Before heading Seacology, he was the executive director of the Goldman Fund, one of California’s largest philanthropic foundations, for 18 years. Duane was instrumental in creating and heading the Goldman Environmental Prize, which has been dubbed the “Nobel Prize of the Environment” by National Geographic and news media around the globe. Over his career he has visited more than 200 islands in 83 nations.

Duane has met with presidents of the United States, Secretaries-general of the United Nations, kings, heads of state, and indigenous chiefs throughout the world on behalf of the environment. His work has been covered in media such as Time Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The New York Times. Articles he has written have appeared in over a dozen international publications. In 2009 he was selected by a public vote as a national All-Star Among Us to be honored by Major League Baseball at the All-Star Game in St. Louis. In 2010, Duane was given the Jefferson Award for Public Service. In giving Duane a 2010 Coastal Hero Award, Sunset Magazine called him a “superhero of the deep.” In 2012, he was invited to give the closing speech on the state of the Earth’s islands for the TEDx conference in South Africa’s Cape Town. In January 2015, His Serene Highness Prince Albert II honored Duane on behalf of Seacology for outstanding innovation in a ceremony in Monaco.

Widely considered one of the world’s foremost experts on islands, he is a National Fellow of The Explorers Club and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. In 2018, he accepted the United Nations Momentum For Change climate action award on behalf of Seacology. Under his leadership, Seacology was named one of the top 15 US nonprofit organizations to work for. In 2019, Duane was named a Go Blue Award Lifetime Achievement Honoree.