RFF 50th Anniversary Symposium

50th Anniversary Symposium and Gala Dinner Agenda
October 15, 2002
The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
Washington, DC

Paul R. Portney, President and Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future (Welcoming Remarks)
Thomas L. Friedman, Foreign Affairs Columnist, New York Times (Moderating Opening Remarks)
William Cronon, University of Wisconsin - Madison
William Emmott, Editor, The Economist
Lawrence H. Summers, President, Harvard University
John W. Rowe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Exelon Corporation (Moderator Remarks)
Rita R. Colwell, Director, National Science Foundation
Sergey Brin, Co-Founder & President, Technology, Google Inc.
Paul M. Romer, Stanford University Graduate School of Business
Robert M. Solow, Nobel Laureate in Economics and the Institute Professor of Economics Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Bill McKibben, Author, The End of Nature
The Honorable Michael O. Leavitt, Governor of Utah
Teodoro Maus, Minister, Representation Office of the Mexican Environmental and Natural Resource Ministry
The Honorable Christie Todd Whitman, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

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9:00 - 9:15

Welcoming Remarks
Paul R. Portney, President and Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future | Transcript | Bio

Moderator's Opening Remarks
Thomas L. Friedman, Foreign Affairs Columnist, The New York Times | Transcript | Bio
The job of American foreign policy, says the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, is "sustainable globalization." The U.S. government must advance the "hidden hand" (the economy), sustain the "hidden fist" (the military), and have an "open hand" to give less fortunate nations "a hand out and a hand up."

9:15 - 10:15

Session I - Past and Prologue: The U.S. in 1950 and 2050
William Cronon, University of Wisconsin - Madison Transcript | Bio
After World War II, concerns about resource scarcity and the effects of the atomic bomb created “apocalyptic anxiety” about the future. The split between conservation and preservation intensified. Cronon argues that this split boils down to our views of nature—are we part of it, or separate from it?

William Emmott, Editor, The Economist | Transcript | Bio
“Our prospects in the next 50 years will depend on whether our faith in capitalism can be maintained or extended.” Emmott says the United State’s “apparent aggressive unilateralism” is not playing well in the rest of the world. “Aggressive use of power is self-defeating. Using power to obtain freedom can end up repressing freedom.” America’s ability to promote values by example is key, he says.

Session I - Question and Answer

10:15 - 11:15

Session II - Governance and Global Markets

Lawrence H. Summers, President, Harvard University | Transcript | Bio
Properly functioning markets are the best way to organize and regulate human activity, says Summers. The challenge is to find the right balance among three forces: international integration, national sovreignty, and the pursuit of public purpose. That balance can only be reached issue by issue, and it's "less about asserting principles and more about practical and prudent compromise." He also says that properly functioning markets allow no possibility of corruption: "There can't be a back market without price controls. A customs officer cannot be bribed without tarriffs or duties to enforce."

Session II - Question and Answer

11:15 - 11:30

BREAK

11:30 - 12:30

Session III - The Promises and Perils of Technology

Moderator:
John W. Rowe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Exelon Corporation | Transcript | Bio

Rita R. Colwell, Director, National Science Foundation | Transcript | Bio
“Nano, bio, and cogno” are Colwell’s shorthand for the advances that, along with advances in information technology, will put us at the “threshold of a new age of exploration to improve the quality of people’s lives.” “Nano” refers to nanoscale science and technology, “bio” to molecular biology and genomics, and “cogno” to the convergence of neuroscience and social and behavioral science.

Sergey Brin, Co-Founder & President, Technology, Google Inc. | Transcript |