UPCOMING EVENTS
The Elevated Table
Dates:
July 12, 2019 – Squash Blossom Farm
August 9, 2019 – Silver Spring Ranch
September 14, 2019 – Hillside Grain
Everyone brings something to The Elevated Table. We bring the table to the farm and set the stage for an elevated experience. The farmers bring their fresh, locally produced food and the chefs bring their creativity and talents to design a hyper-seasonal five course meal. Our guests bring their plates and their desire to connect to our good food community!
The dinners implement mission-critical strategies: increasing access to fresh, seasonal, locally grown food, sharing the story of farmers in our community, and demonstrating the unparalleled taste and quality of food grown on local farms.
Learn more and buy tickets here.
PAST EVENTS
Sun Valley Forum 2019
Dates: July 23-26, 2019
Sun Valley, Idaho
Thank you for joining us for the Sun Valley Forum 2019!
To see the Forum Program, click here. Speaker videos will soon be uploaded to our Forum site.
Please save the date for next year’s forum – June 9-12, 2020!
Benefit Event for Sun Valley Institute and American Farmland Trust
Date: Tuesday, June 4, 4:00pm-6:00pm
Location: Enoteca (300 N. Main Street Ketchum, Idaho)
The State of Our Food System
Date: Thursday, May 16, 9:00am-7:00pm
Location: Community Campus, Hailey, Idaho and Sawtooth Brewery, Ketchum, Idaho
Let’s work together to create a thriving local food economy! Join us on Thursday, May 16, for a discussion of a new Community Food System Strategic Plan for the Wood River Valley region.
Food system analyst Ken Meter of Crossroads Resource Center conducted 61interviews of food system leaders and analyzed regional economic data to come up with key action steps for our community. The strategic plan is already leading to more unified action and new collaborations including a Wholesale Producer Partnership.
On May 16, Ken returns to the Wood River Valley to present his findings to the community and help us develop plans for impactful solutions. Come learn more and get involved!
MORNING PUBLIC PRESENTATION:
9:00-11:00am at Community Campus – Report overview and Q&A
AFTERNOON WORKSHOP – INVITATION ONLY:
1:30-4:00pm at Community Campus – Brief report overview, Q&A with Ken and breakouts for each of the four community strategies
EVENING PUBLIC PRESENTATION:
5:30-7:00pm at Sawtooth Brewery Public House in Ketchum – Report overview, Q&A and networking opportunities
The State of Our Food System events are co-hosted by Blaine County Food Council, Local Food Alliance, Sun Valley Institute, The Hunger Coalition, University of Idaho Extension, Western SARE, and Sawtooth Brewery.
Policy Pub: The Future of Food
Date: Thursday, April 11, 5:00pm-6:00pm
Sawtooth Brewery Public House
Ketchum, Idaho
The University of Idaho’s James A. and Louise McClure Center for Public Policy Research and Sun Valley Institute are pleased to present Policy Pub: The Future of Food, 5:00-6:00 p.m. Thursday, April 11, at the Sawtooth Brewery Public House and Tap Room, 631 Warm Springs Road, Ketchum.
Discussion panelists are Fred Brossy, farmer and owner, Ernie’s Organics; Mark Davidson, director of conservation initiatives, The Nature Conservancy; Lauren Golden, associate professor and Blaine County Extension educator, University of Idaho Extension and Amy Mattias, co-director, Local Food Alliance, Sun Valley Institute and board member, Blaine County Food Council. McClure Center Director Katherine Himes will moderate the discussion.
The upcoming Policy Pub will showcase perspectives on food and agriculture in the Wood River Valley. Panelists will talk about sustainable food systems, the future of food production and consumption, water and challenges specific to this part of Idaho. Their remarks will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience.
Resilience Workshop
Date: Monday, March 11, 9:30am – 4:30pm
Community Campus
Hailey, Idaho
Initial Scenario Planning Workshop
Date: Monday, December 3, 10am – 5pm
Community Campus, Minnie Moore Room
Hailey, Idaho
Speakers at the workshop will provide an overview of the risks (economic especially) faced from climate change, such as from the Risky Business report and specifically for our county and state, as well as case studies or examples of how other states and communities are getting ahead of these issues (such as Sonoma County‘s Office of Recovery and Resiliency and their resilience fund).
- Katherine Himes, Director of the James A. and Louise McClure Center for Public Policy, University of Idaho
- Water: Ron Abromovich, Hydrologist, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Snow Survey Office
- Fire: Kurt Nelson or Matt Filbert, U.S. Forest Service
- Housing and Affordability: Michelle Griffith, Executive Director, ARCH Community Housing Trust
Driving Innovation for a Secure and Prosperous
Idaho Speaker Series
Building a Finance Strategy to Fight Climate Change (Action Workshop)
Dates: January 8
Time: 9-10:30am
Sun Valley Institute, Ketchum
This is your chance to roll up your sleeves to learn how we can shift our spending and investing to benefit our community and our planet. There are immediate and compelling ways that we can be part of the solution, including by working with our local policymakers to change policies and by investing in local solutions in renewable energy, food and agriculture. Globally we can influence the large banks and already the price declines in new energy and agricultural technologies and practices are driving a rapid transformation – but we need to move faster and we all have a role to play. Let’s work together to build a more resilient community here, and a more resilient world far beyond.
Free! RSVP required, limited space. Reserve your spot here.
Real Campaigns and Real Solutions on Finance and Climate Change (Panel Discussion)
Dates: January 7
Time: 5-7pm
Community School, Sun Valley
We hope you can join us, and please share it with those who you’d like to invite to be part of our community. It will be an inspiring and fun evening with good friends including a welcome by Peter Knight, Generation Investment Management, and remarks by Dan Carol, Senior Adviser to Governor Jerry Brown, Jeff Goodell, contributing editor, Rolling Stone and author of the about to be released very timely, The Water Will Come, Lynn Scarlett, Managing Director of The Nature Conservancy, Paul Walsh, Director of Weather Strategy at The Weather Company, and Freya Williams, CEO North America, Futerra.
Is your financial institution Banking on Climate Change? How you and your investing can be part of a bigger strategy to stop climate change. Join Patrick McCully, Climate and Energy Director at Rainforest Action Network and Aimée Christensen, CEO of Christensen Global Strategies and Executive Director of Sun Valley Institute, Kristin Hull, Founder & CEO, Nia Global Solutions, and Lisa Cooper, President, Figure 8 Investment Strategies for a lively discussion on the critical role we each play in the fight against climate change.
Free! RSVP required, limited space. Reserve your spot here.
Building Resilient Prosperity: How Public Leadership and Private Innovation are Transforming Risk into Opportunity
Dates: September 20
Time: 6-8pm
Generation Investment Management, New York City
We hope you can join us, and please share it with those who you’d like to invite to be part of our community. It will be an inspiring and fun evening with good friends including a welcome by Peter Knight, Generation Investment Management, and remarks by Dan Carol, Senior Adviser to Governor Jerry Brown, Jeff Goodell, contributing editor, Rolling Stone and author of the about to be released very timely, The Water Will Come, Lynn Scarlett, Managing Director of The Nature Conservancy, Paul Walsh, Director of Weather Strategy at The Weather Company, and Freya Williams, CEO North America, Futerra.
We will have an engaging conversation with the aim of continuing to stay informed of what we are each working to do, and to find opportunities to collaborate, so as to accelerate the important, impactful work we are doing – and remember to enjoy ourselves while doing it! In these very serious times of climate impact, with such an urgent call to greater action, it is vital we continue to support each other in our work. As one of our speakers at this summer’s Sun Valley Forum reminded us, “If you’re not having fun, you’re fired!“
Click here to view the invitation.
To RSVP and receive more specifics, please call 208-928-7873 or send an email to forum@sunvalleyinstitute.org
Discover the Vision
Dates: July 27 6-7pm, August 4 5-6pm, August 17 11am-12pm, August 31
Time: 6-7pm
Sun Valley Institute, 631 Second Street, Suite 204, Ketchum, ID 83340
Did you know that the Wood River Valley has enough sunshine to supply the majority of our local electricity needs?
Did you know that Blaine County is the fifth most expensive county in the entire USA to buy food?
The best way to understand the transformative vision and programs of the Sun Vallaey Institute is to invest an hour for the Discover the Vision Event, during which you can personally experience our work first hand.
To reserve your place, call 208-928-7873 or send an email to inquiries@sunvalleyinstitute.org
2017 3rd Annual Sun Valley Forum on Resilience
July 5-8, 2017
Ketchum, Idaho
The Sun Valley Forum convenes global innovators to help build and spread the approaches at speed and scale to support leaders everywhere to accelerate the transformation to resilience. The Forum focuses on investing for impact as well as public engagement and communication, with strategic conversations on food, energy and water.
Please visit www.sunvalleyforum.com
We look forward to seeing you there!
RevUp Blaine Q & A Session and EV 101
Thursday, June 15, 6 – 7:30 pm
Come join us for the final RevUp Blaine event on Thursday, June 15, 6 -7:30 p.m., in the Community Room at the Wood River Community YMCA. Experts from Idaho Power and Idaho National Laboratory will speak on what it means to be an EV owner in Idaho. The presentations will be followed by a Q & A session – a chance for you to put all your EV questions to the experts! Remember, June 30 is the last day to purchase EVs at the RevUp Blaine discounted price!
Location: The Community Room at the Wood River Community YMCA, 101 Saddle Rd., Ketchum
Fire Resilient Communities Conference
June 6-8, 2017
The Sun Valley Institute is pleased to be co-hosting with the University of Idaho the Fire Resilient Communities Conference. This event will focus on Blaine County, but bring models and strategies from far beyond, providing expertise, science, and technology to support fire resilience. The conference has the following goals:
• Unite the community to share values and concerns related to wildfires
• Bring together data users and decision makers to improve community resilience
• Understand what data exist, how they can be accessed, and what new data are needed
• Assess what can be done, who could do it, and when it should be done
• Showcase new ideas and success stories from Idaho and Montana
Increasing the ability of our communities to withstand natural disasters—particularly fire catastrophes—is a national priority. To fire-adapt our communities, we need to understand the science behind why wildfires can become so destructive. Fire mitigation solutions exist for larger metropolitan areas, but rural communities in the western United States are among the most vulnerable to fire. Much of this is due to limited resources, expertise, and lack of pre-disaster planning and mitigation efforts. Assessing the potential for disaster is important, but given enough time, a disaster WILL happen. Our communities need to be armed with tools couched in science and technology—tools that can assist in proactively making changes for the future. The public, government agencies, and scientists need to partner to be prepared and offset risk and damage.
Location: The Limelight Hotel, Ketchum, ID 83340
Cost: Free, By Invitation
Sawtooth Botanical Garden Climate Change Talk
Wednesday, May 24, 2017 @ 6:00-7:30 pm
This winter incredible snows overwhelmed the west while withering heat shattered historic February records in the east. But is this dramatic weather the result of climate change? Join the Sawtooth Botanical Garden and community partners for a talk by National Weather Service climate expert Alex deSmet. DeSmet will explain climate basics before drilling down to changes scientists observe now. He’ll discuss potential local implications on temperatures, growing season, precipitation, soils and stream flow. After discussing why climate change matters to our diverse, resource-dependent economies, deSmet will conclude with ways our community can become more climate resilient.
Location: The Community Library; 415 Spruce Street; Ketchum, Idaho 83340
Cost: Free
Instructor: Alex deSmet is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He is a native of Southeast Michigan and studied meteorology at Central Michigan University. A lifelong passion for meteorology led him to the National Weather Service regional office in Pocatello, where he serves as a forecaster, with emphasis on climate analysis and cooperative observer program management.
B Corp Workshop
Monday, May 15th 2017 @ Noon
Join us for a hands-on workshop where you will learn about Certified B Corps – why they exist and how they are leading a movement to redefine success in business. Find out how joining the B Corp community will benefit your company.
We manage what we measure, so let’s measure what matters! The B Impact Assessment is a great tool for any company to use to measure their social and environmental impact, regardless of whether or not they become B Corp Certified. It’s comprehensive, educational, and it’s always free to use online at BImpactAssessment.net. Companies of any size and sector can use the B Impact Assessment to track their impact and to compare their performance against the 16,000+ companies that are already signed up.
Lead by Emily Erickson, Responsible Business Initiative Manager at the College of Business & Economics at Boise State University
Co-Sponsor(s): Ketchum Innovation Center and Responsible Business Initiative at Boise State University
Location: Ketchum Innovation Center, 311 1st Ave N Ketchum, ID 83340
RevUp Blaine Test Drive Days
Friday, May 12th – May 13th, 2017
Come experience EVs for yourself on Friday, May 12 and/or Saturday, May 13. Drive around town, look under the hood, and give charging a try. Locations and time to follow! The test-drive event is hosted by RevUp Blaine, a limited-time program offering Blaine County residents and businesses massive discounts on four of the most popular electric vehicles: the Chevrolet Volt, the Nissan Leaf, the Audi A3 e-tron, and the BMW i3.
Test Drive Day One
Date: Friday, May 12, 2017, 2 – 6 pm
Location: Ore Wagon Museum, 500 East Ave, Ketchum, Idaho
Test Drive Day Two
Date: Saturday, May 13, 2017, 9 am – 2 pm
Location: CSI Community Campus, 1050 Fox Acres Rd # 107, Hailey, Idaho
SolarizeBlaine Celebration Party & Electric Vehicle Program Launch
September 30, 2016
5:30-7:00pm
Sawtooth Brewery Public House – Ketchum, Idaho
Stop by the Sawtooth Brewery Public House, 631 Warm Springs Rd. in Ketchum, on Friday, September 30, between 5:30PM and 7:00PM to celebrate the incredible success of Solarize Blaine and witness the launch of our Electric Vehicle Power Purchase Program! Refreshments will be served.