A company associated with one of the largest film and music festivals in the world made strides toward expanding the environmental movement at a conference last week.

Professionals, environmental advocates, academics and scientists convened at the SXSW Eco Conference, the newest addition to SXSW, Oct. 3-5 at the Hilton Hotel in Austin.

SXSW Eco organized three days of presentations and discussions to further the discussion on achieving environmental sustainability. Events were organized into three themes: ‘Solutions for Today: Replicating Success,’ The ‘Social Sphere: Influencing human behavior’ and ‘Steps towards the Future: Vision and Opportunity.’

Badges went for $800 a piece, but several Environmental Science and Policy students attended the conference as guests—free of charge.

“In exchange for complementary registration packages for your students, SXSW Eco would like to be included into your existing curriculum so that your students are free to attend all of the days of the conference,” Rachael Mardegian, a SXSW Eco employee, said in an e-mail to professor of environmental science Peter Beck. “We hope that by engaging our future leaders on these issues form an early start, we can not only inspire but be the spark for new ideas and