The Aspen Institute

Our Society Reimagined is a four-week series that provides an opportunity to explore the domestic issues that have shaped our modern society, as well as a chance to gain perspective on the underlying values and ideas that we hold as individuals and as a society, and how these tenets shape our lives.

The 2022 series will take place in person on our Aspen Meadows campus from 6:00-8:00 pm MT on four consecutive Wednesdays, October 19-November 9.

Tom Morrison and Clint Kinney will return to moderate the series.

Fee: $180, includes all sessions, refreshments, and reading materials. Scholarships available. Register here.

Wednesday, October 26
The Energy Transition: What is Local Government’s Role in Decarbonization?
Many state and local governments are feeling compelled to take action to address the growing climate crisis. Further, the Inflation Reduction Act offers an extensive array of funding opportunities to assist local governments in carbon management if they choose to use them. California will be restricting the sale of internal combustion cars by 2035. Our own local jurisdictions are looking to implement programs and regulations to lower our communities’ carbon footprint. Pitkin County specifically has an active process underway to understand the sources of carbon in our community and intends to play an active role in reducing that footprint. Do local governments represent a major opportunity to do locally what we can’t do nationally to address the climate crisis? How will citizens respond to a diversity of choices in regulatory strategies between communities? Will these local efforts contribute to addressing the climate challenge and/or add complexity where federal and statewide solutions are a more efficient approach?  How do we assess what kinds of solutions are most acceptable to the community? Will local governments step up and help insure the broad adoption of the incentives in the recently enacted Federal Inflation Reduction Act?