WEATHERING CHANGE

WEATHERING CHANGE
Colorado Business Leaders Voice Climate Concerns
COLORADO BUSINESS LEADERS SHARE
THEIR CONCERNS ABOUT CLIMATE
On October 28, more than 100 leaders from across Colorado’s key business sectors
met in Denver to talk about how changing weather patterns and climate trends are
already beginning to affect their enterprises, and what the state should be doing now
to protect its economy in the face of these challenges. Farmers and ranchers sat
down with real estate developers, energy executives and government planners
at the History Colorado Center. They were joined by scientists from Colorado State
and the University of Colorado.
The lively half-day conversation covered a wide range of issues. Among the top themes:
• Prolonged drought and extreme weather are already causing significant disruption.
Climate is creating a new degree of risk and uncertainty for Colorado businesses.
• State and local officials need to work closely with the private sector to make Colorado industries more resilient; politicians have been too slow to act.
• The climate issue can and must be dealt with, despite its history of partisan rancor.
Participants from business sectors that have sometime been opposed to climate
action said they were ready to engage in a discussion of concrete, local responses.
Some said results can be achieved without stepping into climate politics at all.
Many others noted that their businesses have already been holding internal climate
discussions for some time.
The event was moderated by historian Patricia Limerick of the Center of the American
West at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and it kicked off with meteorologist
Mike Nelson of Denver’s ABC 7News discussing his perspective based on his
25 years’ experience reporting on Colorado weather. They were followed by a panel
of scientists hosted by Climate Central’s chief climatologist, Dr. Heidi Cullen.
A copy of the program and list of participating organizations are included at the end
of this report.
The event was sponsored by Environmental Defense Fund and Climate Central and organized with
support from Outreach Strategies, LLC.
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WEATHERING CHANGE
THE HOST COMMITTEE FOR WEATHERING CHANGE INCLUDED:
• Denver Metro Chamber
of Commerce
• Colorado Cattlemen’s Association
• Family Farm Alliance
• Colorado Municipal League
• Denver Water
• National Ski Areas Association
• Getches-Wilkinson Center for
Natural Resources, Energy,
and the Environment at CU Law
• Wirth Chair in Sustainable Development
at CU-Denver
To maximize open discussion, the meeting was conducted under
“Chatham House Rules,” by which a participant’s remarks may be made
public but not ascribed to the individual without permission. Comments
here are presented verbatim, without attribution.
WEATHERING CHANGE
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CLIMATE RISK = BUSINESS RISK
“We’re at a place in Colorado where we’re particularly vulnerable to the
impacts of this issue economically. Agriculture. Timber. Recreation.
It’s all vulnerable.” —RANCHER
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WEATHERING CHANGE
Climate Risk = Business Risk
THE COLORADO ECONOMY IS AT RISK
“If we weren’t sitting here discussing global warming—if we were
­looking at a chart that said cancer or heart disease instead—we would
be moving heaven and earth to deal with it.” —WATER EXPERT
“We have industries in Ft. Collins that rely on
water. The reason they placed themselves
there is because our water is awesome. The
fires in the Poudre River watershed were a
wakeup call for those industries.”
“Our county risks becoming an island of agriculture in a sea of industry and commercial
development. We can’t get our seeds. We can’t
get our plows. We can’t get our fertilizer trucks
to come through because we‘re isolated.
“When we had the wildfires last summer our facility in Pueblo wasn’t able
to ship product on rail because the rail lines were closed due to the fires.
We’ve had trouble getting product out of our other factories in Colorado
because of flooding and damage to the roads.” —MANUFACTURER
“In Colorado climate change and water are synonymous with one another.”
REAL ESTATE & WILDFIRE/BURNING LOCAL BUDGETS/YEAR-ROUND FIRE
“Our resources for fighting wildfires are being
challenged by the density of residences in the
mountains. More and more they’re preoccupied with evacuation and structure protection
and less with fire containment.”
“A lot of the losses in Colorado due to wildfire
are being pooled against residents that don’t
live in the woods.”
“Ask any wildland firefighter in the woods—every single one will tell
you there is no fire season anymore. We’re having some of our most
­catastrophic fires in February. These things are happening year-round.”
—FIREFIGHTER
“When we lost 143 homes in our fire, well
those homes aren’t there anymore. They’re
paying lower property taxes. So those taxes
don’t go back into the support of the fire
department that’s there to protect them.”
WEATHERING CHANGE
“When the insurance companies pay a claim
the pay it to the homeowner. The fire department that spent all the money and all the man
hours doesn’t get compensated.”
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Climate Risk = Business Risk
PROBLEMS FOR OIL & GAS
“Urban interface is anywhere flammable vegetation meets property value at
risk. That typically is homes. But now we’re finding those values at risk include
oil and gas wells in areas like Rifle, Grand Junction, that are dead smack in the
nasty forested high fire-prone areas.” —FIREFIGHTER
“It’s very difficult to operate where creeks overflow. There’s downtime related to high temperatures because you can’t compress the gas—the equipment just won’t work at those high
external temperatures.”
FARMERS, RANCHERS HIGH & DRY
“I’ve been farming for about 50 years. [My family] came to the county in 1880 and we’re still at
it. I am president of our local cattlemen’s association, but as of May 2012 I don’t own a cow,
because economically it isn’t working.”
“We weren’t able to put cattle on one of our forests this year. The grass was
there for forage but we didn’t have the water there for drinking. We didn’t have
the runoff to fill the drinking ponds.” —RANCHER
“This year I didn’t get to irrigate at all. I didn’t
get any rain until August, so I was done. I was
cooked.”
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“We manage our livestock based on small
reservoirs. They’re just not there. We’ve
watched them dry up.”
WEATHERING CHANGE
Climate Risk = Business Risk
OUTDOOR INDUSTRY AT RISK
“We’re having drier falls than we’ve had, so a slower start to our [ski]
business, which is tough. When it’s a bad start to the season it’s hard to
get people back into it.” —SKI OPERATOR
“We have a healthy and robust recreation
economy today. A huge company like DaVita,
for example, can put their headquarters anywhere in the U.S. They came to Denver. Why
did the come to Denver? For the quality of life.”
“Ski areas have invested hundreds of millions
of dollars in water rights. Water rights are
something that is our future and we will continue to invest in that.”
“We talk about the effects of climate change on a daily basis. We’re draining Bonny Reservoir.
We’ve got endangered fish all across the state that are threatened by increases in water temperatures in cold river streams. That is a tangible impact to these people. They’re witnessing
that on a firsthand basis.”
“This is the battle of the century for us. It may well go to the
Supreme Court.” —RESORT ASSOCIATION LEADER
WEATHERING CHANGE
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WATER, FIRE & UNEXPECTED
CHALLENGES
“No matter what happens with precipitation, if it’s
hotter, everything is a little worse. Evaporation is
a little worse. Demand for energy production is a
little more if it’s hot. Agriculture needs more water
if it’s hot. Even if it rains the same amount, even if
everything else stays the same, the heat will still
strain those resources.” —RISK MANAGER
Water, Fire & Unexpected Challenges
COMPETING FOR WATER RESOURCES
“Irrigated agriculture is 150,000–170,000 acres of economic activity in the
Western states. It is a huge economic engine driven by water. If you don’t
have the water, you don’t irrigate.” —WATER SYSTEMS OPERATOR
“If we do have historic droughts we may have
to shut down the plant and send 4,000 families
home without a paycheck. That planning and
decision requires discussion. I always argue
that every lawn better be dead and every car
better be dirty before I lay off 4,000 people.”
“We’re allotted 25 percent of stream flow out
of the river that we draw from, but last year the
streams were barely running. The water was
essentially not there at all. Probably the worst
snowmaking season we’ve ever had.”
“Not all water is reliable water. Compact says the basin can grow to 15 million acre-feet.
We’re now at 12.7 or 12.8. But even at 13.5 million, that reduces reliability by 50 percent.”
“You can build your way out of a flood. You can’t build water.” —CITY PLANNER
BROKEN WATER LAW
“The first in line—first in right system doesn’t work anymore, but it’s
embedded in everything.” —TRADE ASSOCIATION LEADER
“State water law is built around an agricultural
system. We have a whole use-it-or-lose-it
­situation where there’s not a real incentive to
conserve because if you don’t use it you lose
that right forever.”
“Even in the state of Colorado what’s happening is the South Platte is totally different from
what’s happening out in the Gunnison. You
can’t have the same rules.”
“We know that it’s antiquated but we also know that it’s a property right.”
“One of the gaps we see is the use-it-or-lose-it approach of Colorado water
law. It prevents efficiency improvements. It prevents the opportunity to
­create innovative recycling and uses, either for agriculture or municipalities.”
Tim Connor
—PLANNER
WEATHERING CHANGE
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BUSINESS WANTS ACTION,
LEADS THE CHARGE
“Is it going to be the business community standing
up and really driving change? It seems like it. That
maybe what is needed to drive the politicians, some
big businesses are going to have to stand up.”
—BUSINESS MANAGER
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WEATHERINGCHANGE
CHANGE
WEATHERING
Business Wants Action, Leads the Charge
BUSINESS IS LEADING
“If we just waited for the government to fix it, that might not be
the best strategy.” —MANUFACTURER
“There is not policy right now. So you’re creating a reactive response rather than a proactive one. We’re scrambling.”
“We do business in 73 countries and we’re
sitting in the one where we don’t really talk
about this as an issue.”
“I think it’s up to all of our industries to be the educators.”
“As a corporation I’m accountable to shareholders, so I have to report out a plan. I think politicians sometimes are accountable for their 4-year run so they can make promises, but it then
goes nowhere.”
CHALLENGES FOR GOVERNMENT
“Local governments have a lot more flexibility to get out there and begin
to work with the community. There is no national conversation about climate change preparedness or adaptation but on the local level, there is.”
—COUNTY PLANNER
“The state may not be taking it on but Ft. Collins is looking at climate change. The city of
Boulder is looking at climate change. The city
of Denver is looking at climate change. Can
we collaborate as interested municipalities
to drive something forward on a regional or
statewide level?”
“The biggest problem is that we’re looking
at local government and state government to
help address what is really a global challenge.
I think it’s hard for local governments and
­individuals to think at that scale. And the
state hasn’t stepped up in a leadership way
to encourage this conversation.”
“Yes, you need that local effort. But it needs to be coordinated on a higher level. There isn’t
leadership on some of these issues to set the framework for that local action to work in concert together.”
“There has to be a realization that if the conditions change, society has to change to accommodate and adapt to that. Our experience is that the federal permitting agencies do not like
to recognize change.”
WEATHERING CHANGE
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Business Wants Action, Leads The Charge
Removing Barriers, Overcoming Hurdles
REMOVING BARRIERS,
OVERCOMING HURDLES
“Meet the average person where they are. It doesn’t have to be framed
in the climate umbrella and you can still get actionable stuff done.”
—BREWER
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WEATHERING CHANGE
Removing Barriers, Overcoming Hurdles
USING THE “C” WORD
“If we work backwards from impacts instead of trying to argue about terminology and argue about science I think people would gather up and
deal with impacts.” —REAL ESTATE EXECUTIVE
“That’s a huge barrier that we just need to get
over. The business community needs to
speak. As long as we’re pointing in the right
direction, let’s keep going.”
“We kinda get wrapped around the axle of
climate science and uncertainty. It should be
about risk management and costs.”
“Too often it gets taken into the political realm, it gets addressed in politics.
But let’s just talk about what’s happening from an economic standpoint.
And if we can shift the conversation into dollars and cents and localize that,
that’s where we can start to build momentum.” —BUILDER
“We try to deal with weather or climate or global warming or whatever you want to call it
and we get all bound up in the political arguments over the terminology. I think we’d be a
lot better off if we started with how we’re going to address impacts. Because the terminology
doesn’t matter.”
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
“If you don’t share what you’re doing, everybody’s going to assume everybody else is
doing nothing.”
“The approach we’re trying to take as an
industry is more around transparency vs.
competitive advantage.”
“Most industries are concerned about this for one reason or another.
But I don’t know how often they talk to one another.” —NATURAL GAS PRODUCER
Tim Connor
“It’s really about being able to communicate this not as something you believe or don’t believe.
You can speak the language business managers understand. The language of business risk
management is much more inclusive.”
WEATHERING CHANGE
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Removing Barriers, Overcoming Hurdles
John Rae
PARTNERING WITH AGRICULTURE
“In agriculture there’s always been general awareness of changes in the climate. But for us
to have a substantive conversation about these things is pretty difficult. It always goes right
to the idea that we have to change the way we operate our private businesses because of
somebody else’s idea … as opposed to getting to know them and trying to find something
in common and moving forward from there—that’s how deals are made every day. Climate
has not taken that approach.”
“Municipalities haven’t necessarily gone about it the best ways in the past. You had some
cities just go buy a lot of agricultural rights and dry up farms and ranches to put the water in
municipal systems. It’s left a really bad taste, a lot of distrust.”
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
“We’re looking at more of these [energy efficiency] projects and finding there are fewer
rebates available than there were. It’s changing investments from six-year payback to nine,
ten, eleven even twelve-year payback. That
becomes a big difference.”
“In this day and age, now that we’re on the
downside of the stimulus money, we’re getting into a more tactical time when there are
loans and things like that.”
“The federal government has been the largest source of finance for
water storage in Colorado in the past. It won’t be that way in the future.”
—WATER MANAGER
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WEATHERING CHANGE
Removing Barriers, Overcoming Hurdles
BUILDING BETTER BUILDINGS
“A lot of the Class A properties—whether commercial, industrial or office—are going for some
kind of environmental certification because the tenants are demanding it. Some are focused
on the payback, some aren’t.”
“Are we planning for a drought or are we planning for extreme precipitation events or are
we planning for both? It’s completely different
planning schemes when you’re talking about
infrastructure. And when you talk to somebody at the operating level who has to put in a
budget request for a $15 million upgrade and
they have to talk to politicians about that and
have a vote, you can’t do it.”
“Performance energy contracting is something that we’ve done in the public sector
for twelve or thirteen years. We’re starting to
move it into the private sector. It’s a great way
to deal with capital-constrained entities. The
entity keeps paying the same utility bill, and a
portion of that over time goes to pay back the
contractor. Then your bill goes down.”
“We’re pitted against each other as industries a lot of times and it’s not a productive conversation and it turns into one big slugfest. The conversations—if they can be phrased in a way
where we’re all working toward a common goal—I think these solutions come a lot easier.”
“Colorado, until the last few years, has been sorely behind the times.
No state regulations. No building codes except in a couple of counties.
We’re just getting going but we’re so far behind the curve.” —HOME BUILDER
WEATHERING CHANGE
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Removing Barriers, Overcoming Hurdles
OVERCOMING SUSPICION
“My feeling as a rancher who is on multiple
federal land dealings is that climate is
going to be an excuse for more regulatory
oversight rather than an adaptive strategy
that facilitates doing things that need to
be done.”
“Every document that we sign today, whether
it’s for their water or their federal land leases
or what have you, will have the term climate
change in it with very little explanation
beyond limiting their use of something they
depend on.”
ENGAGING THE PUBLIC
“I don’t think anyone in Colorado, except for the informed few, identifies
water as a problem that permeates through recreation and homes and
everything else.” —FIREFIGHTER
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“We have a lot of builders who have tried to
build these amazingly efficient homes [but] it
was an upgrade package and nobody bought
it, because when they came in and looked
at the house they couldn’t see those things.
What they saw was the granite countertops
and that’s what they would buy.”
WEATHERING CHANGE
Tim Connor
“We’ve learned in fire that it’s not enough to
sell fire to people. We have to sell ecosystem
management, wildlife and habitat management,
aesthetics, noise reduction, property values—
oh and by the way it’s also going to be fire
resistant. Trying to find those cross­cutting
elements becomes much more powerful.”
Filling the Gaps
FILLING THE GAPS
“All these fancy [farming] technologies cost money. Other states
help fund that, just like they do energy savings. Colorado doesn’t.”
—WATER MANAGER
WEATHERING CHANGE
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Filling the Gaps
FLEXIBILITY & INCENTIVES
“We want to make it legally beneficial for us to heave the water in the
streams, which benefits all the downstream users, but we want to not
lose our water rights.” —SKI OPERATOR
“A lot of the future water challenges can be
addressed in a pretty painless way if we
enable our legal and market systems to be
more flexible. We need to start addressing
that now so that we’re not causing pain later
and we’re not litigating over silly things later.”
“People like incentives but we need to have
a market and market drivers and in the water
world that’s hard. There aren’t real markets.
More flexibility will enable those market
­incentives to respond to need.”
“If 85 percent of our water is used in agriculture, we need to go help those landowners. There
are farming methods like low till and minimum till and we need to invest not only the time and
the energy but the money into bringing these things to fruition.”
MORE DATA, BROADER VISION
“We used to do long-term planning based on long-term averages—50 years. But we’re looking at
it wrong. We need to be looking at the extreme situations at least and plan that way.”
“What we need is something that provides information on water vulnerability risks all the way
down to the county level, then you decide. So whenever anything is [proposed], the risk is
transparent to everybody, and then you can hold officials and others accountable.”
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WEATHERING CHANGE
Filling the Gaps
WIGGLE ROOM ON WATER
“Even within the prior appropriations doctrine there’s been some really creative stuff done
with water, like the recreational in-stream flows, redefining recreation as a ‘beneficial use.’
There are models out there even within this system that were designed for the past century.”
“I’m seeing a lot of folks recognizing the benefits of agriculture using that water. That water stays
in the river longer if your endpoint ag user has that really good senior right. If I can keep water in
the river from this point to that point we all benefit, we’ll be able to fill compact requirements, we’ll
be able to fulfill our agricultural requirement, and we’ll also have a rehabilitated stream.”
UTILITY RULES
“We’re doing better in Colorado than many other states. We’re still not at a point where we
have comprehensive least-cost risk-utility planning.”
“Overall our utility models do not reinforce long-term sustainability practices at all. Whether it’s
water or electric, we have a pretty antiquated system that has not kept pace with modern times
to value things that should be valued.”
“Risk management needs to drive more of portfolio approach to water and to energy.”
FIXING EXISTING BUILDINGS
“New buildings like this one are incredibly efficient. But they make up two percent of our
building stock. Where are the gains to be had?
It’s in the existing buildings—the 1950s and
1960s office towers and industrial facilities and
warehouses that are just terribly inefficient.”
WEATHERING CHANGE
“The big sucking sound comes from the existing homes that are out there. Even a base
model home today that doesn’t have a bunch
of green features, it’s far more efficient than
something that was built even 10 years ago
because we’re building to a tougher code.”
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CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM:
COLORADO CAN-DO
“What are the things that motivate people in Colorado? It’s price.
It’s freedom of decisionmaking. It’s rational government.” —ENERGY LAWYER
Cause for Optimism: Colorado Can-Do
TAPPING COLORADO VALUES
“I am of the firm belief that when you give all the information to the
public, usually they come to the right conclusion.” —WATER EXPERT
“It’s not, is climate change real, but how do we plan no matter what? How do we look at
the important sectors and how do we factor those all in to create a Colorado future that is
what we want it to be—the security, the economic diversity that is so important—how do
we continue that?”
INNOVATION IN AGRICULTURE
“You can go out there and walk on that land and you can feel it in your step because of the
nutrients. You don’t need to plow. All that stuff goes back into the ground and absorbs the
water. Now it’s creating a soil. There’s still some things we need to learn about it, but boy
they’re worth learning.”
“The farmer next to me planted a different variety of corn. He irrigated it
three or four times instead of six or seven.” — FARMER
“All of a sudden I’ve got these mobile solar
panels on the back of a truck that goes from
well to well. That wasn’t even a concept 20
years ago and now everybody’s doing it. It’s
because we’re trying to figure out new ways
to move water around that you didn’t have to
do in the past.”
“If we can put water on it right when we need
it we can use less fertilizer. There are a lot of
good, creative things that can happen.”
TEACHABLE MOMENTS
“There’s an opportunity with the September floods to advance all of the things that will better
prepare you for the future. You’re looking at about a two-year window and that’s when you’ve
got to hammer the education and the communications because people forget about it, they
move on.”
“It’s the effect of the drought in 2002 that probably had the biggest impact on behavior
change. Getting people to accept that they could live with less really fundamentally altered
what they feel they need to use. That ‘drought shadow’ had the biggest impact.”
WEATHERING CHANGE
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CLOSING REMARKS
The desire to engage in a state-level dialogue about climate
and resilience in new, more productive ways was captured
in the closing remarks by Terry Fankhauser, a rancher and
Executive Vice President of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, an organization that has long been cautious about the
subject. Terry set aside prepared remarks to make an impassioned bid for collaboration based on mutual understanding:
“One thing we know … is that the climate is changing. For whatever reason, there are
changes. We in this industry experience and adapt to a changing climate all the time, both in
the short term and the long term. We have some [families] that have been on these places in
Colorado for 150–200 years. And they have experienced change. It does affect our lifestyles
and our livelihoods.
“Some industries are portable. Some can move to other states or other countries. We’re not
interested in that. Our ranches don’t move very easily. We’re vested in this state and for that
reason we’re vested in this issue.
“The way to move forward is to put people at the table that have skin in the game. They sign
the front side of the paycheck, not the back. If you do that, I think we can get to some sort of
result that’s meaningful for all of us.
“I think the opportunity exists to have this conversation. It really does. And I think agriculture
is prepared to do so. But they’re going to have to understand and believe and trust that those
who are around the table with them also share some of their interests.
“If you want to get to the notion of discussing climate change you shouldn’t talk about climate
change. You should pick one of the resulting factors of it and work together. If it’s water, let’s
sit down and talk about water. We’ll get to the conversation around climate change through
that. But by that point in time we’re going to have trust. We’re going to have a mutual understanding of what each other’s goals are.”
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WEATHERING CHANGE
NEXT STEPS:
CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION
In the days after the Weathering Change event, participants completed an online survey
that gauged their reaction to the discussion and desire to continue the conversation.
Sixty‑six percent said they are likely or very likely to personally devote time to future
­discussions or events. Water and business risk were the top two areas of interest moving
­forward, according to the survey. Agriculture and policy design/reform followed closely.
FOCUS FOR FUTURE ENGAGEMENT (SELECT ALL THAT APPLY)
Water availability and usage
59%
Business risk assessment
49%
Agricultural initiatives
43%
Policy design or reform
43%
Clean energy
35%
Energy efficiency
35%
Resilience to storms
32%
SEEING OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE FORWARD
“It was great to see a broad cross section of
Colorado’s business community at the table
having a dialogue.”
“I loved that ag and the cattle industry was
there! First event I’ve seen them there to
­discuss these issues and told them so. Very
grateful that door is opened.”
“We need a Colorado Office of Climate Services”
“[Impressed] that the discussion around climate change is diverse and there are a lot of
­interested parties out there who are willing to engage.”
“First climate conference I attended where
mitigation plans were discussed.”
“It was great to see the ranching community
involved.”
“It was great to see the Cattlemen’s Association announce their participation in this sustainability conversation. The biggest takeaway was seeing this momentous shift and realizing we
are closer to a solution as traditionally opposing groups join the cause.”
WEATHERING CHANGE
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PARTICIPANTS
Business, government and other organizations represented at the Weathering Change event:
ABC 7NEWS
American Lung Association in Colorado
American Renewable Energy Institute
American Rivers
Anadarko
Anchor Point Group
Arapahoe Basin Ski Area
AssetsforLife.net
Ball Corporation
Black Hills Corporation
Boulder County
Bull Moose Sportsmen’s Alliance
CBRE
Center for Science and Technology
Policy Research, University of Colorado
Center of the American West
City of Boulder
City of Fort Collins
Climate Central
Coalition for the Upper South Platte
Colorado Association of Home Builders
Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust
Colorado Cattlemen’s Association
Colorado Department of Natural Resources
Colorado Energy Office
Colorado Farm Bureau
Colorado Oil and Gas Association
Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Colorado Ski Country USA
Colorado State University
Colorado Water Congress
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Colorado Wildlife Federation
Conscience Bay Company
CSU Department of Atmospheric Science
Currier Ranch, Colorado Farm Bureau
Denver Water
DIRECTV
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Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Health-Denver
Family Farm Alliance
Flood and Peterson
Great Outdoors Colorado
High Country Conservation Center
Husch Blackwell LLP
JFS Public Affairs Group
Jones Lang LaSalle
Ladder Ranch
Lewis Investments
Meridian Institute
Metro Denver EDC
Molson Coors Brewing Company
National Wildlife Federation
New Belgium Brewing Co.
Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District
National Ski Areas Association
OpenSnow.com
Outdoor Industry Association
Protect the Flows
RedZone Software LLC
RST Associates
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
University Corporation for
Atmospheric Research
University of Colorado
University of Colorado-Boulder
University of Denver
Vail Resorts
Vestas
Walton Family Foundation
Western Native Trout Initiative
Wirth Chair for Sustainability,
University of Colorado
Xcel Energy
WEATHERING CHANGE
EVENT AGENDA
WELCOME & INTRODUCTION
Patty Limerick, Director and Board Chair, Center of the American West
at the University of Colorado
Mike Nelson, Chief Meteorologist, ABC 7NEWS Denver
SHORT VIDEO OF THERESA SPRINGER—COALITION FOR THE UPPER SOUTH PLATTE
EXPLORING THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE CHANGES
Dr. Heidi Cullen, Chief Climatologist at Climate Central, moderates
Dr. Dave Thompson, Colorado State University, Big picture climate science & trends
Dr. Balaji Rajagopalan, University of Colorado, Water supply/resource impacts, precipitation, drought, and more
Dr. Lisa Dilling, University of Colorado, Uncertainty and risk; business impacts
(fire, water, temperature); nature or real resilience
SHORT VIDEO OF JEANNE HORN—WESTERN SLOPE OUTFITTER & ELK HUNTER
ROUNDTABLE BREAKOUTS & SMALL GROUP DIALOGUE
Participants engage with each other, answering questions designed to address the
­challenges posed to their industries and the Colorado economy as a whole; sharing
thoughts and strategy on what they’re doing now to start addressing them; and the
obstacles and opportunities to solve these challenges going forward.
SHORT VIDEO OF PAT O’TOOLE – RANCHER & PRESIDENT OF THE
FAMILY FARM ALLIANCE
FULL GROUP MODERATED DISCUSSION AND STRATEGY SESSION ON
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
CLOSING REMARKS – WHAT COMES NEXT?
Cover photo: USDA
WEATHERING CHANGE
25
Weathering Change was organized by Environmental Defense Fund and Climate
Central with support from Outreach Strategies, LLC.
THE HOST COMMITTEE INCLUDED:
• Denver Metro Chamber
of Commerce
• Colorado Cattlemen’s Association
• Family Farm Alliance
• Colorado Municipal League
• Denver Water
• National Ski Areas Association
• Getches-Wilkinson Center for
Natural Resources, Energy,
and the Environment at CU Law
• Wirth Chair in Sustainable
Development at CU-Denver
For more information, contact Jon Coifman, [email protected]