Start Date
2-10-2023 3:45 PM
End Date
2-10-2023 5:00 PM
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Are our technologies helping reduce environmental issues, or just allowing people to pollute more efficiently? What factors influence the ability of technologies to reduce environmental damage? In this presentation, Dr. Sommer will explain new research that links environment-related technologies to decreases in CO2 emissions in nations with lower levels corruption compared to nations with higher levels of corruption. Her findings suggest that the state can promote and support all of the pro-environmental technologies it wants, but if it has issues with corruption those solutions may not have any impact on reducing CO2 emissions.
Biography
Jamie M. Sommer earned a B.A. in our Sociology department in 2014. She also majored in Philosophy and Religion. She received her M.A. and PhD in Sociology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2018. Before her current position as an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of South Florida, she attended her research fellowship at the Center for United Nations Constitutional Research in Brussels, Belgium, and her Postdoctoral Research at Stockholm University, Sweden. Her research uses mixed methods to examine how institutional factors impact global inequality in environment and development outcomes.
Additional Links
ORCID
The Effectiveness of Environmental Technologies in Combating Climate Change: A Cross-National Analysis
Are our technologies helping reduce environmental issues, or just allowing people to pollute more efficiently? What factors influence the ability of technologies to reduce environmental damage? In this presentation, Dr. Sommer will explain new research that links environment-related technologies to decreases in CO2 emissions in nations with lower levels corruption compared to nations with higher levels of corruption. Her findings suggest that the state can promote and support all of the pro-environmental technologies it wants, but if it has issues with corruption those solutions may not have any impact on reducing CO2 emissions.