The following article was written by Rising Leader Fellow, Kate Turner, who represented Aspen UK at the Aspen Ideas: Climate Festival in March 2023.
Miami Beach was such an interesting and important city to choose to host the Aspen Institute’s second Climate Conference. The city experiences high levels of climate anxiety due to sea level rise, and according to Mayor Danielle Levine Cava, the most days of extreme heat in the USA.
As per the Aspen way, there was a thoroughly diverse and exciting agenda of speakers – with the only obviously underrepresented group being conservative Republicans (the supportive Republicans in attendance made a very loud point of identifying themselves as such).
I was struck by the emphasis on the inclusion of indigenous people in decision making and leadership of reforestation, biodiversity regeneration and extraction projects in their lands. Such an important message, often overlooked internationally and politically.
“Climate Communication” was a hot topic, touched upon by a few speakers, but notably by the Editors in Chief of the Washington Post and The Guardian. Both women majored on the message that personalisation and “meeting people where they are” is key to effective climate writing – most people can’t picture global temperature or sea level rises, but they can imagine the effect to their garden, business or favourite holiday destination. Communication should be straightforward and accessible – and always contain scientific rigour. The Guardian committed to continuing to hold the powerful accountable and both Editors agreed that collaboration is critical, the avoidance of fear and hopelessness in narratives is important, but policy change is the key.
A recent Yale study (2021) found that of the US population, 56% are concerned and alarmed about climate change, 22% are disengaged and cautious and 19% are dismissive and doubtful – with this last group of deniers being undoubtedly the loudest. When dealing with sceptics, the advice was to complexify rather than simplify the issue, and when encountering those with climate anxiety or worse, “climate doomism”, balance the conversation with the reminder that it really isn’t too late to take action.
There was representation from all levels of US government from Local to Federal, with Vice President Kamala Harris appearing to deliver a keynote session in conversation with Gloria Estefan on International Women’s Day.
Amusingly, the Vice President’s entourage included 5 Special Service Security Teams and the somewhat farcical logistics of Presidential furniture and flags. VP Harris touched on a few water and electric school bus policies – but really majored on the importance of US leadership and the global butterfly effect for decarbonisation.
Somewhat concerningly, when referring to national emission statistics, a few speakers felt that the USA wasn’t as pivotal to climate change action because the US makes up only 11% of global emissions – pointing the finger instead at China. However, this sentiment was more than balanced by repeated affirmations that “capitalism scales” and the world needs “nature based, market driven solutions”.
I feel incredibly fortunate to have been selected by the Aspen Institute UK to represent the Rising Leaders Fellows, having met Aspen Fellows from Spain, Mexico, Ukraine and Central Europe at the event – I felt very humbled to be in the mix.