VIII. Conclusion: Building on the New Foundation

First Steps
The extraordinary dialogue sustained by the Aspen Series has produced a consensus vision from a very diverse set of participants. The Goal, the Aspen Principles and the Alternative Path create a powerful vision. As the product of many people, with widely differing experiences and perspectives and with a history of frequent disagreements on environmental policy issues, they form the foundation for fundamental and lasting improvements in the system of environmental protection and enhancement.

The Alternative Path is one aspect of the overall Series vision. It provides a direction and a template to enable America to advance productively beyond the existing legal regime of pollution control regulation and enforcement to a new level of environmental performance, continuous improvement, and environmental stewardship. Moreover, it provides the opportunity to integrate the need for improved methods of environmental management with a vibrant, competitive economy and robust community involvement. The declaration of the Aspen Principles, the motivating concept of superior environmental performance, the promise of greater flexibility and efficiency, and the guidance on stakeholder processes form a holistic basis for the Alternative Path to flourish. Indeed, many of the attributes of the Alternative Path are already manifest in various pilot projects, and the ideas are gaining widespread acceptance.

The Alternative Path is but one concept that is incubating in the current search for pathways toward sustainable development. The Aspen Series recognizes that it must engage an ever-broadening group of individuals and institutions willing to advance, test, and prove the new concepts of environmental protection and enhancement; the integration of environmental economics and social policy; and the enhancement of democratic participation in planning our future. Therefore, Aspen Series participants urge that all members of the environmental protection and enhancement community-business, environmental, community-based, government, and others-do the following:

• Review, discuss, modify and adopt the Aspen goal and principles in all forums in which environmental decisions are made and actions taken-policymaking arenas, long-range planning, day-to-day operations, community goal setting. The goal and principles have served the Series well over the last three years, and have been useful in other arenas. We encourage broader discussion and adoption as a step towards achieving a shared vision and a sustainable society.
• Review, discuss, modify and adopt the Alternative Path. The concept offers tremendous opportunities to do things differently in ways that will accomplish many objectives more effectively than our current environmental protection and enhancement system. We encourage its adoption, refinement, and creative implementation wherever possible on federal, state, and local levels.
• In all environmental decision making and action, consider the concepts and guidelines inherent in the Alternative Path: superior environmental performance, stakeholder participation, pollution prevention and continuous improvement, and a changed role for regulators. These concepts are the outgrowth of much thought, discussion, debate, and compromise. They are useful not only for implementation of the Alternative Path outlined here, but for environmental decisions and actions in general as we develop and test new ways of protecting and enhancing the environment.
• Help our society adopt the concepts of environmental stewardship, shared responsibility, and innovation. As we embark on dramatic change for our system of environmental protection and enhancement, we must recognize that change requires experimentation, risk, and a spirit of continuous learning from our experiences. A shared commitment to test, listen and learn will build a willingness to try to improve our systems, and as a result we will achieve positive change.

Continuing Agenda
Encouraged by the productive dialogue that has occurred to date, Series participants intend to explore other issues raised by the Aspen Principles that underlie the goal of a sustainable society. Having agreed that environmental policy must be integrated with economic and fiscal policy, the Series will discuss how some of the key economic drivers affecting corporate and individual behavior-for example, tax policy, shareholder and stock valuation of environmental performance, accounting systems, and insurers' perception of environmental risk-can be aligned with environmental goals. And having developed one model for a broadly participatory alternative system embodying greater efficiency and better environmental results, the Series will seek a similar model or models in the natural resources area.

The Series on the Environment in the 21st Century is confident that this continuing dialogue can contribute to achieving the goal of finding a better way to protect and enhance the environment to ultimately achieve a sustainable society.