Breakfast & Registration

Check in at registration and join us for breakfast at the Riverwalk Center.

Welcome To The Summit!

Opening Remarks

The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back our Planet

Vested interests profiting from our reliance on fossil fuels and their enablers in the policy and media arenas have for decades sought to undermine the scientific consensus behind human-caused climate change. The motive? Forestalling efforts to decarbonize our economy. As the impacts of climate change have now become too obvious to deny, the forces of inaction—the inactivists–have now instead engaged in a multi-pronged strategy of distraction, deflection, division, and despair-mongering. They have (a) pursued a divide-and-conquer strategy of sowing division among climate activists and advocates, (b) deflected attention from systemic change and regulatory policy solutions to personal behaviour, (c) promoted false solutions that enable the continued burning of fossil fuels at the very root of the problem and (d) fomented doomist framing that disempowers us by making catastrophic change now seem inevitable. Dr. Michael Mann will discuss what we can do to fight back, emphasizing the importance of both urgency AND agency in the effort to save our planet from catastrophic warming.

Lunch

The Mountain Collaborative for Climate Action

Leaders from Alterra Mountain Company, Boyne Resorts, POWDR, and Vail Resorts will discuss their actions to make a meaningful impact on climate since their joint efforts were first announced at the inaugural MT2030 Summit. During the panel, the speakers will share how these leading companies will continue to work together to advance climate objectives, especially around waste, over the next year.

Watch this session: https://vimeo.com/766491717

Accelerating Community-Wide Electrification

Being on track to achieve their bold climate targets, how are these forward thinking utility providers now helping local communities do the same through electrification? You will come way from this conversation with a better understanding of what a collaborative partnership looks like and what are some of the tools being implemented within our communities to achieve zero emissions.

Watch this session: https://vimeo.com/766539691

Growth and GHG Emissions: At Odds or a Breakthrough Opportunity?

Achieving science-based targets requires forecasting future GHG emissions. The math is clear that unless we break the positive correlation between growth and emissions these goals are unattainable. And yet mountain towns are faced with economic and even humanitarian drivers for growth. Panelists will discuss growth trends brought on by climate migration, the acceleration of remote work, tourism, and the search for affordable housing in rural communities. In thinking about temporary, seasonal, and permanent growth, we’ll explore how big moves in mitigation, combined with equity and resilience principles can lead the way to a new relationship between growth and emissions.

Watch this session: https://vimeo.com/766565594

Portland: Five Lessons on Sustainability and Climate Equity

Watch this session: https://vimeo.com/766593561

Summit Social

Catch up with colleagues and peers outdoors in the heart of the Breckenridge Arts District. Drop in at your convenience for a beer, glass of wine and a small bite – and dress for the ever-changing mountain weather (yes, it’s 9,600’).

Apres°C Climate Conversations

Join us for these three casual conversations taking place at venues throughout Breckenridge’s Arts District, exploring important climate-related topics in a happy-hour setting. Choose the one that most interests you!

Breakfast

Introductions & Logistics For The Day

Honesty and Storytelling, Keys to Bold and Impactful Climate Action

The impacts of climate change have touched every part of our society but why are we so resistant/reluctant to take decisive and comprehensive action to decarbonize our built environment, preserve open spaces, support a clean energy economy and protect communities? The science is overwhelming but climate change and the environment fail to make it to the top of our priority list. Join us in welcoming Rob Thomas to share strategies on bringing communities together to accelerate climate action.

Watch this session: https://vimeo.com/772635305

Skippy Mesirow, The Elected Leaders Collective

To effectively address climate change, our elected leaders need to truly lead.  Unfortunately, the current political culture makes it tough for leaders to make the decisions that are in the best interest of constituents and the planet. In fact, 90%+ of elected leaders faced mental health challenges this past year. Skippy Mesirow and the Elected Leaders Collective (ELC) exists to support the leaders committed to making our world a better place.

Watch this session: https://vimeo.com/772780949

Workshops: Block 1

Now is the time to roll up your sleeves and put talk into action. Taking place at venues throughout Breckenridge’s Arts District, you can choose which of these these hour long workshops most interest you. You’ll end the day with new ideas and implementable strategies that will optimize your approach to climate change back home.

Workshops: Block 2

Lunch

Workshops: Block 3

Workshops: Block 4

Evening Keynote: “Chasing Water”

Join us for an evening with Pete McBride as he shares his first-hand account of the climate change-fueled drought and its impacts on the Colorado River Basin. For more than a decade, National Geographic photographer and filmmaker Pete McBride has focused his lenses on the state of water, development, and a changing climate across the West and the Colorado River Basin.

He has documented the river and its tributaries, including an 800-mile trail-less trek on foot through the entire length of the Grand Canyon.

McBride will share stories and images from the river’s changing snowpack to its shrinking reservoirs and its now cracked-earth delta, highlighting how awareness and activism have become ever more urgent to save this iconic river, a lifeline to 40 million Americans that begins in Colorado’s high country.

With sobering examples from a changing climate and our collective challenges, McBride illuminates the urgency of these issues — but also will show stories of community successes and hope against the odds.

This event is open to the public with ticket purchase. Purchase tickets at: https://www.breckcreate.org/event/chasing-water-with-pete-mcbride-national-geographic-photographer-and-filmmaker/?instance_id=153858

Summit attendees to not need to purchase tickets.

Presented by Mountain Towns 2030, in partnership with Fat Tire.

Breakfast

Welcome to Day 3

Eagle’s Journey To Climate Leadership

The tragic death of Adam Palmer, Andy Jessen, and Seth Bossung in an avalanche near Silverton in 2021 was devastating to the entire Eagle, Colorado community. But to honor their legacy, accelerating action on climate became Eagle’s community-wide mission. The Adam Palmer Fund was founded to address climate at scale, and a plan was approved to achieve net zero by 2030. This conversation with Eagle’s leadership will show that climate action doesn’t need more expertise, but rather more leadership.

Watch this session: https://vimeo.com/766945637

MT2030 Activation: Building Climate Leadership Beyond The Summit

We’ll all participate in an hour-long facilitated group workshop led by Gretchen Reid, CEO of Integrated Growth. This impactful and engaging session is designed to build your climate leadership skills, and distill all the knowledge, experiences, networking, tools, and notes that you took during the Summit into a focused and actionable roadmap that will prioritize and help accelerate your climate action and progress back home. Don’t miss this!

Introducing the Mountain Towns Solutions Project, 2022

It’s important that all the learning, the tools and the network we’ve built at the Summit continue to be put into action well beyond our time in Breckenridge.

The MT2030 Solutions Project is a cohort-based program that provides targeted leadership training and real-world expertise to equip participants to pursue an impactful pathway to carbon neutrality.

Closing Remarks