy Dumas published in The Guardian states that the founder of the world wide web says the commercialisation of the Web has been ‘optimised for nastiness’. But Breners-Lee believes that collaboration and compassion can prevail. This is what Place4Us is all about.
[Jan. 09, 2026] Ocean Heat Content Sets Another Record in 2025: The analysis published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences reveals that global ocean warming continued unabated in 2025 in response to increased greenhouse gas concentrations and recent reductions in sulfate aerosols. In the article by Damian Carrington published in The Guardian, John Abraham, a member of the analysis team, is quoted: “Global warming is ocean warming. If you want to know how much the Earth has warmed or how fast we will warm into the future, the answer is in the oceans.”
