NGM Blog Central - Energy Security - National Geographic Magazine

Wal-Mart executives, green building experts, climate scientists, Economist and Washington Post reporters, and government officials from Mozambique, Panama, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, among many others, will mingle among the mountains as they discuss climate change, energy extraction and use, innovation and technology, efficiency, and conservation.

The second annual Aspen Forum will take a close look at the challenges we face as competing interests and sectors vie for energy resources on a planet with a growing population and rising temperatures.

Nearly 80 percent of global energy needs are met with fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, according to National Geographic's special energy issue, on newsstands this month.

These resources also produce the bulk of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that are responsible for global warming.

According to the International Energy Agency, the planet's energy demand is expected to grow by 50 percent by 2030—a trend that, given current resource use, is "patently unsustainable—environmentally, economically, and socially."

Coal production alone is expected to jump 60 percent in the next 25 years.

"We are stuck right now--stuck between a played-out rock and a hot place," writes author Bill McKibben in the energy special issue.

On the last day of the Forum, March 28, the discussion moves toward a "New Energy World" and solutions for long-term security.