Sustainability professionals must be fearless.  They regularly target the most difficult challenges known to humanity, problems of such consequence that the solutions will determine the quality of our future. Consider the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (CBW).

The CBW is one of the most innovative, most studied, most funded, and most active watershed management efforts in the world.  Despite all this, the Bay ecosystem still struggles, barely getting a passing grade.  It is for these reasons that the CBW is the focus of a summer-long project in the Executive Master of Natural Resources (XMNR) program where I teach highly motivated and talented sustainability professionals employed by NGOs, businesses, and government agencies.

Focusing on the Bay requires mastering technical topics such as climate adaption, aquatic systems habitat, nutrient loadings, storm water, manure digesters, and green infrastructure. It also means dealing with local, state, and federal policies, innovative finance, and network governance.  Importantly, it requires learning about leading cross-sector collaborative efforts using methods such as collective impact.

What everyone enjoys most about the CBW project is the opportunity to interact with leaders who join us in our classroom:  Joe Maroon from Virginia Environmental Endowment, Ann Jennings from Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Wilmer Stoneman from the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, Stephen Ablefrom the Oyster Recovery Partnership, Mandy Chesnutt from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and so many other experienced and passionate leaders working to better the Bay.

Students don’t shy away from the challenge.  Each year they come up with bold proposals to address CBW issues.  Working with talented and motivated students on these real and pressing challenges is a highlight of my career as a professor, and a reason I like working at the Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability (CLiGS).

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