Sacramento – The California Air Resources Board (CARB) presents a lecture titled “Is Nitrogen the Next Carbon?” Just as carbon fueled the Industrial Revolution, nitrogen has fueled an Agricultural Revolution. As a result, the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers has grown exponentially during the last century. That growth is having an impact on both air quality and global climate change. The talk is part of an ongoing series of research lectures that are open to the public and hosted by CARB.

WHO: Dr. Viney P. Aneja, Professor and Co-Director of Graduate Programs, Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Caroline State University (UCSU). At NCSU, Dr. Aneja developed one of the nation’s leading agricultural air quality and climate programs (https://www.meas.ncsu.edu/airquality/).

WHAT: Dr. Aneja will discuss the body of research on the environmental impacts of increasing agricultural nitrogen use, and will connect existing policies with potential mitigation measures to further reduce emissions of nitrogenous compounds in the U.S. and in other nations. Some highlights include:

• The use of nitrogen for agricultural activities has been growing exponentially over the past century in order to keep up with the world’s growing population.
• Nitrogen released into the environment can affect local and regional air quality and global climate change.
• Moving forward, it’s important to evaluate and understand the implications of increased nitrogen use for global sustainability.

WHEN: 10 a.m. to Noon, Wednesday, February 28, 2018

WHERE: Cal EPA Headquarters, 1001 I Street, Sierra Hearing Room, Floor 2, Sacramento, CA 95814

WEBCAST (https://video.calepa.ca.gov/): Viewers are invited to send questions during the broadcast to sierrarm@calepa.ca.gov (mailto:sierrarm@calepa.ca.gov)   

EVENT INFORMATION (https://www.arb.ca.gov/research/lectures/lectures.htm)

About Dr. Viney Aneja
Dr. Aneja’s work focuses on natural and anthropogenic emissions of reactive nitrogen, sulfur, and volatile organic compounds, with an emphasis on the science needed to make important decisions on environmental, sustainability, and climate policies in North Carolina and the nation. He has a long and distinguished record of public service, and has been frequently sought as an advisor on issues related to environmental science and public policy.

Before joining NCSU in 1987, he conducted and supervised research at Corporate Research and Development, General Electric (GE) Company, New York, where he won the Noryl Division Proprietary Innovation Award (1983) and a GE Managerial Award (1986) for his achievements. During his career, Dr. Aneja has served as a member of the U.S. Agricultural Air Quality Task Force (2001-2008), North Carolina Governor’s Task Force on Hazardous Materials (2006-2007), and the Scientific Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He now serves on the U.S. EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) Executive Committee (2014-2020), and previously he chaired its subcommittee for Air, Climate, and Energy research program from 2014 to 2017.