Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent St. Patrick’s Day skiing Snowmass with his children and longtime Aspenite and friend Kevin Ward. “We lost a few kids along the way,” Ward laughs.

Fresh off the slopes and talking casually of his Harvard rugby days with Kennedy, Ward, who is executive director of the Aspen Science Center, wears a festive green necklace (à la Mardi Gras) and a baseball cap. Pastor Mustard and his New National Swing Band are setting the stage; local chefs prep; bartenders survey their stock. Ward is introducing Kennedy, founder and president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, at the inaugural Aspen Eco Salon, a private event to raise awareness for preserving the world’s waterways.

As guests arrive, the excitement in the room is palpable. Kennedy is one of today’s most famous environmental activists and attorneys. Named one of Time’s Heroes for the Planet for his successful Riverkeeper fight to restore the Hudson River, his actions have helped spawn nearly 200 Waterkeeper Alliance organizations around the world. With water issues confronting Coloradans because of population growth, issues with dams and diversion—and breaking news of Nestlé taking water from Twin Lakes to bottle—his Aspen appearance is both timely and taut.

“Kennedy’s message of shifting to renewable energy is critical for Coloradans,” says Gary Wockner, who, as “Poudre Waterkeeper,” helps protect and restore the Cache La Poudre River of northern Colorado. “We have to find a way to live sustainably in this landscape, and that includes preserving our rivers for future generations as well as for all the species that depend on river ecosystems.”

Hosted by Holly Lueders-Spirrizzi, the event is attended by more than 100 guests, in her 16,000-square-foot “log cabin” across from North Star Nature Preserve. Aspen’s enviro-influentials are here, including Rocky Mountain Institute chief scientist and cofounder Amory Lovins, Aspen Skiing Company senior vice president David Perry, Mayor Mick Ireland and Brook Le Van of Sustainable Settings. Guests mingle in the vast living room, around a hearth made of 2,500 square feet of lichen rock.

An artist, Lueders-Spirrizzi is currently restoring a 16th-century exconvent on the Tuscany-Lazio border. While her Aspen home has European flourishes (the grand staircase recalls the stairs in Italian palazzos that alter your perception of the climb), it is distinctly American. “I tried to discover local artisans who would be interested in collaborating with me,” Lueders- Spirrizzi explains. “The local materials inspired me, and the craftsmen wrote the music.” A testament to regional splendor, the home’s exterior was built with more than 550 logs from trees fallen prey to forest fire and beetle kill. (The railings, decks and banisters utilized the property’s scrub oak; furthermore, the bedsteads are made of apple trees and the dining room chairs of green willow branches.)

Kennedy arrives with his two sons—Aidan, 9, and Conor, 16—who speak with local film producer Cherie Silvera. She recently summited Mt. Kilimanjaro with their sister, Kick Kennedy (a nickname she shares with late great-aunt Kathleen Kennedy), to raise awareness of the global water crisis. After a short HBO introductory video, Kennedy steps forward to speak, and the party din quickly vanishes. Despite suffering from spasmodic dysphonia, a disorder that sometimes makes speech difficult, Kennedy speaks passionately for close to an hour.

“If we want to meet our obligations to future generations, civilization, the nation—which is to create communities for our children and provide them with the same opportunities for dignity, enrichment, prosperity and good health—we’ve got to start by protecting our environmental infrastructure: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the wildlife, the fisheries, the public land, the shared resources of our society,” Kennedy says. “The biggest challenge we have is how we produce and deploy energy in ways that don’t compromise the aspirations of our children and the future generations of the poor across the planet who have always shouldered this burden of environmental injury.”

Kennedy also spoke about the importance of grassroots advocacy—namely, the founders of Waterkeepers (the fishermen and residents of the Hudson River)—and recognized Coloradans making historic contributions to a future of renewables: Lovins, Senator Gail Schwartz and Governor Bill Ritter. Their work on the historic Colorado Clean Air–Clean Jobs Act will protect Colorado’s air, public health and natural environment while also creating jobs.

“Aspen is a community with great energy, idealism and commitment,” Kennedy continues. “I want to urge you to do everything you can to make sure that these innovative programs by Senator Gail Schwartz and Governor Ritter pass in the next six months, and that we rebuff the lies that we’re going to hear from the coal industries.”

Kennedy was in rare form on this night. And given the inspired postspeech chatter among the guests, several new environmental activists have been born.