AWE+ A DRI Global Initiative

AWE+ an Adaptable World Environment

August 21-22, 2024 – Las Vegas, NV

For over six decades, DRI has tirelessly tackled scientific challenges related to global climate. DRI is unwavering in its commitment to continue this intensive research. But fortifying communities against future devastation requires more than science. It demands the collective resolve of communities: agency staff, elected officials, policymakers, first responders, researchers and scientists, industry leaders, environmentalists and residents working together on measures to advance resilience and adaptability.

This is where AWE+ comes into play. 

researchers in hard hats monitoring a wildfire.

AWE+ 2024

Wildfire Recovery and Resilience: Working Across Silos to Drive Solutions

 In our inaugural event, AWE+ will focus on human adaptation to wildfires and their often-devastating impacts.

AWE+ envisions a world where communities cultivate resilient measures amid the escalating intensity of wildfire events across the globe – not only to address the sheer destruction but also the cascading effects of pollutants and smoke that degrade air quality, contaminate water supplies and result in post-fire debris flows and flooding. All pose acute threats and increasing societal costs that mandate an urgent acceleration towards resilient, fire-adapted transformation.  

Through AWE+, DRI will be a catalyst for honest conversations that grapple with tough questions and break out of past paradigms.

Delegates

AWE+ delegates will be carefully curated within a cross-section of industry leadership, scientific experts, and government officials including elected leaders and policy makers at the local, state and federal levels, as well as community leaders and environmentalists who are agents of change. Delegates will come together to provide informed perspectives and will be tasked to find common ground and advance good ideas in order to make communities more resilient in the face of wildfire events.

In addition to government and non-government organizations with regulatory authority or spheres of influence affecting wildfire challenges, we welcome members of key organizations and industries driving adaptation and innovation to participate. We also invite industry leaders in the areas of utilities, communications and other infrastructure providers, energy, insurance/re-insurance, technology, financial services, real estate, and transportation to attend and help inform the conversation. Delegates will take leading roles in envisioning user-inspired, climate-adapted communities by confronting the issues that are creating barriers to change and good decision-making.

As a leading environmental research institute that has reputation, reach and impact in Nevada as well as nationally and internationally, DRI is well-positioned to attract a diverse delegation of committed individuals who leave AWE+ inspired to take decisive action aimed at building communities better prepared for the inevitable effects of devastating wildfires.

AWE+ is synonymous with SYNERGY

AWE+ will harness the potential of collective energy to drive changes in policies, practices, technologies, and behaviors.

It is an immersive experience where DRI will assemble and convene a carefully curated cross-section of people committed to breaking out of existing paradigms, engaging in candid conversations, and collaborating in new ways.

This diverse delegation will share ideas and knowledge, and take decisive actions aimed at building communities better prepared for the inevitable effects of global climate events.

View of the DRI Reno Campus with the landscape in the background.

Sponsors

AWE+ Sponsor Logos
Paved road that leads into the mountains in the distance.

AWE+ Transcends

We will transcend the traditional conference structure by empowering delegates, through DRI guidance, to take leading roles in envisioning user-inspired, climate- adapted communities.

Keynotes, speakers, and panelists will provoke and shape discussions around challenging questions and controversial issues that often hinder the “right” decisions. DRI will connect delegates through interactive structures and collaborative cohorts where they will actively and collectively consider the challenges and contribute to real, life-changing solutions.