Breakthrough Dialogue East 2017: Democracy in the Anthropocene

Every June since 2011, we’ve invited our global network of scholars, thought leaders, journalists, and philanthropists to gather with us in the Bay Area to discuss a new environmental politics. That politics embraces one long-held tenet of environmentalism—that we must reduce total human impacts on nature—while rejecting another—that we must harmonize with nature in order to save it.

For years, we’ve wanted to bring that conversation to Washington, and we’re delighted to finally do so this year.

The Dialogue welcomes a global and ideologically diverse collection of experts from many different fields and backgrounds. It’s designed as an open and honest gathering to share perspectives, to debate solutions, and to confront evidence and old assumptions.

We’ll spend the day talking about the core research issues that Breakthrough engages: energy, food, and conservation. Can we achieve deep decarbonization this century while enabling 9 billion people to live high-energy lifestyles? How do we grow more food on less land? How can we apply democracy and technology to create more effective conservation practices? We try to ask important questions at Breakthrough, and we welcome you to help us find the answers.

At the Dialogue we’ll also hear from some leading scholars whose work has deeply influenced Breakthrough’s worldview, on topics such as feminism, energy innovation, progress, conservation, advanced nuclear power, and the “whole earth” discipline.

In considering these subjects, we ask that you be open-minded as well as outspoken in your views. Both qualities are critical to generating a healthy dialogue. The Dialogue is not about finding comfortable consensus but rather “achieving disagreement”—discerning between misunderstandings and genuine disagreements—in service of making new connections and deepening old ones.