Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
Climate Solutions Lab

Theodore Shanks ─ Delivering a Sustainable Future: US Air Force's Role in Climate Change

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

12:00pm – 1:00pm

Leung Conference Room, Stephen Robert ’62 Hall, 280 Brook Street

"Delivering a Sustainable Future" will offer an overview of USAF Strategic Airlift’s role in global CO2 emissions over the last 20 years, review current Air Force efforts to mitigate Climate Change-related National Security threats, and discuss ongoing programs which aim to reduce the DoD’s significant carbon footprint.

Lt Col Shanks is a Visiting Scholar and National Defense Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. He previously served as the Provost of the US Air Force’s Air Mobility Training Center and as Commander of the 97th Training Squadron. He has served in several other command and staff positions, including as the Director of Strategic Communications and Speechwriter to the Commander, US Transportation Command, as Chief of Executive Development, Air Mobility Command, and as Air Mobility Division Chief, Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. He received his BA in Aviation Management from The Ohio State University, an MA in Unconventional Warfare from American Military University, and holds professional certificates from Saint Louis University and Georgetown University. An Air Force active duty officer and command pilot, he has flown more than 3,000 hours and 500 combat hours in the C-17 and C-21 aircraft and participated in combat operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and East Africa. In 2014, he graduated from the Air Force’s elite Joint Mobility Fellow program, where he authored ground-breaking research into the future use of unmanned and autonomous airlift systems in tactical environments.