The theme of the Ninth Annual Conference of the Aspen Junior Fellows, held in Milan on May 7-8, was “Reconciling the environment and development. New ideas from the Y generation to beat weak economic growth”. The Conference proceedings were divided into three sessions which focused on: the ecological deficit and measures to establish cross-generational solidarity on environmental values; Italy’s energy strategies viewed from an international comparative perspective; and the environment and food security in a more crowded, hotter, and “flatter” world.
In recognition of 2010 being declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Biodiversity, dedicated to the protection of all life on earth, this year’s Aspen Junior Fellows Annual Conference (the ninth of its kind) was devoted to the topic of the environment. The participation in the Conference of young people from the so-called Generation Y (those born from the mid-1970s onwards) helped focus the Conference discussions on the issue of promoting cross-generational solidarity with a view to reversing the trend of environmental degradation and restoring our planet’s carrying capacity.
The event brought together eighty members of the Aspen Junior Fellows to purposefully debate the central theme of the Conference from three different perspectives:
1. During the first session, given over to examining the question “What point are we at on sustainable development?”, the discussion centered on the state of our planet’s ecological deficit. It was acknowledged that the environment no longer stands in the way of economic development, but rather constitutes a key driver of it through the emergence of the green economy and green jobs. It was also stressed that responding to continued growth in a world of finite resources requires environmental governance at an international level, as well as clearly-defined incentive models and mechanisms geared towards financing sustainability;
2. Starting with an analysis of the government’s national energy plan, the second session entitled “Decision time on energy: Italy vs. ROW“ examined in depth the high potential for energy savings that would result from increases in efficiency and achievable reductions in the energy consumption of Italian households and businesses. The participants considered the technological and economic prospects of the exploitation of different energy sources, particularly renewable resources and nuclear power. Also discussed was the constraint posed by local consensus on the development of new energy infrastructure (the so-called NIMBY syndrome); and
3. Lastly, the third and final session explored the relationship between the environment and food from the point of view of achieving the goal of “Feeding the planet whilst conserving it”, in a world where, over the next 50 years, more food will need to be produced than over the last 10,000 years. As the issue of food security happens to be one of the main focuses of the Milan Expo in 2015, the Conference provided an opportunity for participants to reflect on the importance of that event for Italy. The session also saw a discussion of the paradoxes inherent in an inefficient food supply chain, with half of the world’s food production wasted, producers earning little and consumers paying a lot. Finally, attention was drawn to the challenge of finding ways to preserve biodiversity, fresh water as a vital resource and soil fertility.
