Formerly Sustainable Duke, the Duke Office of Climate and Sustainability coordinates and supports climate and sustainability efforts at Duke. Our mission is educating and empowering the Duke community to create a more sustainable campus future through social, economic, and environmental change, on our campus and beyond.
Green Certification
Utilize ready-made checklists of strategies to lessen the footprint of your event, office, dorm, department, and more! These programs are great starting points for groups seeking tangible strategies and solutions.
Green Devil Internship Program
This is the Office of Climate and Sustainability's paid intern program. The Green Devil internship program offers Duke students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience, build professional skills, and make a tangible impact on campus and in the broader community. Project-based positions allow students to engage in real-world problem solving across a diverse range of sustainability topics, which evolve annually based on shifting needs and opportunities. Applications for year-long positions go live at the end of spring semesters.
Sustainability Ambassadors Program
This program is designed specifically for first-year students to deepen their understanding of sustainability and change-making strategies. Sign up to join this year-long program at the start of your freshman year.
Departmental Workshops
Workshops are available for units and group seeking to take their sustainability engagement to the nextlevel. Reach out to the Office of Climate and Sustainability to ideatea uniquely presentation tailored to your department, operations, and needs.
SCALe Program
The Sustainability and Climate Applied Learning (SCALe) program connects staff and faculty to passionate student leaders with the goal of fostering progress on tangible, applied research projects that support Duke departments in meeting their climate and sustainability goals.
Collaborating with Duke students on important climate and sustainability endeavors across campus offers increased bandwidth and new ideas for this collective effort while also equipping students with hands-on experience and skills development for future careers.
Duke staff and instructors are invited to propose an existing need to the Campus Needs List.
The Duke Campus Farm is a one-acre working farm owned and operated by Duke University that provides sustainably-grown produce and food systems education for Duke and its surrounding communities. The farm grows thousands of pounds of produce each year and provides opportunities for engaging and reimagining the ways we cultivate, access, value, and think about food.
Why Regenerative Agriculture?
The Duke Campus Farm focuses on using methods that improve our soil health. This includes practices like cover cropping, crop rotation, minimal tillage, and utilazation of only natural and organic sprays and amendments. The hundreds of student hands that contribute to this work are helping sequester carbon by preserving our topsoil. For a deeper look at our soil history, take a look at “Soil as the Archive” by our director, Saskia Cornes.
Where Our Produce Goes
As of the 2024 growing season, the Duke Campus Farm is proud to partner with organizations at Duke and in Durham who have been helping folks access fresh and nutritious food for years. All produce is donated to Root Causes, the GPSG Community Pantry, Durham Community Fridges, Iglesia Presbiteriana Emanuel Food Pantry, and the West End Free Market.
Get Involved
Whether you have extensive farming experience or none at all, there are plenty of ways to be involved! While programming varies from year to year, listed below are a few regular opportunities. We welcome student research and interest projects and encourage folks to bring their own ideas and creativity!
- Community Work Days: Fridays, 1-4pm
- Reimagining the Future of Food: DCF House Course
- Fall and Spring Contra Dances
- Student Crew Positions
- Richer Soil Fertility Fellowship
- Holiday Markets, Land and Food Justice Conversations, Duke Arts Workshops, and more!
- Follow on Insta to hear about upcoming events - https://www.instagram.com/dukecampusfarm/
The Duke Forest is avibrant outdoor classroom and living laboratory, empowering the Duke community to advance climate and sustainability fluency. Students canimmerse themselves in hands-on research, enroll in courses utilizing the Forest, or pursue independent studies and Master's projects. It also
offers opportunities to create environmental education programs, engage in assistantships, and participate in work-study roles.
Beyond academics, the Forest inspires personal growth through meaningful connections with nature, volunteering, and attending events, fostering a deeper commitment to sustainable practices and environmental stewardship.
Opportunities for Students
The Duke Forest is an outdoor classroom and living laboratory for you to utilize. How will you use the Duke Forest to enrich your academic, professional, & personal pursuits while at Duke University?
- Participate in ongoing research
- Enroll in classes that use the Forest
- Initiate your own research (think Master’s Projects)
- Create an independent study
- Develop environmental education opportunities
- Apply for assistantships or work study positions
- Or just simply to hike the trails, volunteer with Duke Forest on trail maintenance days, or attend Duke Forest events!
Volunteer Opportunites for All
As a Duke Forest volunteer, you are directly involved in improving the Forest and helping us to carry out our teaching and research mission. Our active volunteer program is based around some engaging and rewarding long-term volunteer programs that directly assist our staff and the Forest.
To be considered for volunteering, please Subscribe to our e-LOG newsletter and select “Volunteering”. You will be included in our volunteer specific emails in addition to our general emails. All general volunteer events are on an ad hoc basis, and you can find out about them by subscribing to our newsletter.
Events and Tours for All
The Office of the Duke Forest typically offers tours for the general public three to four times a year. Tours are lead by Duke Forest staff and accompanying experts. They are fun and educational for the whole family. Learn more about the Living Laboratory in your backyard! To see upcoming tours, please visit our Events Calendar.
Recreation for All
The Duke Forest is private land owned and managed by Duke University as an outdoor classroom and living laboratory. Dr. Clarence Korstian, the first director of the Duke Forest, recognized the importance of allowing the community to remain in touch with a natural land base.
Sarah P. Duke Gardens is a 55-acre botanic garden in the heart of Duke University that inspires transformative learning, promotes wellness and builds community.
Since its dedication in 1939, Duke Gardens has developed dramatically and beautifully. It now features four distinct areas: the original Terraces and their immediate surroundings, known as the Historic Gardens, including the Mary Duke Biddle Rose Garden and historic Roney Fountain; the H.L. Blomquist Garden of Native Plants, a representation of the flora of the Southeastern United States; the W.L. Culberson Asiatic Arboretum, devoted to plants of eastern Asia; and the Doris Duke Center Gardens, including the new Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden.
There are five miles of allées, walks, and pathways throughout the gardens. We hope you enjoy learning more about the world-class botanic garden that has blossomed at this world-class university through the decades.
Duke in the Gardens
Duke Gardens is an indispensible feature of life at Duke−a living laboratory for research, a refuge of well-being and the setting for many unforgettable campus moments, both big and small.
We have many opportunities for Duke University and Health System groups to make use of Duke Gardens for classes, programs, research and so much more. Work with learning & visitor engagement staff to coordinate use of Duke Gardens as an expansive resource. Our outdoor learning spaces include sheltered sitting areas and Wi-Fi and electrical outlets, in addition to walking paths and garden displays. We also work with Duke groups for classes and events that take place at other locations.
Develop assignments making use of the Gardens, have class outdoors, create university-level field trips that complement your curriculum, hold wellness and cultural programs, conduct academic research in the Gardens and more. Programs can be self-guided or facilitated by Duke Gardens staff. Duke Gardens also has seasonal work-study, volunteer and internship opportunities.
We require registration for many types of visits, including classes and assignments using the garden. Read below for more information about each of these possibilities, including registration requirements.
Equity Through Stories Program
In the Equity Through Stories program, Duke students work with Duke Gardens to expand our knowledge of local history and people’s relationships with plants in order to include more perspectives in our gardens, facilitated programs and interpretive materials.
Duke Gardens aspires to be a place where people can deepen their connection with the land and each other, especially those with experiences and identities that have been marginalized in our dominant cultures of outdoor learning and horticulture.
In the Equity Through Stories Program, we work with Duke students to expand our knowledge of local history and people’s relationships with plants in order to include more perspectives in our gardens. Each semester, students in the program conduct research and then create sharable materials or plans that we incorporate into our internal reference materials and our public spaces, interpretation and programs. Some students also open or build ongoing relationships between Duke Gardens and our wider community.
Climate Commitment
Duke Gardens is committed to cultivating a beautiful botanic garden that supports biodiversity and models environmental sustainability.
As a key partner in Duke’s Climate Commitment, Duke Gardens demonstrates climate-resilient and innovative designs in our plant collections and garden displays, contributes to people’s understanding of the role of public gardens in plant conservation and the value of biodiversity and makes strategic use of natural resources to reduce environmental impact.
Indigenous Relationships With This Land
Indigenous people hold the knowledge that their ancestors have known for millennia. This includes an intimate and respectful understanding of the natural world.
What is now Durham was originally the territory of several Native nations, including Tutelo (TOO-tee-lo) and Saponi (suh-POE-nee) -speaking peoples. Many of their communities were displaced or killed through war, disease, and colonial expansion. Today, the Triangle is surrounded by contemporary Native nations, the descendants of Tutelo, Saponi, and other Indigenous peoples who survived early colonization. These nations include the Haliwa-Saponi (HALL-i-wa suh-POE-nee), Sappony (suh-POE-nee), and Occaneechi (oh-kuh-NEE-chee) Band of Saponi. North Carolina’s Research Triangle is also home to a thriving urban Native American community who represent Native nations from across the United States. Together, these Indigenous nations and communities contribute to North Carolina’s ranking as the state with the largest Native American population east of Oklahoma.
Land Acknowledgement generously provided to Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment by Drs. Ryan Emanuel and Malinda Lowery of the Lumbee tribe, to use until Duke University completes the process of working with tribe members statewide to come to agreement on a Duke-wide land acknowledgement. Learn more on this webpage.