Transition is the Key to Advancing Clean Energy for a Sustainable Global Economy
Sounding the alarm that our world is in trouble, 1,575 of our most distinguished scientists, including more than half of every living scientist awarded the Nobel Prize, have issued a World Scientists Warning to Humanity. “A great change in our stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated.” To put it plainly, humanity is unsustainable.
Now as the AREDAY Summit celebrates its 10th anniversary August 15-18, 2013 in Aspen, CO. with an unparalleled gathering of thought leaders, NGOS, CEOs and environmental activists, a new sense of urgency is felt. Everyone knows the world needs more than a day. The time calls for a new determination and a new leadership to make re-scripting the world’s unsustainable course the central event of our era. For more information on the Summit go to- www.AREDAY.net
The big question is how to redirect the current financial economy from the stranded carbon assets that are so attractive to business, over to renewable sources, in the timely manner needed to address climate change and environmental degradation. The economic opportunity is extraordinary for the business pioneers who are willing to lead the way. Transition is the watch word of this time.
The common perception that renewable energy and climate change solutions are unaffordable and that vested interests in the status quo will keep it away, may be in for a rude awakening. The coming innovations will not be stopped. Technologies that could bring new promise to the fields of energy, heating, cooling, water, fuels, transportation, construction, waste management, air quality, food security, health, housing and environmental restoration are exploding. Business leadership is appearing and willing to move these discoveries out of obscurity and into the world for an evolution of living.
This August AREDAY will gather such luminaries as Ted Turner, T.Boone Pickens, FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, Amory Lovins, physicist and Co-founder Rocky Mountain Institute, Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer in Residence, Edgar Bronfman, Warner Music, Hemant Taneja and scientist Lester Brown Founder, Earth Policy Institute to meet with others in Aspen, for a four day solutions-oriented immersion. The goal is to address the demand for an unprecedented “call to action” for climate and advanced energy solutions that will provide tangible and realistic steps for a transition to a sustainable, thriving economy.
AREI has created a collaboration for this year’s Summit with the Advanced Energy Economy Institute (AEEI). Co-founder, billionaire Tom Steyer, left his hedge fund, Farallon Capital Management because, “it valued a company’s bottom line – not its carbon footprint.” The unlikely environmentalist is now pledging to spend as much of his fortune as necessary to make climate change “the defining issue of our generation”. AEE Co-founder and Board member Hemat Taneja, will lead a key aspect of the AREDAY collaborative dialogue. An investor in early-stage companies, Taneja is also a Managing Director of General Catalyst Partners.
T. Boone Pickens will be back for his third AREDAY Summit. According to his “Daily Pickens” newsletter, our oil addiction “sucked almost half a trillion dollars out of the U.S. economy and shipped it overseas…” “Worth noting is the fact that the $434 billion that Americans spent on foreign oil last year equals the total amount of unemployment benefits paid to ALL Americans during the five-year span from 2007 through 2011.”
There is a real need to discuss the actual economy of clean tech as well as the legislative initiatives on the state level – as this is where policy is changing. Clean, renewable, green advances provide the greatest opportunity to add jobs, grow the economy and save the environment. 2011 speaker and Empire State Building owner Tony Malkin along with Amory Lovins shared the results from their work in retrofitting this most iconic skyscraper. Malkin says the payback from his investment “created jobs, reduced the building’s energy bill by 38% and cut carbon emissions by 105,000 metric tons.”
No one segment of society will move the needle entirely – which is why the AREDAY Summit gathers leaders cross-sector. Getting information out to the public is of key importance as public opinion can be a significant driver for public policy. We are a celebrity-driven society and this is why AREDAY has continued to add the media and entertainment sector to the Summit mix. From Pulitizer Prize winning authors like Thomas Friedman to actresses Mariel Hemingway and Daryl Hannah, artist activist Asher Jay, Oscar and award-winning film producers like Louis Psihoyos, James Cameron, Jamie Redford, and Douglas Sloan, this segment of our participants provides a conduit to the general public. In addition, the annual AREDAY Film Fest and Expo brings education and innovation directly to the community.
“When you empower women, economies improve and populations are stabilized,” states Sally Ranney, President of AREI and CEO of Stillwater Preservation. “Women in developing countries are close to the ground, getting their resources from the land. In developed countries, women influence 80% of consumer purchases. AREDAY has continuously brought powerful women into the dialogue, such as oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, NOAA Administrator, Jane Lubchenco, Kelly Rigg, Executive Director Global Campaign for Climate Action, Hunter Lovins, President, Natural Capital Solutions, Leilani Munter, racecar driver and “Carbon Free Girl”, Dr. Andrea Neal, genetic microbiologist and Blue Ocean Sciences Founder and Osprey Orielle Lake Founder of the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus.
Sunday mornings at AREDAY have traditionally brought together a cross-denomination group of spiritual and religious leaders of Christian and Jewish faiths and Native American elders, to address the moral and spiritual implications of human action on the environment.
The AREDAY Summit, was founded by Chip Comins, now Chairman/CEO of the AREInstitute. He was originally motivated by Amory Lovins, Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawken’s book entitled Natural Capitalism. He realized, that as a society, we are not accounting for the use of our natural resources on any balance sheet. This insight led him on a personal journey to investigate the truth about human-induced anthropogenic forces that are creating major problems within the earth systems.
The first AREDAY was born as a one day renewable energy conference and the conversation revolved around “reducing the carbon footprint”, a phrase not yet in the vernacular. The August Aspen gathering became a yearly opportunity to address a deep ecology that can capture the world’s imagination and inspire implementation of new energy resources, infrastructure and sustainable agriculture.
“From Competition to Collaboration” became the emerging theme, so as to foster cooperative and mutually productive relationships among AREDAY partners, the local community, public and private sectors, NGOs, and governmental agencies. The goal is to harness the capitol and the leadership of fearless pioneers of like mind, who are resolute in reaching the common goals of moving toward a carbon neutral economy.
Since 2004 the AREDAY Summit has been assembling the finest gathering of thought leaders, change agents, business and energy experts, scientists, media moguls, entertainment icons and philanthropists. Jigar Shah, President of Jigar Shaw Consulting and former CEO of the Carbon War Room who has been a regular AREDAY Summit speaker has said: “AREDAY is unparalleled in its reach and convening power to inspire the right conversations to fix our main problems – the deployment of cost effective renewable energy and climate change solutions.”
In 2009, AREDAY produced 13 official side events to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen at COP 15. In 2010, AREDAY helped to facilitate the World Climate Summit Business Conference at COP 16. Today, AREDAY is a project of the not-for-profit, American Renewable Energy Institute, Inc. (AREI). This development moves the AREDAY Summit beyond a yearly conference. According to Comins, “AREI now provides an umbrella under which we can continue the active interchange we initiate at the yearly AREDAY Summits. The Institute gives us the ability to showcase innovative solutions and visions as well as to assist in creating action plans such as the “Transitions Roadmap”. An exceptional board of directors includes Sylvia Earle, retired Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn Jan Hartke, David Orr. For more information go to- https://www.areday.net/arei/advisory-board/
AREI is initiating its American Climate & Energy Literacy Initiative. ACELI is designed to create educational curriculum with community colleges based on the science of climate and energy. The vision is to advance clean technology through the community college systems of the United States creating a job pipeline, in partnership with industry, at the conclusion of their two-year degree. AREI is already partnering with the Colorado Mountain College to develop the prototype that will be replicated throughout the other 1,300 community colleges in the nation.
The Summit is gaining a reputation for fostering commitments, collaborations and investments designed to build critical bridges between stakeholders — who sometimes seem like unlikely partners. The intimate Aspen setting provides the perfect backdrop for global thought leaders to immerse themselves in debate and dialogue over potential solutions and roadmaps to a clean energy future. Attendees are invited to engage in the conversation with these formidable influencers.
The importance of a high level dialogue on energy, and how we make this historic and necessary transition, is non-negotiable. According to AREI board member and retired General Wesley Clark and AREDAY presenter, “In the United States today we have an immediate opportunity because of an immediate problem.”
As an empowered citizenry, it is incumbent upon us to push our great country to be an innovative leader in new global standards. However, as four-time attendee Ted Turner states plainly, “We have to stop doing the dumb things and start doing the smart things.” When America leads, the world will follow.
The 2013 AREDAY Summit, will be held August 15-18, in Aspen, CO, at the LEED certified Doerr-Hosier Building at the Aspen Meadow, home of the world-renowned Aspen Institute. Attendance is limited to 300. For more registration information go to- https://www.etouches.com/ehome/index.php?eventid=55876&
Article by Janice Hall —Marketing and Communications for AREInstitute, President of Natural Network International, a business development, trends forecasting & marketing company since 1991, providing marketing intelligence, strategic management for environmental sustainability and clean technology solutions. Ms. Hall has 30 years of pioneering experience with LOHAS sector companies and also serves on the board of Blue Ocean Sciences.
