UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Just as climate change impacts certain communities more than others, so too does the transition to greener energy sources. Stephanie Pincetl, professor and founding director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA, will discuss just transitions to renewable energy sources at the annual E. Willard Miller Endowed Lecture at 4 p.m. Friday, March 25.
The talk will take place in 112 Walker Building and be broadcast over Zoom.
“Based on extensive empirical work on building energy use, and the tremendous need to decarbonize, the questions of equity need to be addressed, front and center,” said Pincetl. “While much of the attention — rightly so — has been on underserved communities in this regard, it is also time to begin to realize there is also excess energy use, whose impacts cascade through energy systems. In this talk I hope to raise the issue of what is enough through demonstrating the extraordinary differences between high and low energy consumers.”
Pincetl conducts research on environmental policies and governance and analyzes how institutional rules construct how natural resources and energy are used to support human activities and create Earth Systems impacts. Her focus is on social and environmental justice and the need to develop equitable strategies to reduce human impacts on the planet.
She has published more than 110 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and written extensively about land use in California, environmental justice, habitat conservation efforts, urban metabolism, water and energy policy. Pincetl has received several recognitions and awards for her work, including the Burrill Award from the American Association of Geographers and the 2020 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in geography at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in land ethics and master’s degree in anthropology from the University of California, Davis, and her doctoral degree in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Department of Geography Miller Lecture Series is designed to bring eminent geographers to Penn State and is a gift to the department from the late E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller. E. W. Miller was a professor of geography, department head and associate dean emeritus in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.