USA
Activism
Merely defining gun violence is difficult, and coming to agreement on what to do about it often seems near-impossible in the United States. But people on all sides of the debate agree that they want to feel safe, even if they have different ideas of how to achieve security. What will it take to truly listen to each other and make progress on this issue? U.S. Representative...
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 disagreements on how to share the water, what policies and technologies could get a new agreement across the finish line? John Entsminger, Nevada’s lead negotiator for the Compact; Bidtah Becker, attorney with...
NBCUniversal News Group recently announced the honorees for its prime-time special, “Inspiring America: The Inspiration List.” NBC News’ Tom Llamas brings this conversation featuring Americans making a difference to Aspen. The panel includes environmental and climate justice activist Catherine Flowers; Susan Burton, creator of the nonprofit A New Way of Life; and actor Joh...
In this new Aspen Ideas format, all attendees gather each morning to kick off the day by exploring a current issue of deep complexity. The United States is an outlier in both gun ownership and gun violence, yet while there’s general agreement on the grim statistics, underlying causes and potential solutions are still very much debated. All parents want their children to...
The world’s young leaders are leading the charge to ensure future generations inherit a vibrant and thriving planet. Hear from inspiring leaders and changemakers, among them Indigenous youth, about the urgent work being done through innovative and inclusive solutions, activism, and community resilience.
Gen-Z for Change's Aidan Kohn-Murphy on youth-led movements, his advice for young activists, and why it's impossible to lose hope.
More than beautifying our common spaces, public art has the capacity to stimulate conversation and to move us as a community. As debate continues over how we retell and commemorate American history, Monument Lab “envision[s] a society where monuments are dynamic and defined by their meaning, not by their hardened immovable and untouchable status.” By cultivating and facili...
Today's 15- to 25-year-olds — dubbed Gen Z — are true digital natives coming of age against a backdrop of unprecedented political, social, technological, and economic change. These circumstances are shaping a precocious generation that has found its voice and is changing our society, redefining cultural norms, and putting into question decades-old geopolitical and business...
It seems that every organization wants to be called “purpose-driven” lately — but not all purposes are equal. The people who lead purpose-driven organizations have different agendas, and it can be hard to tell if that agenda extends beyond the marketing department’s quest for a good ESG score. Truly purposeful leaders are shifting their business models to fight climate cha...
What is racial healing? This conversation between NBC News correspondent Yamiche Alcindor and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s La June Montgomery Tabron highlights the growing impact of racial healing and explores how this practice is at the heart of our journey to racial equity. We’ll candidly discuss recent headlines — the killing of George Floyd and the energy it mobilized...
Youth are worthy of a future they can lead in creating. This discussion with youth leaders from the Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund and the Center for Native American Youth will focus on the strength in prioritizing young people in creating change. We will discuss how to best support and advance existing practices that activate youth within movements. Through t...
Amazing discoveries are happening in the garages and high school science classes of young pioneers. A 17-year-old invented color-changing stitches, dyed with beet juice, to provide early warning signs of infection. A Time Magazine “Kid of the Year” is building a device to detect contaminants in the water supply and using AI to call out cyberbullying. Another teenager devel...
Sometimes the underdog prevails. Acting on principle, with sparse resources and limited support from regulators and legislators, a few determined individuals took on the industry behind the opioid epidemic and found a semblance of justice for those it had harmed. Although Purdue Pharma gained particular notoriety for its deceptive marketing strategies, it did not act alone...
The statistics on gun violence are numbing—more than 45,000 firearms-related deaths in the US, far more than in any other wealthy country. Suicide is the leading cause of gun deaths, followed by homicides, and mass shootings are an almost-daily horror that have not lost their power to shock. Any reasoned debate about how best to curb the killing must also consider that 40...
We may have moved from a time of reckoning on racial equity to a time of transformation, says business leader Dr. Rohini Anand, and that gives her hope. The author of “Leading Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: A Guide for Systemic Change in Multinational Organizations,” Anand advises leaders all over the world on how to get to work and make DEI improvements that stic...
Following the terror attacks on 9/11, attorney Kenneth Feinberg battled against cynicism, bureaucracy and politics to deliver monetary relief to victims’ families. He's featured in a new Netflix movie about the Victim Compensation Fund.
The relationship between business and society in America has always been close. Today, it is perhaps closer than ever. Catalyzed by events like the murder of George Floyd and inspired by powerful social movements, many corporations have moved from tacit to far more open positions on hot-button social issues. Society, in turn, has largely moved to embrace corporations whose...
The type of conflict that's permeating America today is the intractable kind where normal rules of engagement don't apply. High conflict is the opposite of useful friction or healthy conflict. It's when discord distills into a good-versus-evil kind of feud — an us and a them. Sound familiar? In this time when everything is political, including aspects of the pandemic, ever...
After more than two decades of research, tax scholar Dorothy A. Brown discovered that America's tax system is not color-blind. In fact, societal racism is deeply embedded in it. From attending college to getting married to buying a home, Black Americans are financially disadvantaged compared to their white peers.
The civil rights movement has affected all Americans, whether they realize it or not. The opportunity for everyone to vote represents a major shift, but changes in education, housing and even sports reflect the strategic leadership of activists throughout American history. Civil rights experts and Stanford University professors Pamela Karlan and James Steyer discuss the hi...