As Michelle Nowlin puts it, agriculture has to be part of the conversation around climate change. Nowlin, a clinical professor at Duke Law School and supervising attorney at its Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, led a Bass Connections project team that is amplifying the discussion around agriculture’s effects on global health and the environment.

Her students examined animal husbandry in countries like China, Brazil and the Netherlands, and did field research on North Carolina farms. By studying policy abroad and practice at home, they hope to enact U.S. policy change that results in more sustainable animal waste management and healthier meat production processes.

Confronting this out in the field — in its totality — allowed us to have a shared experience, identify solutions and create meaningful impact.

The Bass Connections initiative, which raised $91.4 million during Duke Forward, has created opportunities for students like Nowlin’s to partner with new communities for positive global change.
“These students are morally courageous. They were not just looking at PowerPoint slides or images on Google Earth,” says Nowlin. “Confronting this out in the field — in its totality — allowed us to have a shared experience, identify solutions and create meaningful impact.”

By Kyle Simmons; originally published in Duke Forward insert, Fall 2017 issue of Duke Magazine

Learn More

• Explore the team’s new website, Animal Waste: Challenges Worth Solving.
• Read team member John Benhart’s insights into his Bass Connections experience.
• Save the date for the Bass Connections Fair on January 24.

Photos: Michelle Nowlin and students at the Bass Connections Showcase; team members visiting a farm