Thursday, November 14
at Arent Fox, LLP

8:30—9:00AM
Welcoming remarks, statement of themes, and conference overview
 

9:00—9:30AM
Keynote Address:

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, Executive Director, Childrens Environmental Health Network

9:30-10:45AM

Panel 1: Applying Innovative Strategies and Solutions

The menu of policy tools and strategies expands as we gain more experience with environmental problem-solving. Regulation through technology and performance will continue to play a role, but other tools become more important as we address more complex and dispersed problems. This session considers the economic incentives and the steps for applying them successfully.

Speakers:

• Moderator: Daniel Fiorino, Director, Center for Environmental Policy, American University School of Public Affairs
• Erin Fitzgerald, Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance
• Jennifer Silberman, Founder and President, Creative Disruption
• Jonathan Wiener, William R. and Thomas L. Perkins Professor of Law, Professor of Environmental Policy, Professor of Public Policy, Duke University

10:45—11:00AM
Break

 

11:00AM—12:15PM
Panel 2: Strengthening Environment and Energy Linkages

The environment can no longer be viewed as a stand-alone issue. Complex challenges such as climate change, biodiversity, air and water quality, and others affected and are affected by energy, the economy, equity, public health and others. This discussion will consider the complexity of these linkages and explore opportunities for applying them across a range of polices and partnerships.

• Moderator: Janet Peace, Senior Vice President of Policy and Business Strategy, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
• Stephen Harper, Global Director, Environment and Energy Policy, Intel Corporation
• Karl Hausker, Senior Fellow, World Resources Institute
• Sarah Ladislaw, Senior Vice President and Director and Senior Fellow, Energy and National Security Program, CSIS

12:15—1:15PM
Lunch I Keynote Address: William K. Reilly

 

1:15-2:30PM

Panel 3: Communicating about the Environment

Beyond policy making, the basic tenets of advancing an environmental agenda are based on educating, informing, and communicating with the public. This will be more critical as problems grow more complex, more interrelated, and sometimes less obvious. This session assesses the range of methods for communicating about the environment and how to expand capacities for doing so effectively.

• Moderator: Monica Medina, Founder and Publisher, Our Daily Planet
• Paul Bledsoe, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer, Center for Environmental Policy, American University
• Thomas Easley, Assistant Dean of Community and Inclusion, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University
• Maggie Stogner, Director, Center for Environmental Filmmaking, American University

2:30-2:45PM

Break

 

2:45-4:00PM
Panel 4: Using New Technologies

New and emerging technologies pose opportunities as well as present challenges for environmental problem-solving. The technology options for understanding, monitoring, and solving problems is expanding constantly, with such tools as remote sensing, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and others. This session identifies the most promising technology opportunities and how to use them.

• Moderator: Jo Anne Shatkin, President and Founder, Vireo Advisors
• Amy Jaffe, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change, Council on Foreign Relations
• David Rejeski, Director; Technology, Innovation and the Environment Project, Environmental Law Institute
• Sally Tinkle, Senior Advisor, Science and Technology Policy Institute

4:00-4:15PM

Break

4:15-5:30PM
Panel 5: Strengthening and Engaging Institutions

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Federal government played the leadership role in the environmental enterprise due to the early stage of knowledge and policy in the US. This model is now outdated as significant capacity lies in other institutions and throughout society. State and local government, the private sector and civil society, together with the federal government, bring new approaches, solutions, and opportunities for advancing environmental protection in the future. This panel examines the kinds of capabilities that will be needed—in people, relationships, organizational design—and how best to prepare institutions at all levels of government and society for 21st century environmental protection.

• Moderator: Neil Kerwin, President Emeritus; Professor of Public Administration and Policy, American University
• Leah Allen, Founder, Mobilize Green
• Derry Allen, EPA Alumni Association
• Tracy Mehan, Executive Director, Government Affairs, American Water Works Association

5:30-6:45
Networking Reception