Courses

Given the tremendous challenges to biodiversity and environmental health, perhaps it is not surprising that we have generated many buzzwords/phrases for managing ecosystems: Ecosystem Management, Environmental Management, Ecosystem-Based Management, Integrated Ecosystem Assessment… the list could go on. Despite the rhetoric, three important themes have emerged:

1. We need to manage ecosystems for both structure (i.e. species, populations, communities) and
   function (i.e. ecosystem services), grounded in the best available science.
2. To manage ecosystems, you have to necessarily manage fluxes of species (including people) at
   landscape scale (i.e. boundaries are often human constructs).
3. Sound, effective ecosystem management must engage all stakeholders, particularly those who have
   been marginalized in the past.
   This course explores these themes, with the overall goal of giving students the scientific grounding and the
   practical skills necessary to critically evaluate the use of science in management efforts in both terrestrial and
   marine ecosystems.

This course provides an economic perspective to the management of environmental quality and natural resources. The course addresses conceptual and methodological issues with some application to recent empirical work. The course is divided in two parts. The first one focuses on basic principles and methods of economic analysis of environmental problems. These sessions will deal with interactions between the economy and the environment, the management of market failures, understanding the distributional outcomes of policies, and tools for valuing the environment. The second part focuses on the economics of the environment with particular emphasis on the economics of pollution control mechanisms, climate change, energy and ecosystem services. These sessions will also deal with the political economy of environmental policy formulation, including how different population groups, especially the poor and marginalized racial and socio-economic groups can be differentially affected by pollution, markets, and policy outcomes, also referred to as environmental justice.

This course teaches skills and strategies to make the writing process less intimidating and written work more clear and powerful. Comprised of online writing modules that provide examples of excellent nonfiction writing with the goal of identifying what makes the writing successful. Students develop and sharpen their own writing skills through incorporating feedback from a series of drafts. Student writing is reviewed in various forums-including writing workshops, peer reviews, and teacher conferences-to provide detailed feedback, allowing students to rethink and revise their writing. Open to Duke Environmental Leadership Master of Environmental Management students only. Department consent required for all other students. 

 In the private and public sectors, as well as not-for-profit organizations, managerial effectiveness is central to environmental leadership. This course will focus on the development of management skills including decision-making, motivation, working in teams, organizational cultures, organizational design, learning organizations and change management. Open to Duke Environmental Leadership Master of Environmental Management students only.

Environmental policies have evolved from strict reliance on command-and-control systems to experimentation with alternative approaches. In this course students study this evolution by first examining the history and context of U.S. policy development processes and institutions. Command approaches to air and water pollution and waste management are considered along with alternative approaches, such as market-based programs, public-private partnerships and voluntarism. Policies for managing land, natural resources, species protection and addressing transnational and global environmental problems are examined. Policy implementation and devolution of responsibilities to state and local governments and the private sector is stressed. Open to Duke Environmental Leadership Master of Environmental Management students only.

This course teaches skills and strategies to make the writing process less intimidating and written work more clear and powerful. Comprised of online writing modules that provide examples of excellent nonfiction writing with the goal of identifying what makes the writing successful. Students develop and sharpen their own writing skills through incorporating feedback from a series of drafts. Student writing is reviewed in various forums-including writing workshops, peer reviews, and teacher conferences-to provide detailed feedback, allowing students to rethink and revise their writing. Open to Duke Environmental Leadership Master of Environmental Management students only. Department consent required for all other students. 

This course introduces present and emerging geospatial technologies used to support research and management in the environmental sciences. Subjects covered will include geospatial data types, data collection and management, and the range of roles and responsibilities of various geospatial professionals. Also included, how to incorporate geospatial technologies into projects and organizations, novel applications of geospatial technologies, and how leaders can identify the application-readiness of emerging geospatial technology when considering adoption by their programs and organizations. Experiential work focused on data collection, processing, and display/visualization for decision-makers.

Businesses are increasingly applying strategic management tools to incorporate considerations of sustainability into decision-making and operations. Course focuses on the development and implementation of strategies to promote environmental sustainability. Students examine roles and responsibilities of sustainable strategic managers and learn how to apply the tools of strategic management: external analysis, forecasting and stakeholder management to problems of sustainability. Business case studies are used.

The course will provide students with an international perspective and explores topics such as sustainable economy, renewable energy, conservation, ecotourism and sustainable rural development in Colombia. Currently Colombia is going through a systemic transition after decades of internal conflict. During spring break, students will travel to Colombia to assist in several meetings in Bogotá, and later to Barranquilla, Santa Marta and La Guajira to explore and experience ecotourism and conservation initiatives, energy transitions taking place from coal to solar and wind, as well as exchanging experiences with sustainable economies of indigenous peoples of Wayuu and Arhuaco communities.

This course integrates the principles of design thinking with the pressing demands of climate leadership. It empowers students with the essential knowledge, abilities, and mindset required to confront intricate climate issues by creating inventive and sustainable solutions. Through a blend of lectures, case studies, hands-on exercises, and group projects, students will acquire the expertise to employ design thinking methodologies for crafting impactful strategies aimed at both mitigating and adapting to climate change. The course is structured to deliver a comprehensive grasp of climate leadership through the perspective of design thinking. It fosters critical thinking, productive collaboration, and the generation of groundbreaking solutions to the urgent challenges posed by climate change. Furthermore, students will be actively encouraged to apply their newfound knowledge and skills to real-world climate dilemmas, thereby contributing to a more sustainable future.

This course will focus on technical carbon accounting, target setting and communication of progress for small, medium and large companies. Accounting for carbon, as a technical discipline, is still evolving and still imperfect. Understanding the limitations of current frameworks, reasonable assumptions that must be made, the implications of those assumptions, and how to communicate results are necessary skills for today’s sustainability professional. Carbon accounting is the
foundation for setting climate targets, aligning incentives and measuring progress against those targets. The results of the analysis can help create urgency, guide decisions and determine priorities. Furthermore, when communicating progress to internal and external stakeholders, having complete and accurate carbon data becomes essential. Students will first learn how to use the different frameworks for calculating and reporting carbon emissions. Students will build on this foundation and learn about the different target setting and reporting frameworks, and how to achieve leadership buy-in. Applying analytical thinking, students will gain an understanding of the value to stakeholders and investors of effective and clear reporting. Finally, students will apply concepts learned to problem solve for gaps in the process.

This course provides an introduction to U.S. energy law through the examination of the legal framework governing the extraction and use of energy sources. It is designed to provide an overview of key topics in energy law so that students develop a foundational understanding of energy law and policy. Part I of the course provides the overall context for energy regulation. Part II of the course reviews the primary sources of energy in the US and examines the varied legal frameworks for the extraction and use of coal, oil and natural gas, nuclear, and renewable energy. The course concludes with an exploration of the future of energy law that draws from the rest of the course.

This course introduces present and emerging geospatial technologies used to support research and management in the environmental sciences. Subjects covered will include geospatial data types, data collection and management, and the range of roles and responsibilities of various geospatial professionals. Also included, how to incorporate geospatial technologies into projects and organizations, novel applications of geospatial technologies, and how leaders can identify the application-readiness of emerging geospatial technology when considering adoption by their programs and organizations. Experiential work focused on data collection, processing, and display/visualization for decision-makers.

The state of Oaxaca in southwestern Mexico is an ideal place to observe community-based environmental management in action. Mexico’s system of common lands ownership and management (ejidos) provides a strong, legally recognized and politically viable framework for
communal management of the environment. This combined with Oaxaca’s rich natural resource base, even richer traditions of indigenous governance practices, and a history of political organizing against government and corporate resource exploitation has meant that this region is a leader in innovative community-based management initiatives. From highly functional and vertically integrated community-based forest management ventures to community-run ecotourism initiatives, to the communal production and sale of forest-based carbon offset credits, to cooperative management and marketing of shade grown, organic coffee, Oaxaca allows us to observe communal management of the environment under relatively “ideal” conditions, and to understand the many challenges to that must still be overcome.

The practice of ecological restoration relies on ecological science, environmental history, and social context to enhance the value of degraded sites and systems. It offers an opportunity for scientists, practitioners, and the local community to come together to design, implement and monitor projects. Instead of the silos commonly found in academic disciplines, the science of restoration ecology is very much a collaborative effort. In this course, we will explore the fundamental principles of ecological restoration. We will use the restoration process as our framework and will focus on how science informs the practice and vice versa. A rich set of course readings will guide our discussions on the best practices for restoration projects across a variety of ecosystems and jurisdictions, though we will focus on coral reef restoration specifically in some of our readings and activities. One of the most important skills in building support for and engagement in restoration work is storytelling. Together, we will “crowdsource” a rich set of resources to support our exploration of the range of restoration projects. Students will have access to the tools of Canva, StoryMaps, and others to create compelling glimpses of restoration projects around the world.

This course will provide students with a broad, policy-relevant overview of contemporary scientific understanding of climate change. The recently released IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC AR4) titled ‘Climate Change 2007’ will provide the framework for discussion of various aspects of climate change, including the fundamental physical science basis, potential impacts and vulnerability, and mitigation of climate change. Open to Duke Environmental Leadership Master of Environmental Management students only

This course addresses sustainability in the built environment through several intertwined threads, foremost among them the relationship between urban and architectural form in one dimension, and sustainability and urban resilience in another. Central in framing this course is consideration of urban design as a practice, as an intentional act not only in the shaping of the city but in inhabiting our built surroundings, that is, in the choices and conditions we encounter each day. Students’ lived experiences of different places and spaces are enriching to our collective study, and your perspectives, questions, observations, and reflections are encouraged throughout the semester. The course is structured in the following arc: positioning the topic broadly; observing and reflecting on the role of inhabiting urban spaces; contextualizing historical forces shaping the city, particularly those of the 20th century; coalescing understandings of sustainable cities through considerations of recent practices across multiple contexts; and finally, projecting ideas of incremental change in a specific, individually selected setting. Intended benefits of the course include developing a broad sense of forces shaping the historical and contemporary city, and to couple that with an understanding of both key challenges and the potential of urban design and urbanism in advancing the sustainability and resilience of human settlements. The course includes a combination of readings, analysis, critiques, mapping, and discussions to develop a broad understanding of sustainable urbanism and urban resilience. Students should complete the course with a
fluency in precedents of urban design, clearer means of observation and analysis, and an ability to reflectively consider, critique, and contextualize contemporary planning and urban design practices across multiple scales.

Setting a corporate sustainability strategy must be accompanied by a plan for effective implementation and management. The day-to-day role of the sustainability manager is largely one of influence. In complex, global organizations understanding how decisions are made, how to communicate effectively, and whom and when to engage are critical to successfully embedding sustainability in the organization. We will reference foundational business concepts to learn essential elements of managing sustainability in an organization. Students will learn how to think critically in a rapidly evolving profession, where there is tremendous uncertainty