Geddes W. Simpson Lecture to focus on carbon emission regulations, sustainable future
University of Tennessee researcher David L. Greene will speak about the history of carbon emission regulations and creating a sustainable future during the 15th annual Geddes W. Simpson Lecture.
Greene, a Senior Fellow of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy and a research professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UT, will deliver “Creating the sustainable car: History lessons from 40 years of regulating automotive carbon emissions” on Thursday, Sept. 22.
The talk will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the McIntire Room of the Buchanan Alumni House on the UMaine campus. The lecture is free and open to the public, and a reception will follow.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions enough to mitigate the most severe effects of global climate change poses new challenges for public policy. The history of regulating automotive fuel economy presents valuable insights about behavior in real-world markets, the consequences of regulation, and the relationship between ideology and science in public policy.
In 2001, Simpson’s family established the Geddes W. Simpson Lecture Fund at the University of Maine Foundation. Simpson was a well-respected faculty member whose 55-year career in the College of Life Sciences and the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station began in 1931. He chaired the Entomology Department from 1954 until his retirement in 1974. The lecture was established to support a series that highlights speakers who have provided significant insight into the area where science and history intersect.