In Dr. Stan Meiburg’s eyes, the future of environmental protection starts with swamps. With their ability to prevent flood damage, buffer the impacts of hurricanes, and store water in times of drought, Meiburg believes that swamps are essential to our planet. Drawing on his experience in the field and contemporary controversies, Dr. Meiburg discusses how science is necessary for environmental protection, but is not sufficient. In his speech, he explains how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) role may evolve in the future and how citizens can be engaged in this critical work. Dr. Meiburg also reflects on how the Trump administration has impacted environmental protection in the United States, and what steps it should take to decrease pollution.
Dr. Stan Meiburg was the Acting Deputy Administrator of the U.S. EPA from 2014 to 2017, the culmination of a 39 year career with EPA. He served in senior career positions as EPA’s Deputy Regional Administrator in the Southeast and South Central regions of the United States, as well as in EPA’s air office in Research Triangle Park and in Washington, DC. Among his many honors, he received EPA’s Distinguished Career Service Award, EPA’s Gold Medal for his work on the Clean Air Act Amendments, the Commander’s Award for Public Service from the Department of the Army, and was recognized by President Obama as a Distinguished Federal Executive in 2012, the highest civilian award for a Federal senior executive. He holds the B.A. degree from Wake Forest University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins University, and currently serves as the Director of Graduate Studies in Sustainability at Wake Forest University.
*Due to technical difficulties, the last few minutes of Dr. Meiburg’s talk were not captured on video. The text of the remainder of his talk is available here: https://www.elon.edu/docs/e-web/bft/sustainability/Remainder%20of%20Stan%20Meiburg%20speech%204-17-2018.pdf
(324)
