Shanti Gamper-Rabindran, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh
Speaker Biography
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran is a Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and the Department of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh. She also served as the August-Wilhelm Scheer Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Gamper-Rabindran's book, "America's Energy Gamble: People, Economy and Planet," (Cambridge University Press 2022) details how political, financial and legal institutions entrench fossil fuel dependency, but how efforts to shift to renewable energy are gaining traction. The edited volume, "The Shale Dilemma: A Global Perspective on Fracking and Shale Development," (University of Pittsburgh Press 2018) details the United States pursuit of shale development and the impacts of shale extraction. It also compares the decisions of Germany and France to eschew shale development and those of England (initially), Poland, China, Argentina and South Africa to pursue shale development. Her earlier work focuses on risk management in the chemical sector (e.g. the impacts of regulatory, disclosure and corporate social responsibility programs on pollution, industrial accidents and worker exposure to chemicals), and the economic benefits from remediating hazardous waste sites. In 2021-22, she served on National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine study panel on Enhancing the U.S. Chemical Economy through Investments in Fundamental Research in the Chemical Sciences. She has also examined the environment and health impacts of development policies (e.g., piped water provision on infant mortality rates in Brazil and the impact of NAFTA on the pollution-intensity of US-Mexican trade). Gamper-Rabindran holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.Sc. in Environmental Management and BA in Jurisprudence, both from Oxford University where she was a Rhodes scholar. She graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College with an AB in Economics and in Environmental Science and Public Policy.
Abstract
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran will discuss the major points from her new book, "America's Energy Gamble: People, Economy and Planet," which dissects the Trump administration's energy policy and how the country can return to an energy transition that benefits both the economy and the environment.How did the pro-fossil Trump administration entrench America's oil and gas dependency to the detriment of America's economy, public health and the environment? Its actions ran counter to even traditional bipartisan values of fiscal responsibility, environmental stewardship and rule of law. Despite the damage done, this book lays out how Americans can still change course and transition away from oil and gas dependency, while protecting workers and communities.