LOS ANGELES _ Billionaire California agriculture titans Stewart and Lynda Resnick have donated $750 million to Cal Tech for climate change research in what officials say is the second-largest gift to a U.S. academic institution.
The gift, announced Thursday, comes amid growing alarm over climate change and Trump administration policies that many say are making the problem worse.
Cal Tech said the donation would be used to study solar science, climate science, energy, biofuels, decomposable plastics, water and environmental resources, and ecology and biosphere engineering. The school plans to build a "sustainability research institute" named for the family. It is the largest donation the institution has received.
"The Resnick Sustainability Institute will now be able to mount efforts at scale, letting researchers across campus follow their imaginations and translate fundamental discovery into technologies that dramatically advance solutions to society's most pressing problems," Cal Tech said in a statement.
The gift comes after a week of protests across the globe to raise awareness about climate change as well as a United Nations climate summit in New York.
The 2015 Paris agreement aims to keep global warming "well below" 2 degrees Celsius compared with preindustrial levels _ and within 1.5 degrees if possible _ in order to avert the most devastating effects of climate change.
But the national targets agreed to in Paris fall significantly short of that goal. Human activity already has warmed the planet by about 1 degree Celsius, and fulfilling only the Paris commitments is likely to result in a temperature increase of 3 degrees _ far beyond what scientists consider tolerable to humanity.
Meanwhile, the effects of global warming are hitting harder and sooner than expected. People are increasingly experiencing the consequences, including more intense hurricanes and wildfires, more extreme heat waves, rising sea levels and diminishing air quality.
The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned of devastating consequences without "far-reaching and unprecedented changes" to slash emissions in little more than a decade. Avoiding calamity will require drastic, large-scale action to cut emissions 45% by 2030.
The Resnicks are among Los Angeles' wealthiest individuals and socialites. They are L.A. arts patrons and owners of POM Wonderful and other agricultural brands. Their Wonderful Co. markets mandarin oranges under the Halo brand, pistachios and almonds under the Wonderful brand and pomegranate juice POM Wonderful. They control Fiji Water, Justin Vineyards and the florist delivery service Teleflora, among other enterprises.
Their rise has not been without controversy. They were slammed during the California drought over their companies' heavy use of water, and their business practices have come under scrutiny at times.
In a news release, the family said they hoped their donation would make a difference.
"In order to comprehensively manage the climate crisis, we need breakthrough innovations, the kind that will only be possible through significant investment in university research," Stewart Resnick said. "Science and bold creativity must unite to address the most pressing challenges facing energy, water and sustainability."
Cal Tech said it is grateful for the gift, which was first reported in The New York Times.
"This research will no doubt change the world," noted Dr. M. Sanjayan, chief executive officer of Conservation International. "It may even save the world. It's that profound."
