Duke faculty are weaving climate and sustainability themes into language instruction. Sandra Valnes Quammen, senior lecturer in Romance Studies, began this work nearly a decade ago through the Trillium Sustainability Fellows Program. As a 2023–2024 Climate and Sustainability Teaching (CAST) Fellow and a faculty lead for the 2024-2025 CAST Fellow faculty development program, she revised her French 111 course to include case studies based on the environmental documentary Demain, and launched French 313 to explore climate issues across the Francophone world. Quammen and colleague Laura Florand also secured funding to help French faculty develop sustainability-focused content and launched a faculty symposium entitled Languages of Sustainability in April 2025. Now, every level of French includes at least one climate-related module.
Lecturing fellow Germain Choffart, a 2024–2025 CAST Fellow, redesigned French 101 to examine fast fashion’s environmental toll. Students study French thrift organizations, discuss global consumer habits and tour Durham’s TROSA to learn about sustainable clothing practices.
In the Chinese language program, Yan Liu, associate professor of the practice, redesigned Chinese 450 to focus on climate change. Her Chinese 451 course compares U.S. and Chinese climate challenges, through field trips to Duke Campus Farm and Duke Gardens to explore sustainable agriculture and horticulture.
Students from Yan Liu’s Chinese language course at Duke Campus Farm. Photo courtesy Yan Liu.