Academia at a Crossroads
Setup
Academia is beset by challenges related to free speech, admission policies, donor pressures and soaring costs. University leaders are simultaneously negotiating these minefields and convincing the next generation that college is still worth it. Can academia rise to these challenges?
- 2024 Festival
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Environment
![Closing the Climate Gap for Girls and Women](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/7c58f9e1-944f-43e1-91a6-70ea591b4afe/53811270499_6a024c72b2_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=873%2C0%2C2258%2C3380&w=400)
Climate change is a threat multiplier with a disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations. Girls and women, who are denied equitable access to education and economic oppo...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 1](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/055a1644-ea60-4d09-8499-c07a146cc505/AIFStockHeroImages1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=b78045&q=80&rect=550%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 1](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/055a1644-ea60-4d09-8499-c07a146cc505/AIFStockHeroImages1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=550%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
Climate change is demanding an extraordinarily rapid transformation of human society, and we don’t have a manual. The people who have done the least to cause the problem are t...
![From Ideas to Action, Highlights From Aspen Ideas: Climate 2024](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/7ffc06f5-6eb8-43e6-95a7-f6a5f35b50c5/53583708572_5f6331b3ff_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=648%2C0%2C6950%2C4640&w=400)
At Aspen Ideas: Climate 2024, the world's most ambitious climate problem solvers came together in Miami Beach to address our collective future on this planet. Watch highlights...
![A World Worth Fighting For: Katharine Hayhoe on Communicating Climate Change](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/b5d8cdce-9c40-40e3-9241-767f8a658c9b/AIFStockHeroImages16.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1508%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist and Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy. Ahead of Aspen Ideas: Climate next week, we caught up with Dr. Hayhoe to discuss t...
![How Kids Are Fighting Climate Change, One Lawsuit at a Time](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/256b34f8-18b1-4b39-9984-a46a12885efa/GettyImages-1147070895.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=993%2C0%2C2636%2C2638&w=400)
How is constitutional law being harnessed to address climate change? Ahead of Aspen Ideas: Climate, we caught up with Andrea Rodgers, Senior Attorney at Our Children's Trust,...
![Rose Kirk on the Role of Tech in Building Climate Resiliency](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/6ff2b3e2-362f-4111-9975-1de1579662c0/rosekirk.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2215%2C0%2C3376%2C3375&w=400)
Rose Kirk is the Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer for Verizon. We caught up with her about tech-based climate solutions and why digital skills and connectivity ar...
![Highlights from Aspen Ideas: Climate 2023](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/7b7e030a-a344-438b-aa7a-659395bba232/52735838620_431bba6bdc_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=0%2C205%2C7944%2C5299&w=400)
At Aspen Ideas: Climate 2023, we dug into some of the biggest environmental issues of our time, from sea level rise and deforestation to food insecurity and energy policy, and...
![New Speakers Announced for Aspen Ideas: Climate 2024](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/d60e162f-2bed-4217-91f1-b752ff7d1d41/52730027417_bf838d2084_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1709%2C0%2C3899%2C3898&w=400)
Your first look at the leaders, innovators, policymakers, and luminaries joining us for Aspen Ideas: Climate 2024. Don't wait to hear from these extraordinary speakers — early...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 1](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/6d942dcf-a244-4048-8618-d06bcd2f3091/AIFStockHeroImages1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=0a80bc&q=80&rect=1147%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 1](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/6d942dcf-a244-4048-8618-d06bcd2f3091/AIFStockHeroImages1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1147%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
Climate change catastrophes are already happening with increasing regularity, and it’s clear we need to take action. The Biden administration has set a target of zero carbon e...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 9](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/293409b0-d8f1-4dc9-8a0b-0354c2f235fb/AIFStockHeroImages9.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=b78045&q=80&rect=1202%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 9](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/293409b0-d8f1-4dc9-8a0b-0354c2f235fb/AIFStockHeroImages9.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1202%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
The automotive industry is going through a time of profound transformation, facing internal and external pressure to electrify America’s fleet of personal vehicles. General Mo...
![L.A.'s Chief Heat Officer on the Public Health Threat of Extreme Heat](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/55979c82-694b-4575-a7ee-56aa897c72f6/Screenshot2023-07-31at12.32.51PM.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=646%2C0%2C861%2C862&w=400)
Worldwide, 10 cities have named Chief Heat Officers to address the growing threat of extreme heat. Marta Segura is leading the way in Los Angeles by connecting equity, health,...
![Best of the Fest 2023](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/6c08dbbd-baac-4551-ba58-5a85fbde876b/52998635322_8bfd619a41_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=145%2C0%2C6952%2C4640&w=400)
At the 2023 Aspen Ideas Festival, we dug into some of the most important and fascinating issues of our time, from rebuilding trust in our institutions and the promise and peri...
![Economic Realities of the Energy Transition](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/aebf03f7-ae31-4daa-9c0e-85566bf34080/53012153655_ec50d42093_o1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=3674%2C0%2C3674%2C5504&w=400)
How fast can the world really move off hydrocarbons, and are we underestimating deep macroeconomic analyses of the energy transition in our policymaking? Two financiers delve...
![In Conversation with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/e58489b7-29d3-4bc1-86f7-ced0048ba595/53011758400_2dd31edae2_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C500%2C6000%2C3375&w=400)
Changes are coming to the world’s biggest ridesharing service, like sustainability features, a more efficient food delivery system, efforts to improve the driver experience, a...
![Wisdom of Crowds: Is American Decline Inevitable? (live recording)](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/e375920b-cede-44f3-a175-177b2747247d/52999381399_a4a90decac_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C352%2C5976%2C3363&w=400)
We don’t always know how to express it, but many of us feel it: There’s something wrong with America today. The mood is tense. More Americans say they won’t have children beca...
![Nuclear Power: Coming to a Neighborhood Near You?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/20572146-9b40-4e01-b253-616bcdd3d4cc/53011187528_e2369cb29a_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C270%2C6000%2C3367&w=400)
An advanced nuclear power plant is coming to Wyoming. Funded by Bill Gates’ TerraPower, it will use cutting edge technology that aims to provide safer and more sustainable nuc...
![Where the Water Goes: The Next 100 Years of the Colorado River](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/f3a552c6-36a8-44a4-a495-3988a6636f69/53011689592_29c72b0b2f_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=577%2C0%2C2462%2C3693&w=400)
The Colorado River Compact is 100 years old, and its guidelines for water use across the American West are about to expire. Facing drought, increased population, and disagreem...
![ESG: Where Do We Go From Here? A Conversation from the Frontlines of Business](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/a89cfc38-f5bf-4fe8-8cc8-fec8ec1baeae/230628_esg_017.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2251&w=400)
How are business leaders navigating rising expectations from employees, investors, customers, and communities in a fractured political environment, while progressing on the lo...
![Designing Decarbonization](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/0194c6f0-e6ce-429e-bf65-b6da426193f0/230628_design_decarbonization_004.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C333%2C4000%2C2250&w=400)
Despite the worthy intentions of government and corporate leaders, the Paris Agreement targets of holding global warming to near 1.5°C may not be met, and many organizations s...
![Hard-Hat Environmentalism: Can We Build in America Again?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/15574cbb-d00a-46c8-ba56-28577a1ba2e1/53009614714_26a24e608a_o1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C269%2C5504%2C3098&w=400)
With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-Harris administration has committed a record amount of federal funds to encourage the advancement of clean energy, b...