It All Connects to Climate | Duke Today - Duke Today
It All Connects to Climate | Duke Today
It All Connects to Climate
For the Climate and Sustainability Teaching Fellows, the connections are myriad
left: Sandra Valnes Quammen, Catherine Mathers, Valerie Sabol, Alex Glass (program co-lead),
Coral Giovacchini, Norbert Wilson. Middle row, from left: Siobhan Oca, Rebecca Vidra,
Christopher Sims, Robin Kirk, Natalie Kerr. Bottom row, from left: Laura Florand, Priscilla Wald
(program co-lead), Charlotte Clark (program co-lead), Denise Nepveux.
As the fellows resume their workshops on the second day and are asked what they found in their course materials that didn’t relate to climate change, sheepish smiles emerge.
“Nothing,” says Giovacchini. “It all connects to climate.”
Supported By
Gifts from Mike and Karen Stone and Jeff and Laurie Ubben, the Climate and Sustainability Teaching Fellows Program is expected to run again in Summer 2024 with a new cohort of teaching fellows. A call for proposals will be issued in late fall 2023. This program reflects the goal of the Duke Climate Commitment to educate and empower a generation of climate- and sustainability-fluent changemakers. Through its Climate Commitment, Duke seeks to imagine, design and implement a sustainable future for all.
2023-2024 Climate and Sustainability Teaching Fellows
Senior Lecturer of Romance Studies
FRENCH 204: Advanced Intermediate French
Coral Giovacchini
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Internal Medicine Residency Program
Assistant Research Professor of Biology
BIOLOGY 209: Ecology for a Changing Planet
Professor of the Practice of Cultural Anthropology
CULANTH 104D: Introduction to Human Rights
Associate Professor of the Practice in International Comparative Studies
ICS 195: Critical Approaches to Global Issues
Denise Nepveux
Associate Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery
OTD 505: Assembling, Creating, and Translating Knowledge I
Siobhan Oca
Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
ME 555: Case Studies of Ethics in Automation and Robotics
Valerie Sabol
Clinical Professor in the School of Nursing
NURSING 536: Obesity Across the Lifespan
Christopher Sims
Associate Professor of the Practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy
DOCST 101: Traditions in Documentary Studies
Senior Lecturer of Romance Studies
FRENCH 111: Intensive Elementary French
Rebecca Vidra
Senior Lecturer in the Division of Marine Science and Conservation
ENVIRON 102: Introduction to Environmental Sciences and Policy
Norbert Wilson
Professor of Food, Economics and Community
PARISH 820: Food Policy
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”