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 October 19, October 26, November 2, and November 9. Tom Morrison and Clint Kinney will return to moderate the series.
Fee: $180, includes all sessions, refreshments, and reading materials. Scholarships available.
Wednesday, October 19: Water in the West: The Changing Colorado River Basin
The unprecedented drought in the Colorado River Basin is rapidly forcing unpalatable changes in the allocation of water to 40 million Americans. The 100-year-old agreements allocating Colorado River waters have lost their relevance and new political compromises are inevitable. There will be winners and losers. How do we determine the tradeoffs between lower basin states that have already developed urban centers, and upper basin states that want to claim the historically established but still undeveloped share of water? Urban centers are directly challenging agricultural use of water and even individual crops are being targeted as losers. Environmental protection is in direct conflict with society’s need for water. Tribal water rights further complicate the issue. Answering these questions will require a level of cross-jurisdictional coordination and legislating that is difficult to imagine in our divisive political environment. However, the news is not all bad. What can we learn from jurisdictions that have stepped up efforts to greatly reduce their water consumption in both urban and agricultural settings? Will these improvements be enough to allow the West to continue its development and broad agricultural use?
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?
Wednesday, November 2: In the Know: The Free Press
Most would agree that the Fourth Estate, the press, is critical to a well-functioning democracy. While the ways to become a well-informed constituent have increased dramatically over the years, the question remains, has the quantity of news sources increased the quality of the news coverage? How well informed is the typical American? Should news sources be allowed to print anything they deem appropriate? Does their source of funding matter? Some local news sources are being bought and denuded by hedge funds while others are being bullied by billionaires. Is there a way to protect quality journalism in order to ensure a well-informed public? Could America undertake a BBC-type model?
Wednesday, November 9
Election 2022: Should the Middle Be Found?
It’s the day after the election. As America seemingly becomes more polarized on most every issue, can a middle ground still exist? Was it found yesterday? What did we learn from yesterday? Moving forward, although we are a democracy that fundamentally relies upon majority rule, minority positions can prevent political advancement. Are there ways to find common ground? Do we want to? Would the country be better off compromising our respective principles to find the middle ground on more issues? Or is the bitter and divisive arguing we constantly endure making us a stronger, more resilient society?
To make our in-person gatherings as safe as possible, all attendees at Aspen Institute in-person events will be required to show they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or if they are exempt from this requirement, take an on-site COVID-19 rapid test and show a negative result before entry. For questions, email [email protected] or call (970) 544-7970.
