9:00AM Shuttle departs at Baldy View Bus Loop

On our opening day, the Drinkers of the Wind Farm immersive tour offers an on-the-ground look at regenerative agriculture in action. Walk the fields with the farm’s stewards and explore how soil health, climate, and community connect in one living system—and how these practices can restore biodiversity and build a more resilient food future.
The experience includes an outdoor networking lunch featuring local producers and fresh, seasonal harvests, followed by a short conversation between Brooke Bonner, Owner of Drinkers of the Wind, Amy Mattias, Executive Director, Future Roots, and Jeff Tkach, CEO of Rodale Institute. Together, they will explore the realities and opportunities of scaling regeneration—grounded in both lived practice and global perspective.
9:30AM Shuttle departs at Baldy View Bus Loop

The Boardroom, Sun Valley Lodge

Tour the net-zero home of climate/cleantech investor Scott Pinizzotto, featuring a 22 kW Tesla solar roof, high-performance envelope, full electrification, battery storage, SPAN smart panels, and a bidirectional EV. Experience the seamless end result—and hear firsthand what it took to integrate technologies that aren’t yet designed to work seamlessly together.
10:00AM Shuttle departs at Baldy View Bus Loop

Kick off your Sun Valley Forum experience with what matters most: meaningful connection and grounded purpose. Drawing on 25 years as an educator and facilitator, Calysta will guide you through thoughtful small-group conversations to explore what you hope to contribute and carry forward, and the environmental challenges closest to your work. Joined by Nika Moeini — organizer, author, and advocate at the intersection of climate, food systems, and inner work — this session weaves together play, curiosity, and intentional dialogue to move beyond surface-level networking and reflect on why you're here, what you're navigating, and where greater focus could create the most impact over the days ahead.

Sun Valley Opera House

Nika Moeini has spent over a decade organizing at the intersection of climate, food systems, and inner work, driven by the conviction that healing the planet and healing ourselves are one journey. An Iranian-Canadian author, policy analyst, and Plant Based Treaty Ambassador, she founded Youth Climate Save Canada to empower the next generation to lead with purpose. Nika will connect our personal well-being with the health of the living systems we depend upon for our work with each other and with nature.

Recent breakthroughs in decoding animal communication are awakening human empathy and driving a new wave of protection for our planet.

America's National Marine Sanctuaries — like our National Parks — safeguard some of the most extraordinary ecosystems and wildlife on Earth. Yet they are more than protected places; they are working waters where science, conservation, Indigenous and national heritage, and community come together to sustain both life and livelihoods. From coral reefs to shipwrecks, these waters belong to all of us — carrying our past and shaping our future. Joel will outline four actionable pathways to safeguard our shared ocean legacy, brought to life through stories of those leading conservation, advancing technology, and strengthening communities from the Pacific Islands to the Florida Keys.

The world's tropical glaciers are disappearing, and with them, the water, biodiversity, and living memory of mountain cultures across continents. Marcela Fernández, explorer, advocate, and storyteller, has dedicated her life to bearing witness to this loss and refusing to let it be invisible. Named one of the BBC's 100 most influential women in the world, she founded Cumbres Blancas and launched Glacier Nation, a global movement uniting communities from the Andes to the Himalayas, the Alps to the Rocky Mountains, through science, expedition, and the power of story to protect these irreplaceable sentinels of planetary health.

Wildfires are reshaping forests, water supplies, and communities that millions of people depend on. This session will explore how the US Forest Service, the National Forest Foundation and local partners are restoring forests, protecting communities and scaling practical solutions that philanthropists, businesses, and local leaders can help accelerate.

The aging hydro system on the lower Snake River has become an anchor, holding the region back from meaningful economic progress. Restoring the lower Snake and building an updated energy grid can move the region forward and create a new economic boom powered by clean energy, abundant salmon and a free flowing river.

From grassroots community organizing and youth-led advocacy to regenerative agriculture, indigenous land stewardship, and legal frameworks that hold polluters accountable, this conversation explores the full spectrum of climate solutions — and what it takes to accelerate them from promising ideas into tangible, systemic change at the scale our planet demands.

What does it take to build a climate movement that endures across generations? Marcene Mitchell has spent decades advancing nature-based climate solutions and pioneering climate finance from the World Bank to WWF. Pooja Tilvawala founded Youth Climate Collaborative to ensure young leaders don't just join the movement but help shape it — through intergenerational power-sharing, climate mental health, and trust-based support for youth-led action. Together they explore what each generation offers the other: hard-won wisdom, fresh urgency, and the shared conviction that lasting progress demands leadership that bridges age, experience, and perspective.

Joshua Amponsem has spent over a decade working across climate justice, youth leadership, and philanthropy, with a clear conviction: philanthropy cannot solve climate while treating the leadership required for complexity as a risk to be managed. He will challenge a central contradiction in climate philanthropy: the sector calls for systems change, yet too often funds what feels safe, familiar, and close to power. In doing so, it sidelines the very leaders who understand climate as it is lived: connected to livelihoods, health, democracy, food, land, and dignity. Joshua will invite philanthropic actors, investors, and high net worth individuals to rethink de-risking not as protection from uncertainty, but as a pathway to trust, courage, and regenerative leadership.

Stand.earth launched the RetireBigOil.org campaign at last year's Sun Valley Forum. Since then, hundreds of the biggest names in Hollywood have joined the effort, millions of people have learned they are unwittingly invested in fossil fuels, and the campaign is expanding and evolving.

Sun Valley Lodge Terrace An intimate gathering for speakers and VIP's to connect. Enjoy foraged cocktails and mocktails infused with local wildflowers, mountain herbs, and the fleeting flavors of the season, crafted just for you.

Sun Valley Lodge Terrace

Help shape the next generation of investment in America's public waters through catalytic philanthropy, public-private partnerships, and scalable solutions that deliver measurable returns for nature, communities, and the blue economy. Grounded in a vision for sanctuaries that are clean, healthy, open, and protected, this working roundtable will pressure-test four core strategies and surface new pathways for impact — from marine debris removal and ecosystem restoration to expanding public access, protecting maritime heritage, and deploying ocean technologies. Sanctuaries represent one of the nation's most compelling opportunities to align conservation, innovation, and economic growth. Attendees will help identify priority opportunities through the Foundation's National Innovation Fund, moving ideas from concept to funded, scalable solutions. Led by President & CEO Joel R. Johnson and Vice President Jason Donofrio.

Meet at Sun Valley Lodge front door entrance

The Boardroom, Sun Valley Inn

Our second day we will be strengthened by story, connected by nature, engage in intergenerational learning and building, and restored by community

Dr. Susan Eirich developed Reconnection Ecology® from a foundational insight: that humans cannot protect what they no longer feel connected to, and that rekindling our visceral bond with wildlife and nature is the starting point for every meaningful ecological solution. This session explores how expanding our sense of community to include all living beings, and governing our Earth from that place of profound connection, transforms the way we make decisions, design institutions, and find the will to do what our planet urgently needs.

What if true abundance isn't found in the places humanity has been looking, but in the profound wisdom and healing we receive when we surrender to the wild power of Nature? The Ocean and her magnificent beings have been my most powerful teachers, and I feel they've entrusted me to translate their most sacred messages for the world, to inspire deeper connection, empathy and action.

What if restoring nature was not treated as charity, but as essential infrastructure for climate resilience, coastal protection, biodiversity, and economic growth? Earthshot Prize winner Sam Teicher will share Coral Vita’s work to develop high impact technologies and methods to restore reefs at scale, empower frontline communities, and prove that for-profit, for-nature businesses can help transform ecosystem recovery from a fragmented field into a meaningful global industry.

Few things unite people across geographic, generational, and political lines the way birds do. Dr. Elizabeth Gray explores how Audubon is harnessing this connection to advance conservation across the Western Hemisphere, bringing together partners to protect the habitats and natural systems that sustain birds and people alike.

Beautiful, high-quality environmental footage and science data are empowering journalists, filmmakers, and educators to create impactful stories for the planet.

Through film, photography, and a 2,300-kilometer oral history journey along ancient elephant corridors of the eastern Himalaya, writer Kim Frank explores how conflict and coexistence unfold in real landscapes. The talk highlights hope in action—how forest-edge communities adapt, negotiate, and live alongside wild Asian elephants—and what these shared routes reveal about rebuilding connection to each other and the natural world.

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Water is the most overlooked input in the system – and the highest-leverage one. We’ve treated it like a solved utility, but it’s actually a performance variable that shapes community health, trust, and resilience at every level. When water is compromised, everything downstream suffers – people, productivity, and public confidence. But when we get it right, the impact compounds: healthier communities, reduced plastic waste, and restored belief in the systems meant to serve us. This isn’t a cost center, it’s a force multiplier hiding in plain sight.

Climate change is often framed as a scientific or political challenge, but lasting change has always been cultural first. Drawing on his experience as former EPA Region 4 Administrator, climate diplomat, and Trustee of Support + Feed, Daniel Blackman explores why artists, athletes, musicians, and storytellers reach audiences that institutions cannot. From advising the Chris Paul Family Foundation and supporting the WNBA, to collaborating with the Office of the Prime Minister of Barbados on Global South cooperation, Blackman has seen how trusted voices shift behavior and accelerate action. He is currently building a philanthropic investment vehicle powered by Atlanta's ONE Musicfest and writing a documentary on the intersection of culture and climate. Because before policies change, people do.

Purpose-driven solar development creates transformational impact, but only when it genuinely serves the communities closest to the land. Wahleah Johns has championed Indigenous energy sovereignty, ensuring tribal nations lead the clean energy transition. Melanie Kelly designs community solar projects that strengthen local economies, support agrivoltaics, and build unlikely coalitions across polarized landscapes. Together, they explore a shared truth: lasting solar development depends not on technical execution alone, but on trust, relationships, and benefits that resonate across ideological and cultural lines.

Young people care deeply about nature — yet many feel powerless to act. Using global polling data, real-time cultural intelligence from 30K+ user-generated videos, and in-depth ethnographies with youth leaders on the front lines of change, this session explores the emerging story of nature for the next generation – and reveals the experiences, tensions, emotions, narratives, and culture drivers that are helping bridge divides and transform eco-anxiety into creative agency, connection, joy, and engagement.

Afro-Indigenous communities constructed the foundation of ecological practices and defined how we tend to and care for our land. Through an ancestry-honoring conversation with storytelling, Pandora Thomas and Olivia Watkins will share examples of these practices and lineages, while exploring how they are being reclaimed, restored, and brought into present-day practice. It is here that the funder and the practitioner meet to reflect the continuum between capital and practice, between investing in change and living by the principles defined. It is here that they illustrate what becomes possible when we build from inherited wisdom rather than waiting for external systems to lead.

Explore how purpose-driven leadership and conscious capitalism can redefine success in today’s business landscape. Drawing on Jenna Nicholas' book, Enlightened Bottom Line, this session explores practical pathways to align profit with purpose and create lasting impact for people and the planet.

Amber Valletta rose to the top of the fashion world and, from that platform, has challenged the very industry she helped define. A proud member of the Cherokee Nation, a UNEP Goodwill Ambassador, and British Vogue’s first Contributing Sustainability Editor, she has spent decades working within the system—witnessing firsthand how it operates and where it must evolve. With this rare insider perspective, Amber reflects on how fashion and beauty can move from awareness to action and redefine what sustainability truly means.

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Food systems are the number one sector driving transgression of the Planetary Boundaries. This session will surface the solutions to address the critical levers of shifting diets, reducing food waste and aligning value chains for resilience, including capital, public engagement and policy strategies. Five nonprofit leaders will make fast-paced pitches targeted at philanthropists and potential partners and a group of expert panelists will provide feedback and partnership suggestions to each of the presenting organizations. (The vibe will be more “encouraging aquarium” than Shark Tank!).

For today's youth, this is a time of paradox: the generation with the most at stake in a sustainable future is losing faith that their actions matter. It's not because they don't care. They care deeply. But when awareness grows, and agency doesn't, something breaks. Anxiety replaces action. Overwhelm replaces imagination. And many young people are asking, "What's the point?"

Building on real-time cultural intelligence from 30K+ user-generated videos, global polling data, and in-depth ethnographies with youth leaders on the front lines of change, this workshop will share the living story of nature as it’s being told in culture right now and reveal the emerging narratives that help bridge divides, strengthen collective trust, and restore a sense of shared purpose. In creative conversations, we'll imagine new stories about nature, climate and the environment – and develop pathways for intergenerational collaboration for the next chapter of climate leadership and action.

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In the foothills of the eastern Himalaya, endangered wild Asian elephants and humans are locked in a deadly conflict. In India over 500 people and 100 elephants die each year. Writer and Explorer Kim Frank travels to North Bengal, a critical corridor bordering Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh to uncover the roots of this escalating crisis. As forests vanish and ancient migration routes are severed, Where the Forest Roars bears witness to those fighting to restore balance between survival and peaceful coexistence.

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We welcome your presence at the inaugural Living Table dinner. An evening of delight with a menu that embodies the transformation needed in our foodsystems, served through a lens of land stewardship, timescale and generational partnership. Inspired by a “Dinner of Extinction” first created by Sam Kass, former White House Chef and Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition, and author of The Last Supper, the goal of the Living Table is to spark a national model for how climate gatherings and conferences can serve food-one that reflects the values, vision and food systems transformation they seek to advance. If we cannot do this in these rooms, how can we ask it of anyone else?

Maggie Baird is the founder of Support + Feed, a nonprofit she launched in 2020 that addresses both food insecurity and the climate crisis by providing plant-based meals to communities in need, demonstrating that feeding people well and protecting the planet are not competing goals, but the same. Support + Feed has reached 41 cities worldwide, delivering over 2.2 million nourishing plant-based meals and educational resources, built through partnerships with plant-based restaurants, meal kit companies, artists, activists, chefs, and changemakers united around solutions that are equitable, compassionate, and regenerative. Maggie has also partnered with her daughter, Billie Eilish, to protect nature through the power of music, reaching millions from the stage and transforming music industry supply chains, exemplifying the Forum's belief that community, creativity, and collaboration build a more resilient world. The award will be presented by Carole King, the iconic singer-songwriter whose artistry and environmental advocacy have inspired generations. The Resilient Leadership Awards dinner will take place Tuesday evening, June 17, at Trail Creek Cabin, one of the Forum’s signature culinary experiences in the heart of Sun Valley.

Meet at the Baldy Bus Loop

Reducing food waste is one of–if not the–most impactful investments we can make for people and planet. ReFED is the national nonprofit working full-time to reduce food waste at scale by serving as the field catalyst of a movement that engages actors from the farm to the fork. This isn't a panel, it's a working breakfast! Participants will first hear from Jack Pestello, President of Albertsons Own Brands, on the true challenges and opportunities of reducing food waste. Then, participants will join facilitated table discussions organized around the key levers for reducing food waste: policy, influencing businesses, consumer behavior, infrastructure, and innovation. You'll help generate real ideas that lead to concrete action, while learning more about the problem we can all work together to solve.

The Boardroom, Sun Valley Inn

Our second day we will be strengthened by story, connected by nature, engage in intergenerational learning and building, and restored by community

Healthy soil sits at the intersection of climate, health, and economic resilience. Yet transforming the global food system requires more than awareness—it requires science, scalable models and a clear path forward. Rodale Institute’s CEO Jeff Tkach explores how regenerative organic agriculture is emerging as one of the most promising solutions to restore ecosystems, grow nutrient-dense food and strengthen resilience from the ground up. Drawing on decades of research and real-world farm transitions, Jeff dives into the data, momentum, and partnerships driving the regenerative agriculture movement forward.

We waste a staggering one trillion dollars worth of food each year, significantly contributing to the climate crisis. Food waste expert Dana Gunders shares innovative solutions to reduce waste and tips on how you can keep good food out of the trash.