UMass Presents Online Discussion Of Climate Crisis With Leading Energy Experts

Annual Freedman Lecture Will Examine The Transition From A Carbon-Based Economy

Source: UMass News and Media

Three experts will present different perspectives on how the United States and the world can transition from a carbon-based economy to one that is greenhouse gas emissions neutral when the UMass Amherst College of Social and Behavioral Sciences presents “Climate Crisis: Transitioning Away from a Carbon-Based Economy,” the 2021 Freedman Lecture, April 22 at 12:30 p.m.

Panelists for the online event include:

• Jacopo Buongiorno, director of the Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems (CANES) and director of science and technology for the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory. A professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT, Buongiorno will discuss new advances made in nuclear energy production as an alternative to carbon-based energy sources in every sector of the economy.  
  
• Samantha Gross, director and fellow of the Foreign Policy, Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution. Gross, who was previously director of the Office of International Climate and Clean Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy and has also worked at the Government Accountability Office on the Natural Resources and Environment, will share her research on approaches for decarbonizing the heavy transport and industry sectors of the economy.
  
• Robert Pollin, Distinguished Professor of Economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at UMass Amherst will present his vision for a Global Green New Deal. Pollin has produced numerous national and state level analyses of green economic initiatives.

All members of the public are welcome to register for the online panel, which will be moderated by Krista Harper, Professor of Anthropology and Public Policy and Acting Director of the Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) at UMass Amherst.

The annual Freedman Lecture is sponsored by UMass Amherst alumni Robert J. Rosen and Nancy J. Rosen, in memory of her parents, Max and Ruth Freedman. Initiated in 2016, the Freedman Lecture brings scholars and practitioners to the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences to engage contemporary societal issues from different vantage points, leaving the audience with a richer appreciation of differing viewpoints and an example of how reasonable people can disagree without being disagreeable. Previous Freedman lectures have tackled issues of immigration, universal basic income and free speech.

More information on the Freedman Lecture, including complete bios for all of the panelists, can be found on the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences’ website.