<p>“Every aspect of sustainable development impacts, and is impacted by, climate policy and foreign policy,” says <a href="https://www.sps.nyu.edu/about/academic-divisions-and-departments/center-for-global-affairs.html">Center for Global Affairs</a> Adjunct Associate Professor Michael J. Shank. Shank has made it his mission to help students become conversant across these intersecting policy spaces that have come to define modern sustainability work.</p> <p>Over a decade ago when Shank was helping the United Nations launch its Sustainable Development Goals, CGA’s Carolyn Kissane invited him to bring his expertise into the classroom. “Thanks to her foresight,” he notes, “that work, and my role within it, is now an essential part of the <a href="https://www.sps.nyu.edu/explore/degrees-and-programs/ms-in-sustainability-and-global-energy-practice.html">MS in Sustainability and Global Energy Practice</a> program.”</p>

<p>“My parents were teachers, so I grew up with a predisposition towards education—and educating,” he shares. “If I can help a student leave the program more equipped to market their sustainability concept, I’ve done my job.”</p> <p>“I want every graduate to leave inspired to make a real difference in the world,” he adds, “equipped with the intellectual and academic tools they need to succeed.” While Shank acknowledges that today’s global challenges can feel overwhelming, he pushes back against the idea that students are powerless: “They’re anything but.”</p> <p>A central theme in Shank’s teaching is that the sustainability field already understands the problems—and the solutions. “What we need help with is in the building of the public will, the political will, and the private sector will,” he explains. “And that’s where an understanding of social, behavioral and even neuroscience will be helpful in accelerating the transition.”</p> <p>That said, Shank predicts the next decade will be a period of intensifying pressure. “Global warming will worsen every sustainability challenge there is.” These overlapping crises will require sustainability movements to “come together in new ways.”</p> <p>Despite these undeniable challenges, Shank insists that “this is a moment to engage, not disengage.” He believes that today’s students can help redefine what sustainable development means for the decade to come.</p> <p>And Shank is poised to empower his students in any way he can. “A promise I make to every NYU SPS student focused on sustainability is this: after you graduate our program, if you ever need or want support in getting your sustainability idea out in the world, find me and I’ll help you do it,” he says. “We need more smart people out there making a compelling case for sustainable development.”</p>