DURHAM, NC – The study of environmental leadership is one of the fast-growing fields in environmental management 91 programs today. The trouble is, resources for faculty teaching the topic and students learning it haven’t kept pace with its rapid development.

Until now, that is.

Starting this semester, students and faculty – or anyone interested in learning about the topic – can turn to “Environmental Leadership: A Reference Handbook,” edited by Deborah Rigling Gallagher, associate professor of the practice of environmental policy at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.

The encyclopedic 1,032-page reference work, which took Gallagher three years to complete, was published this fall by Sage Publications.  It’s organized by topic into two volumes and tackles a wide variety of issues relevant to environmental and sustainability leadership.  More than 150 authors contributed to its 95 chapters.

The book is now available in the Duke Library in electronic and hardbound formats.  Gallagher also has donated a hardbound copy of the handbook, which sells for $325, to the reference collection in the Nicholas School’s Christensen Reading Room.

“To my knowledge, there really hasn’t been anything like this published before.  It creates a new definition of environmental leadership and illustrates, in practical terms, how it can be applied to issues such as climate change, corporate sustainability and environmental justice,” says Gallagher, who also serves as executive director of the Duke Environmental Leadership Program.

Volume One of the handbook examines the sources and pathways of environmental leadership, including nonprofits, the private sector, government, academia, and religious, political and grassroots activism.

Individual chapters examine the forces and concepts that can shape and fuel leadership, such as environmental ethics, eco-feminism, philanthropy, economic development, and collective action and the commons.  Profiles of notable activists and leaders are included, along with chapters discussing the role events can play in spurring individual, political and organizational leadership, and the increasingly important roles journalism, literature and the arts, and education are playing.

Volume Two covers strategies for environmental problem-solving.  Chapters offer analyses and recommendations on how leadership may be applied to address specific problems, such as taking action in the face of uncertainty; promoting international cooperation in the face of conflicting agendas; addressing conflicts between economic progress and environmental protection; and addressing disproportionate impacts on poor and vulnerable populations.

The final three chapters of the handbook examine the skills, knowledge and characteristics next-generation environmental leaders will need.

Norm Christensen, research professor and founding dean of the Nicholas School, served as an advisor to Gallagher on the project.  Numerous Duke faculty members and PhD students contributed to chapters in their fields of expertise.

Among the book’s achievements that Gallagher is proudest of – and which she lost the most sleep over – is its definition of environmental leadership.

“No one had defined it in a scientific context,” she says.  “So I came up with this: ‘Environmental leadership is a process by which Earth’s inhabitants apply interpersonal influence and engage in collective action to protect the planet’s natural resources and its inhabitants from further harm.’”