Today, our planet is going through a crisis. Specifically, we and our fellow creatures on Earth are struggling. This is due to man-made global warming. These days, we are experiencing climate change impacts caused by global warming. Various disasters, such as heat waves, cold waves, droughts, super typhoons, and forest fires are occurring all over the world.

At this rate, climate change impacts could directly cause human extinction. Many people have warned of a crisis, and different measures are being taken to prevent climate change. One of the measures is changing our lifestyles to produce as little or no carbon emissions as possible. Everyone has to do their part to save the planet. Math, the most abstract discipline, is believed to contribute to such effort.

How can math help stop climate change? Math allows us to accurately predict the rate and pattern of climate change. Knowing how, and how quickly, the climate will change in the future, we can plan and prepare for a crisis.

An example of something going through extreme changes due to global warming is glaciers. We feel a sense of crisis from the fact that glaciers in polar regions or high mountains are melting rapidly. When glaciers melt, sea levels rise.

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Lowlands near the sea are submerged and become uninhabitable. Furthermore, as glaciers melt, the amount of sunlight reflected back to space decreases. As glaciers shrink, global warming will happen more quickly.

If we can predict in advance how much the sea level will rise in a few years, we can plan when to evacuate people living in affected areas. Even if we cannot stop sea level rise, we can minimize the damage as much as possible. When planning a new city, you can anticipate during the design stage how long it will stay safe.

It is not easy to predict the future with math, because it requires a large number of variables in the calculation. The same goes for the rate at which glaciers melt. There are mountains of variables that need to be considered, such as air and water temperatures, the intensity of sunlight, and the area of the glaciers receiving direct sunlight. Let us look at an example to get a sense of how complicated the calculation will be. There are lots of very small spaces inside sea glaciers. Seawater flows in and out of such spaces, which affects the rate at which glaciers melt.

It is also difficult to predict sea level rises. It is not just about an increase in the amount of seawater. The Earth is not perfectly round, and the gravity varies slightly depending on where you are. When glaciers melt, the land beneath them rises and the topography changes. For this reason, the increase of sea level can vary from region to region. It requires complicated mathematical calculations to predict and prepare for each case of sea level rises.

We call mathematicians’ efforts to prevent such a global crisis “the Mathematics of Planet Earth.” Their efforts began in 2009. At the time, mathematics research institutes in North America had been looking for a joint research topic for a long time and decided on “Climate Change and Sustainability.” The initiative was publicized at the 2010 International Congress of Mathematicians and then sponsored by UNESCO in 2012.

There are four main research topics in the Mathematics of Planet Earth. The first topic is to predict changes in the Earth’s system, which include the atmosphere and oceans. The second topic is the Earth's life systems, including population changes, epidemics, and ecosystems. The third is man-made systems, such as cities, energy and food. The last one is the Earth, which is facing crises such as climate change.

As seen in the above-mentioned examples, such as glaciers and sea level rise, each and every case requires very complicated calculations. Mathematics plays a crucial role in making these predictions. Of course, no matter how hard we try to predict the future, there will be no point if we just look away and do nothing. We must all work together to tackle climate change and to prevent the bad future predicted with math from becoming a reality.