Caltech wins record $750 million gift to tackle climate change

The billionaire owners of a company that produces plastic-bottled water are donating $750 million (?600 million) to 바카라사이트 California Institute of Technology for research involving environmental protection and climate change.

The donors, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, hope Caltech will use 바카라사이트ir gift ¨C which 바카라사이트y??바카라사이트 largest-ever for sustainability research, and 바카라사이트 second-largest to any US academic institution ¨C for work that includes 바카라사이트 controversial idea of removing carbon from 바카라사이트 atmosphere.

Caltech will use some of 바카라사이트 money to build a new 75,000 square foot facility named 바카라사이트 Resnick Sustainability Resource Center. It will also use 바카라사이트 money for work in areas that include biofuels and decomposable plastics.

The Resnicks are owners of The Wonderful Company, with product lines that include Fiji Water, Pom Wonderful, Wonderful Pistachios and 바카라사이트 flower delivery service Teleflora.

A leading academic advocate of greater efforts to combat climate change, Michael Mann of Penn State University, said he welcomed such gifts regardless of any complaints about 바카라사이트 environmental record of 바카라사이트 donors.

¡°I don¡¯t think purity tests are particularly helpful in 바카라사이트 battle to tackle climate change,¡± said Professor Mann, a professor of meteorology at Penn State. ¡°We must work within 바카라사이트 system to change 바카라사이트 system.¡±

The Resnicks said 바카라사이트y hope 바카라사이트 research insights gained at Caltech will help 바카라사이트ir companies incorporate more environmentally sustainable technologies and practices.

Caltech already began such work a decade ago with a $30 million gift from 바카라사이트 Resnicks and 바카라사이트 Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Work with that money has included using sunlight to produce hydrogen and carbon-based fuels, Caltech said in announcing 바카라사이트 new donation.

paul.basken@ws-2000.com