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ASPEN — The word of the day, for many participants at the end of the first Aspen Environment Forum, was “overload.”
But, by all reports, it was a pleasant kind of overload and one that likely will to become an annual event in Aspen’s busy calendar.
As the last day of the forum passed from morning into afternoon, more than one participant described feeling the kind of satiation one gets after a multicourse meal — with dessert and plenty of wine.
“My brain is mush,” one participant was overheard saying in the lunch line Saturday, the final day of the forum.
“My mouth and my brain are not really connected any more,” said another, as she tried to describe a panel discussion earlier in the day that had left her invigorated and inspired.
The forum, held at the Aspen Institute and organized and presented in conjunction with National Geographic magazine, brought together some of the nation’s top thinkers in terms of energy, the environment and politics, not to mention high-caliber photographers and current and past policy makers, entrepreneurs and educators, activists and intellectuals.
Organization for the forum began more than a year ago, in response to a growing awareness worldwide that the impact of humanity on the earth’s ecosystems might be self-destructive.
Institute officials have said the forum is getting “rave reviews” from attendees, who paid up to $1,700 per ticket and speakers who were brought in from around the United States and abroad.
David Monsma, director of the institute’s Energy and Environment Program and chief organizer of the forum, said things went off as expected.
He said approximately 366 speakers and attendees were at the institute at any one time, a number that he explained was comparable to attendance at the institute’s other big events, the health forum and the Ideas Festival. Most of them stayed at the Aspen Meadows campus, at the Hotel Jerome or at a small lodge in Aspen, according to institute.
“It turned out very well indeed,” Monsma declared. “What you hope for is that there is enough diversity and synergy that people find it fun to be there together.”
And, he said, that is what he’s been hearing from participants, stories in the media and interviews conducted by the Be Heard! youth media organization.
In fact, he continued, “there were some themes that were developing ... some depth that I wouldn’t have anticipated” as a result of the mixing of people and ideas over the four-day event.
“There was a mixture of idealism, skepticism and realism” emerging from the mix, he said.
As for the future, and there will be more environment forums, “there will be an opportunity to be more international,” with experts invited from hot spots around the globe such as India and China. Both nations were often discussed in this year’s forum, because of their emergence as global economic powerhouses, as a result, and their consequent increased contribution to air pollution.
Monsma said the institute already has begun discussion about what shape the next environment forum will take.
jcolson@aspentimes.com
But, by all reports, it was a pleasant kind of overload and one that likely will to become an annual event in Aspen’s busy calendar.
As the last day of the forum passed from morning into afternoon, more than one participant described feeling the kind of satiation one gets after a multicourse meal — with dessert and plenty of wine.
“My brain is mush,” one participant was overheard saying in the lunch line Saturday, the final day of the forum.
“My mouth and my brain are not really connected any more,” said another, as she tried to describe a panel discussion earlier in the day that had left her invigorated and inspired.
The forum, held at the Aspen Institute and organized and presented in conjunction with National Geographic magazine, brought together some of the nation’s top thinkers in terms of energy, the environment and politics, not to mention high-caliber photographers and current and past policy makers, entrepreneurs and educators, activists and intellectuals.
Organization for the forum began more than a year ago, in response to a growing awareness worldwide that the impact of humanity on the earth’s ecosystems might be self-destructive.
Institute officials have said the forum is getting “rave reviews” from attendees, who paid up to $1,700 per ticket and speakers who were brought in from around the United States and abroad.
David Monsma, director of the institute’s Energy and Environment Program and chief organizer of the forum, said things went off as expected.
He said approximately 366 speakers and attendees were at the institute at any one time, a number that he explained was comparable to attendance at the institute’s other big events, the health forum and the Ideas Festival. Most of them stayed at the Aspen Meadows campus, at the Hotel Jerome or at a small lodge in Aspen, according to institute.
“It turned out very well indeed,” Monsma declared. “What you hope for is that there is enough diversity and synergy that people find it fun to be there together.”
And, he said, that is what he’s been hearing from participants, stories in the media and interviews conducted by the Be Heard! youth media organization.
In fact, he continued, “there were some themes that were developing ... some depth that I wouldn’t have anticipated” as a result of the mixing of people and ideas over the four-day event.
“There was a mixture of idealism, skepticism and realism” emerging from the mix, he said.
As for the future, and there will be more environment forums, “there will be an opportunity to be more international,” with experts invited from hot spots around the globe such as India and China. Both nations were often discussed in this year’s forum, because of their emergence as global economic powerhouses, as a result, and their consequent increased contribution to air pollution.
Monsma said the institute already has begun discussion about what shape the next environment forum will take.
jcolson@aspentimes.com
