Event Recap: Insights from the Bloomberg Green Festival

Author: Deanna Cook

The Bloomberg Green Festival, known for its enlightening presentations and innovative showcases, provided a global platform for sustainability professionals to share ideas and highlight future green initiatives. Attendees had the opportunity to hear from influential speakers, engage in thought-provoking panels, and explore groundbreaking solutions to climate challenges. It’s crucial to keep up with continuously changing environmental trends and regulations, and events like this help me stay current and informed, while also reminding me of the concrete actions I can take to facilitate change.

The festival was an inspiring experience filled with diverse voices and dynamic leaders like Melanie Nakagawa , Governor Jay Inslee , and Pattie Gonia. As part of the #BBGGreenFestival, I also attended a series of TED Talks from TED Countdown, TED Conferences ' global climate initiative. These talks covered everything from the current state of our climate to the interplay between climate, the economy, and democracy.

Here are some of my biggest takeaways from the conference:

Climate policy is critical to the transition

The stakes of the upcoming election could not be higher. The results will determine the next few years—or even decades—of climate policy and regulation. ( Stacey Abrams )

Regulation is not the enemy of business

We need thoughtful regulations that align economic interests with environmental protections. (Sally Jewell)

Capitalism is being tested

?Businesses are increasingly recognizing that there are fewer profits to be made in a world that’s on fire… forcing us to realize the limits of capitalism as our current economic system. ( Akshat Rathi )

Growth at all costs is unsustainable

The goal of our current economic system is growth. Our choice is whether the end of growth will come by disaster or by design. ( Gaya Herrington )

The climate fight can unify us

With intentional design, the climate fight has the power to be the biggest unifying movement on the planet, bringing together our increasingly polarized global society. (Mayor Bruce Harrell )

Equity is key

As a global society, we must consider our future choices in the context of our colonial past, prioritizing climate solutions that are just and equitable for all. ( Joshua Amponsem )

We’ve done hard things before—let's do it again

While climate solutions may sound difficult to achieve, we’ve proven we can do hard things. We just need to look for opportunities and find the optimism to act. (Jim Coulter)

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There is still much work that needs to be done, and the conversations and commitments engaged by the Bloomberg festival remind us that we are capable of driving the change we need. Let’s continue to stay involved, keep ourselves updated, and push forward to drive sustainable impact in all our environments.

During the week of the Bloomberg Green Festival, Deanna also attended multiple events from PNW Climate Week, a week-long series of events throughout Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver that set the stage for meaningful conversations on climate action. Find her recap from these events here.

Deanna Cook is the Senior Sustainability Project Manager for ADEC ESG, a leader in sustainability solutions, supporting global organizations as they work to integrate ESG topics into successful and impactful corporate strategy.