The year 2020 is considered a milestone in the campaign to reverse climate change, a deadline in the Paris accords for starting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid escalating consequences. It is also an election year in the U.S. Imagine 2020 is the first of three annual conferences for the Hudson Valley region, to examine progress in reducing our climate impacts, adapting to the unpreventable aspects of climate change and developing a politics of sustainability that is unifying and effective.
This conference examines progress in the US, New York and especially the Hudson Valley to reduce emissions, make our communities more resilient in the face of unpreventable climate changes, and tie climate action to political revitalization. We will look at the full range of climate solutions – beyond solar power and electric vehicles – from better methods of cement-making to refrigerant management to green infrastructure to technologies for carbon capture. Bringing together the research, planning, policy and development communities, we will look at progress achieved since the 2013 Mid-Hudson Regional Sustainability Plan was published, and areas where more work is needed, drawing out specific actions needed and identifying ways to advance. The discussion will focus especially on the way that ambitious sustainable development goals can create job and business opportunities in a “regenerative economy.”
x
This 2020 conference begins a three-year effort to build a stronger coalition for climate action to achieve ambitious carbon reduction milestones by 2035 and 2050. Each year, followup conferences will take stock of progress, lessons learned and emerging opportunities.
x
x