Alisan and I have been fortunate to attend a couple of big fundraising dinners in the past week. Both the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Conservation International attracted a lot of influential Jackson-area folks to their events, perhaps because both featured speakers that explored issues related to climate change.

Dr. Daniel Fagre spoke at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation event, capturing our attention by comparing photo "pairs" of receding glaciers in Glacier National Park. Unfortunately, Fagre's analysis of aerial photographs has not yet been published online. He does, however, describe his glacier monitoring research and presents a sobering assessment:

Glacier National Park’s namesake glaciers have receded rapidly since the Park’s establishment in 1910, primarily due to long-term changes in regional and global climate. These changes include warming, particularly of daily minimum temperatures, and persistent droughts. This warming is ongoing and the loss of the Park’s glaciers continues, with the park’s glaciers predicted to disappear by 2030.

There were a number of speakers at the Conservation International event, including keynote speaker James Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank Group, who referred specifically to Fagre's glacier research. Other speakers included Conservation International CEO Peter Seligmann, screenwriter Bill Broyles and Global Warming Hero League founder Hayden Leeds. Of course, everyone spoke about the need to do something–and to do more than just give money–to support what Conservation International calls its Future for Life campaign–ensuring clean air, fresh water and abundant resources for all.

Peter Seligmann referred to this "open moment" in history , and called on everyone to act — Acting as they define it on CI's website:

Living green is not a trend, it's an ethic. It's about living right, staying in balance and teaching our children the value of nature and respect for the earth. We are at a moment when individuals can take action and real change is possible.

Don't wait. Do one thing differently today.

Hayden Leeds and his crew want all Jackson Hole buildings to have a carbon neutral plan, and they're working directly with Teton County School District administrators to lead the charge with more environmentally responsible school buildings. The Global Warming Heroes League also recognize the need to help folks change their habits, again starting where they can make the biggest impact–with their classmates and parents–encouraging them to rethink their (over)use of disposable water bottles.

Bill Broyles, as one might expect, chose entertainment to challenge our thinking. His home movie about the turtle Mr. Leatherback really drove home the point that our habits–in this case the world's use of 4-5 trillion plastic bags each year–have a tremendously negative impact on wildlife and the environment.

Finally, Wolfensohn cited his friend and colleague Nicholas Stern, author of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, which discusses the effect of climate change and global warming on the world economy.

According to Wikipedia:

Stern’s report suggests that climate change threatens to be the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen, and it provides prescriptions including environmental taxes to minimize the economic and social disruptions. He states, "our actions over the coming few decades could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity, later in this century and in the next, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century."

In his closing remarks, Wolfensohn called on the audience to accept its global responsibility and set an example for others to follow. Of course, there was the challenge to raise funds to underwrite an annual meeting of big thinkers here in Jackson, but I took more away from his talk than just that. I took a renewed sense of commitment and responsibility for actually doing something to make a difference.

What form that commitment will take in the future remains to be seen. For the time being, I look forward to it providing a clearer focus for my blog.

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