UPCOMING EVENTS

Sun Valley Forum 2019

Dates: July 23-26, 2019
Sun Valley, Idaho

We’d love for you to join us for the Sun Valley Forum 2019! Tickets will be on sale in March. Please email us at forum@sunvalleyinstitute.org to be alerted when they go on sale, or check back at your convenience. For scholarships and volunteer opportunities, please email forum@sunvalleyinstitute.org.

PAST EVENTS

Initial Scenario Planning Workshop

Date: Monday, December 3, 10am – 5pm
Community Campus, Minnie Moore Room
Hailey, Idaho
Join us for our first Blaine County Community Resilience workshop from 10am to 5pm on December 3 in the Minnie Moore Room at the Community Campus in Hailey. 
 
This Blaine County community workshop is absolutely timely – we have the opportunity, and indeed the imperative, to lead in advancing economic, ecological and social resilience to build lasting quality of place.
 
The recent release by the U.S. Government of the congressionally mandated Fourth National Climate Assessment reminds us that damage to communities is already happening, with major economic harm. Here is an NPR summary as well. Earlier this year the world’s leading global climate change experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released their Special Report report warning us we must act quickly, or face severe impacts to our security and our economy. The IPCC press release on the report said, “Limiting global warming to 1.5ºC would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society, the IPCC said in a new assessment. With clear benefits to people and natural ecosystems, limiting global warming to 1.5ºC compared to 2ºC could go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society.”
 
We believe this is the case in Blaine County and Idaho – and far beyond, that we can turn risk into opportunity, that fast action now will benefit our society and economy now and well into the future. This workshop will provide important information and be a catalyst to accelerate local efforts, helping to build lasting quality of place. 
We will work to understand how, through innovation and preparation, the community can collaborate to hedge against the risks posed and seize opportunities to increase community resilience. In preparation for our workshops, we have conducted individual and group interviews and have heard common themes about inequality and affordability, about chronic risks such as water quality and quantity and snowfall changes, as well as about natural disasters and acute risks from fire and flooding. We have also heard ideas including specific potential projects we may undertake as a result of the workshops, from housing to communications and from food to energy, as well as the creation possibly of a Chief Resilience Officer position.
 
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). 

The panelists are:
  • 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

Hope to see you there!

Click here to register.

Driving Innovation for a Secure and Prosperous
Idaho Speaker Series

Dates: October 10 & 11
Boise and Idaho Falls

Click here to register.

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-HorizontalLogo
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.

SolarizeBlaine-HorizontalLogo

Solar 101 with Solarize Blaine

March 31, 2016
6:00-7:30pm
Community Library, Ketchum, ID