Join Pitt Professor Shanti Gamper-Rabindran and CMU Professor Neil M. Donahue for a discussion of the future of energy in America
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How can America get back to an energy transition that's good for the economy and the environment? That's the question at the heart of this eye-opening and richly informative dissection of the Trump administration's energy policy.
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Trump's policy was ardently pro-fossil fuel and ferociously anti-regulation, implemented by manipulating science and economic analysis, putting oil and gas insiders at the helm of environmental agencies, and hacking away at democratic norms that once enjoyed bipartisan support. The impacts on the nation's health, economy, and environment were - as this book carefully demonstrates - dire. But the damage can be reversed. Ordinary Americans, civil society groups, environmental professionals, and politicians at every level all have parts to play in making sure the needed energy transition leaves no one behind. This compelling book will appeal to course instructors and students, government and industry officials, activists and journalists, and everyone concerned about the nation's future.
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran analyzes the economic, legal, and political barriers and opportunities for the energy transition to renewable energy and for economic diversification of fossil fuel-reliant communities in the United States and globally. Her book America’s Energy Gamble details how political, financial, and legal institutions entrench fossil fuel dependency, but how efforts to shift to cost-competitive renewable energy have gained traction. Her edited volume The Shale Dilemma: A Global Perspective on Fracking and Shale Development details how countries diverged in their decision to pursue or eschew shale extraction and the impacts of shale extraction on local communities. Current work examines the energy transition in Appalachia and globally.
Neil Donahue is a professor in the Departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. He also directs the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research. He seeks to understand how Earth’s atmosphere works, and how humans affect the atmosphere. One of his objectives is to help all graduating Carnegie Mellon students understand the climate problem and to apply their outstanding problem solving skills to solutions of this enormous challenge. Donahue’s father taught physics at Pitt, and Donahue received a B.S. in Physics from Brown University in 1985. He received a Ph.D. in meteorology from MIT in 1991, and spent nine years as a research scientist at Harvard before returning to Pittsburgh in 2000. He lives with his wife Maren Cooke and daughters Kielan and Innes in Squirrel Hill. They have three kW of photovoltaic solar panels on their roof. Donhaue is also an avid road cyclist; you may find him on one hill or another around town.