Raging wildfires, extreme flooding, and heat waves in the winter, there's no denying

that climate change is here.

But what can we do about it?

How do we prepare for what's coming, ease the impacts, and build a resilient society?

But tell, a nonprofit organization focused on applied science and technology is tackling

this question at its Innovations and Climate Resilience Conference this March.

The second annual event brings together the top experts on climate change to share breakthroughs

and action plans.

Scientific American custom media recently sat down with Justin Sanchez, a technical fellow

at Patel, and lead organizer of the conference to learn more about the conference and why climate

resilience is a top priority.

Justin Sanchez has spent his life creating innovative technology, first for the Defense

Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

A lot of the technologies that we love today came out of DARPA, things like the Internet

and GPS and touch screens that are on your phone.

Those were fundamental technologies.

And now for Patel.

It means I get to think about chemistry, biology, physics, and material science.

Use all of those approaches in really different ways to develop new technologies and approaches

to solve some of the world's most challenging problems.

Working on those problems is literally Patel's mission.

It was founded as a charitable trust nearly 100 years ago, with the goal of using science

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