The Department of Natural Resources and the Environment is leading cutting-edge research and training that informs solutions to climate change—one of the most the most urgent problems of our time—through multifaceted, interdisciplinary approaches in sociology, ecology, natural resource management, and sustainability science. Our faculty contribute to a firmer understanding of the social and ecological elements of climate change, preparedness, governance, and resilience, with an eye towards environmental justice and biodiversity conservation. We develop novel theory and ecological applications to foster natural resource management and improve environmental sustainability to meet the challenges of intensified global change. Our dedication to addressing the climate crisis extends to preparing future generations of world-problem solvers to holistically tackle climate change through student engagement.
Energy and climate are inextricably linked. Renewable energy facilitates emission reductions, but its deployment also presents socioecological challenges. Our community of researchers, students, and collaborators fosters interdisciplinary research that meets the challenges of sustaining natural resources during an unprecedented energy transition to decarbonization. We investigate the interactions among energy development, ecosystems, and people to inform the conservation and management of natural resources and ecosystem services necessary for human persistence on Earth. We build off faculty strengths in natural resource management, ecology, and conservation social science to address complex topics at the nexus of energy development and the environment, spanning ecosystems and their services, climate adaptation, land-use change, environmental justice, and socioecology. Our goal is to provide solutions for renewable energy production that mitigates climate change while conserving all natural resources, guiding sustainable energy development from local to global scales.
