2024 Schedule

Sign-up here: as.pn/aic2024 Join this trip to the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science for an exclusive guided tour of the Alfred C. Gassell, Jr. SUSTAIN Laboratory wind-wave tank which can generate up to Category 5 hurricane force winds! SUSTAIN, which stands for SUrge-STructure-Atmosphere-INteraction, provides scientists and engineers access to cri...

Sign-up here: as.pn/aic2024 The Underline is transforming the land below Miami’s metrorail into a 10-mile linear park, urban trail and public art destination. While the project is expected to be completed in 2025, passholders will experience a guided tour of Phase 1 which is now open to the public and includes the River Room, The Promenade, the Urban Gym, and the Oolite Room. Meet outside...

Museums are typically testaments to the past, but a growing number are using exhibitions to shape our response to the future—specifically to climate change. Museum leaders will share how they see their institutions as mediums for storytelling, and how they balance truth-telling and advocacy.

Coastal cities are utilizing innovative solutions to adapt to extreme weather and rising sea levels, becoming more resilient in the face of climate change. From innovative design and community engagement to policy development and cross-sector partnerships, panelists will share what they’ve learned and highlight opportunities for collaboration across cities.

The impacts of the climate emergency are felt by populations worldwide, and they increasingly shape whether, where, and how people migrate. Mayors, city governments, non-profits, and local businesses are learning to confront the challenges at the intersection of climate change, migration, and displacement—along with the interconnected economic, social, and climatic elements. This session will iden...

Sign-up here: as.pn/aic2024 Join this exclusive guided tour discussing the climate challenges Miami Beach faces everyday and highlighting the mitigation and adaptation efforts facilitated by intergovernmental and community collaboration. The tour, led by a City of Miami Beach resilience expert, will start in South Pointe Park and continue to Sunset Harbour, the blueprint neighborhood for sea-...

To achieve the United Nations’ goal of reducing plastic pollution by 80% by 2040, the world needs to collaborate on an unprecedented scale. This session will explore some of the recent and promising innovations in policy, technology, and partnership-building to fight plastic pollution.

It was an expensive year for clean energy projects, with financing facing tough market conditions, interest rates, and continuing supply chain stress. Hear how private capital is stepping up to address this challenge.

Hard-to-abate sectors—from maritime and aviation to hydrogen and steel—are proving to be some of the biggest innovators for a net-zero future. Forced to think outside of the box, explore unexpected partnerships, and invest in catalytic pathways, these first movers show that we shouldn’t always just grab the low hanging fruit.

Storytelling, music, animation, and podcasts! Watch the magic of innovative content being born as creatives pitch their ideas to a panel of Planet Media judges, each hoping to launch short-form content aimed at helping kids understand climate change.

It’s opening night! After welcome remarks, we kick off with a moment of reflection from artist Danié Gomez-Ortigoza. US Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm speaks with Al Roker. Bill Nye and the first White House climate advisor talk about communicating big ideas, and US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland sits down with two young changemakers. A leader from Ireland updates us on their energy transit...

Sign-up here: as.pn/aic2024 Step into action with your fellow Aspen Ideas: Climate participants by taking part in a beach cleanup hosted by Clean Miami Beach, a nonprofit founded by Miami Beach resident Sophie Ringel, dedicated to the protection of the beach and its rich marine wildlife. Clean Miami Beach has organized more than 200 beach cleanups and collected over 60 thousand pounds of tras...

Sign-up here: as.pn/aic2024 Join this exclusive guided tour discussing the climate challenges Miami Beach faces everyday and highlighting the mitigation and adaptation efforts facilitated by intergovernmental and community collaboration. The tour, led by a City of Miami Beach resilience expert, will start in South Pointe Park and continue to Sunset Harbour, the blueprint neighborhood for sea-le...

Sign-up here: as.pn/aic2024 An exclusive guided tour from FIU faculty and students of the newly-launched FIU-FPL microgrid and control room to help advance research on renewable energy, and the Wall of Wind facility. Meet outside the main entrance of the Miami Beach Convention Center on Convention Center Drive to board the bus. The bus will depart at 8:30am.

Futurific Studios’ Kathryn Murdoch and Ari Wallach preview their new PBS docuseries, a government leader turned entrepreneur shares her plastic pollution idea, environmental justice leaders expand on solutions, and Invenergy’s CEO tells us how he built more than 200 clean energy projects. Mayors share ideas for rethinking the urban environment, an app designer talks personal carbon footprints, and...

Sign-up here: as.pn/aic2024 The Florida International University Biscayne Bay boat tour takes participants out into the waters of the bay, where experts from the university will discuss efforts underway to help protect the bay, increase resilience and importance of protecting this crucial ecosystem. Attendees will learn about the delicate balance of the bay, as well as the efforts being made...

One of the most enduring qualities of literary fiction is that it asks what it means to be human, and more and more writers are asking that question as it relates to climate change. Hear from the authors who are crafting this growing genre and offering a view into our speculative—and real—futures.

Global decarbonization efforts require the world to double down on solutions in the agriculture sector. This panel will shine light on some of the solutions that promise to cut agricultural emissions, reduce water use, improve environmental resiliency, and promote food security.

The U.S. needs a massive deployment of clean energy technologies, and getting there will require projects in the backyards of communities around the country. This session will explore the work of engaging communities—citing both best practices and bad examples—and highlighting innovative new approaches to winning support for clean energy.

Transforming the energy system will involve building new transmission lines and power generating assets on a massive scale, and these projects offer a huge financial opportunity for the communities where they’re built. Hear from leaders who are developing mechanisms for sharing this wealth, offering communities and project developers a shared sense of success, fairness, and ownership.

The Climate Solutions Showcase will highlight a diverse set of early stage entrepreneurs sharing their climate solutions. They'll do so with fast paced pitches targeted at investors, potential clients, colleagues and anyone interested in climate tech.

Meet at the Wolfsonian Museum, 1001 Washington Ave, to attend this tour. Join this guided tour of the Wolfsonian Museum’s exhibit The Big World. The Big World, focusing on depictions of the land in The Wolfsonian's collection, challenges expectations of landscape art as it goes beyond bucolic scenes to reveal changing vistas of the modern era rendered in paintings, the decorative arts, and...

To succeed, the climate movement needs people with completely different backgrounds and skills who can break down national and disciplinary borders. In this hands-on training with an unlikely duo, a musician and a scientist, participants will explore the highs and lows of collaborative effort and test it out in the room.

You protect what you love, it is said, but the reality is that many people do not have the privilege of a direct connection to the natural world. The very concept of “nature” can sound elusive—even elitist. But as we think about the future of environmentalism, there is no way to circumvent our connection to—and love for—nature. This workshop will shine light on historical contexts of the word “nat...

Storytelling is key to delivering on a sustainable future, but the secrets of TV and film funding and production are hidden away. In this practical session, learn from filmmakers about documentary films and scripted stories, and how to unlock the power of storytelling in your organization, individual activism, and philanthropic ambitions.

Exponential change is possible, as technologies such as renewables accelerate toward universal adoption—but first we have to let ourselves imagine. Hear about surprising places where exponential change is already happening and participate in a guided visioning session to imagine what a clean, green, and just future could look like.

Part 1: Reflecting on the complex relationship between the climate crisis, public health, and our collective wellbeing, Miami-based artist Smita Sen’s performance “Breaths of Care” offers a dance-based performance on the ripple effects of our changing natural landscape. Part 2: Alexis Alleyne-Caputo of Afro Diaries presents “Crisis and Echoes,” a visual conversation, performance, and statement o...

Every day brings dozens of new climate stories in the media, but substance often falls prey to click-chasing and brevity, and predominantly-white newsrooms often give less coverage to the disproportionate impact that climate change is having on communities of color. Hear from environmental journalists, working within these newsrooms, about how they are striving for greater coverage, reach, and div...

In 2023, Miami experienced its worst heat wave on record, with temperatures breaking 100 degrees for 46 consecutive days. Humans need safe spaces during life-threatening temperatures, and this session will explore challenges and solutions for cooling homes, buildings, and public spaces, using Miami-Dade as an example of a much wider problem.

The industrial sector—think steel, cement, chemicals, heat and cooling—accounts for approximately 30% of emissions in the United States, making industry our biggest emissions problem. Learn about how emerging scalable solutions in technology, finance, and policy promise to decarbonize the sector.

Interested in gene-edited cows that burp less methane, drought resistant wheat, and lab-made palm oil that could reduce rainforest destruction? Learn more about these and other biotechnology approaches to confront climate change and supercharge conservation

The IRA’s $369 billion for climate measures has impacts beyond its domestic agenda, but its delivery globally has been met with criticism of protectionism. What can the IRA really do for global decarbonization, and how can the US better support efforts in Africa, India, and the Global South?

The climate crisis disproportionately affects women and girls globally, exacerbating existing gender inequalities and threatening their livelihoods, health, and safety. In this session, we’ll discuss the burden on women and girls—particularly in securing resources like food and water—and how their innovation and ingenuity can be major contributors to climate solutions.

In 2023, a group of youth plaintiffs won a historic victory against the state of Montana, which they sued for violating their right to a clean environment. The attorney who represented that case and other legal experts weigh in on where climate litigation stands today, and how and when the law can be used as a tool to protect people and advance solutions

Detroit is leaning into the financial opportunities of a net zero economy, setting itself as an example for other cities, from nearby Northeast Florida to further small Asian nations to copy. Hear about these cities successes and the promises of climate-smart economic development for cities everywhere.

Storms are inundating coastlines, groundwater is drying up, and the world is beset by unprecedented floods and droughts. There are creative technologies—both high- and low-tech—that can lessen the devastation, but large scale projects are hard to deploy for political and economic reasons. Hear about promising approaches to our interconnected water crises.

Bezos Earth Fund's Lauren Sánchez shares how to innovate out of big problems, lllinois Governor JB Pritzker talks with water experts, and a biotech entrepreneur shares a plan to get rid of palm oil. All the Light We Cannot See’s star joins a panel to discuss climate joy, a mayor gives an update on offshore wind, and we'll hear an announcement from Detroit. Then, an energy expert narrates the power...

Sign-up here: as.pn/aic2024 Start your morning with an immersive journey connecting with the natural world and the self at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens. Together we will awaken our senses, practice presence, and tune into our somatic experience through a slow and meditative visit with nature. Our salutation to the new day will be a mixture of guided exercises, deliberate movement, consci...

Sign-up here: as.pn/aic2024 Participants will take a boat to Stiltsville, a one-of-a-kind maritime community of fishermen, partiers, and squatters who lived in upwards of 27 structures in the flats of Biscayne Bay. Let expert historians from Miami Dade College take you through the rich, nonpareil history of Stiltsville from the vantage point of its most ornate stilt home: the fabled A-frame....

Sign-up here: as.pn/aic2024 Join this exclusive guided tour discussing the climate challenges Miami Beach faces everyday and highlighting the mitigation and adaptation efforts facilitated by intergovernmental and community collaboration. The tour, led by a City of Miami Beach resilience expert, will start in South Pointe Park and continue to Sunset Harbour, the blueprint neighborhood for sea-...

NOAA’s chief scientist talks with a conservation expert about ocean biodiversity, we hear a call to ensure the safety of climate tech, and The White House makes an announcement. A biotech innovator shares how CRISPR could make cows better, a Texas environmental justice leader joins us, the Aspen Institute announces the winners of a pitch competition, and two meteorologists discuss their roles as c...

Sign-up here: as.pn/aic2024. Join this trip to the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science for an exclusive guided tour of the Alfred C. Gassell, Jr. SUSTAIN Laboratory wind-wave tank which can generate up to Category 5 hurricane force winds! SUSTAIN, which stands for SUrge-STructure-Atmosphere-INteraction, provides scientists and engineers access to...

What’s new in climate tech? Hear from the innovators themselves about deploying artificial intelligence to supercharge solutions and cracking the code on storing clean energy when the sun isn’t shining.

In the fight against climate change, we’ll need to electrify everything we can: cars, stoves, trucks, heat pumps, and buildings. In the process, we’ll lower emissions and energy bills, make homes healthier, and build more resilient communities. But how do we electrify America so that every community reaps the far-reaching benefits?

With playgrounds that reach 150 degrees and “heat days” that force schools to close, it’s no surprise that 75% of teens have moderate to extreme climate anxiety. Young people have the right to thrive on a healthy planet, and adults have a responsibility to preserve this right. Explore how school systems are essential to advancing generational justice and enabling future generations to thrive in a...

The Climate Solutions Showcase will highlight a diverse set of early stage entrepreneurs sharing their climate solutions. They'll do so with fast paced pitches targeted at investors, potential clients, colleagues and anyone interested in climate tech.

What would it take to make our lives Net Zero by 2030? How do we engage with our families, communities and companies on this path? Experience a 6-year journey in one hour, from rating your climate health today to becoming a Net Zero hero by 2030.

Fifty nine percent of Americans are “alarmed” or “concerned” about climate change, and we already have the technology to drastically reduce our emissions. So… why don’t we? In this interactive panel, explore how to build political will by depolarizing climate change, turning everyday citizens into climate lobbyists in Congress, and transforming the electorate to alter our emissions trajectory.

Despair, frustration, anxiety—but also hope and deep gratitude—are endemic among people who confront big environmental problems for a living. In this interactive workshop, share what’s on your mind with mental health experts, and learn tools to cope and thrive.

Part 1: The City of Miami Beach and Oolite Arts present three commissioned short films on climate solutions: The Mango Movie, Ripples, and Before the Flood. The screening will be followed by a short discussion among the filmmakers. Part 2: Screening of The Important Stuff, in which children share concerns, ideas, and solutions related to climate negotiations, followed by Climate Blueprint: Domini...

Low-to-no-emissions advanced air mobility could transform not only air transportation but transportation as a whole, and decision makers must grapple with whether (and how) we open the skies to electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Aviation leaders and elected officials will need to work together to adapt existing aircraft infrastructure and develop policies to ensure the United...

Fossil fuels and renewables dominate mitigation conversations, but other emission reduction opportunities are hiding in plain sight. Decarbonization roadmaps for the built environment are increasingly clear, and solutions for hard-to-abate emissions—biomass, refrigerants, landfills, regenerative agriculture, hydrogen—are coming into view, and all will play a significant role in delivering global...

The climate crisis is a health crisis. But even as climate change contributes to the global burden of disease, killing roughly 4 million people globally since the turn of the century, the health care sector is responsible for 8.5% of US greenhouse gas emissions. With healing as their mission, health professionals and organizations can use their ethical, economic, and political influence to lead a...

Following words from a local poet, a museum creator speaks of storytelling as a tool, and a Columbia professor talks about the geopolitical implications of the energy transition. The Aspen Institute’s Arts Program makes an announcement, an ocean-solutionist shares a new vision for conservation, and we close this year’s event with the Mayor of Miami and the former Mayor of Miami Beach reflecting on...