Introduction to Sustainability and Development (FutureLearn)

Offered by Deakin University,
Introduction to Sustainability and Development (FutureLearn)

Discover the impact of human activity on our planet, and what we can do to ensure a sustainable future for everybody. This online course explores why and how human activity impacts negatively on the environment, why this is important, and what we are trying to do about it.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see FutureLearn's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Explore the relationship between humans and the environment

  • What is sustainability and what is development?
  • What impact has human activity had on the environment?
  • What actions have we taken so far for sustainable development?
  • What actions may we need to take for a sustainable future?

What topics will you cover?
The key topics addressed in this course on sustainability in contemporary international and community development, include:

  • Diverse understandings of sustainability and development
  • Changing planetary conditions and the growing human population
  • What the future might look like, and the potential for technology to save us

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

  • Critically review diverse perspectives of sustainable development
  • Investigate how interactions between human development and environmental life support systems are/have been managed in real world cases
  • Identify the characteristics and be able to differentiate between development, sustainability and sustainable development
Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Renewable Energy: Sustainable Electricity Supply with Microgrids (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Renewable Energy: Sustainable Electricity Supply with Microgrids (FutureLearn)

Explore approaches to electrification, microgrids, and how to harness this form of renewable energy to achieve sustainability. Learn and assess different electrification approaches from around the world. On this two-week course, you will learn how electricity is generated globally and explore different approaches to electrification. You will then learn technical aspects of electrification options via a national grid, off grid, micro and mini grids and reflect on the barriers to affordable, clean and fair access to electricity.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Upcycling: From Green Ideas to Starting a Business (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
MINCA,Hands of Honour

Upcycling: From Green Ideas to Starting a Business (FutureLearn)

Explore the concept of upcycling, its link to sustainable development, and how you can start your own upcycling business. Understand upcycling, how to make upcycling products and start up a company. Have you ever turned unwanted objects or waste materials into entirely new products? Upcycling is the ideal way to combine creative ideas with a passion for sustainability and entrepreneurship.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Environmental Challenges: Rights and Values in Ecosystem Services (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Environmental Challenges: Rights and Values in Ecosystem Services (FutureLearn)

Differences in values can create conflict. How can we learn to manage our natural resources with integrity? Humans are very innovative, but we’ve also created many ecological problems. We’ve changed the face of the planet, fished the oceans, and we’re causing climate change through emissions. Designing institutional arrangements that recognise ecosystem services in the values we place upon natural systems will be an important way to help governing the planet, for both present and future generations.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Environmental Challenges: Justice in Natural Resource Management (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Environmental Challenges: Justice in Natural Resource Management (FutureLearn)

How do we ensure that the difficult decisions about the management of natural resources are just and fair for all? When looking at different societies and cultures around the world, it is interesting how ubiquitous the principles of justice are. It is part of our human nature to think about equality, and consider fairness as something that we do naturally. However, in practical terms, equality is hard to achieve.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Environmental Challenges: Human Impact in the Natural Environment (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Environmental Challenges: Human Impact in the Natural Environment (FutureLearn)

Complexity in nature arises from a myriad of simple interactions. How can this lead to an unpredictable dynamism? Complex patterns in ecology are not always causal and predictable. Populations have their own dynamics that can be independent of external environmental conditions. In this course we look at the way that natural systems are organised; although living systems are complex, there are also some fairly constant patterns and relationships.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
New Energy Technologies: Energy Transition and Sustainable Development (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Grenoble Ecole de Management

New Energy Technologies: Energy Transition and Sustainable Development (FutureLearn)

Explore the development of new energy technologies and discover key energy challenges with this online course. In a world facing pressing energy challenges, the need for alternative energy and new energy technologies has never been more pressing. This course explores the new and upcoming technologies that may help solve some of the world’s biggest energy challenges - examining them from both a business and technological perspective.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Environmental Challenges: Scarcity and Conflict in the Natural Environment (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Environmental Challenges: Scarcity and Conflict in the Natural Environment (FutureLearn)

War and conflict can severely disrupt the governance of the environment. What is the impact on both people and the environment? This course explores three aspects of conflict and resource scarcity, and applies these to explore decision making and negotiation skills. Human conflict has both short and long term effects on the natural world.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Infant Nutrition: from Breastfeeding to Baby's First Solids (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Deakin University

Infant Nutrition: from Breastfeeding to Baby's First Solids (FutureLearn)

Learn what good infant nutrition looks like, how and what to feed a baby, and how to start weaning. Explore the principles of good nutrition in the first 12 months of a baby’s life. In this insightful course led by nutritional experts from Deakin University, you’ll trace the milestones in a baby’s first year of life to learn about the principles of good infant nutrition and how you can apply them. You’ll explore the nutritional requirements of young children, as well as why healthy food for babies is so essential.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Medical Equipment Donations to Low Resource Settings (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
St George's, University of London

Medical Equipment Donations to Low Resource Settings (FutureLearn)

Learn how to plan a medical equipment donation to a low-resource setting that's appropriate, sustainable, and has a real impact. Navigate the pitfalls of planning and organising donations of medical equipment. Unavailability of essential clinical equipment can be a serious problem in low-resource settings. On this course, developed in collaboration with the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET), you‘ll learn best practices in planning a donation of medical equipment to a low-resource setting.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Sustainable Cities: Governing Urban Adaptation Under Climate Change (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Groningen,Global Center on Adaptation

Sustainable Cities: Governing Urban Adaptation Under Climate Change (FutureLearn)

Discover expert governance strategies for preparing urban areas to face the challenges posed by climate change. Learn how cities can successfully adapt to environmental change. In this course, you will investigate how governance strategies and policies for making cities more sustainable and resilient in the face of increasing climate risks can be financed and implemented.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Maqasid Al-Shariah and Sustainable Development (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Malaya

Maqasid Al-Shariah and Sustainable Development (FutureLearn)

Discover how religion, particularly Islamic teachings, and scientific knowledge can work together towards sustainable solutions. Use a blend of religion and science to explore sustainability. Sustainable Development is one of the most comprehensive worldwide concepts today in the quest to safeguard the environment. This principle of sustainability has been discovered to be intrinsically linked to the concept of Shariah, which emphasises the importance of continuity not just in this world, but also in the afterlife.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Development and Planning in African Cities: Exploring theories, policies and practices from Sierra Leone (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University College London,Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre,Njala University

Development and Planning in African Cities: Exploring theories, policies and practices from Sierra Leone (FutureLearn)

As African cities grow, learn how development and planning help urban actors to make cities just and sustainable for all. In the next 35 years, Africa will need to accommodate almost 900 million new urban dwellers. Hundreds of smaller cities are doubling in size every 20 years, half of Africa’s urban dwellers live in informal settlements in precarious conditions, and 75% of these are younger than 35. Our course will explore African cities through the lenses of spatial justice and social diversity, challenging myths and assumptions about urban development and demonstrating how different processes interact and shape the development of a city.

Self Paced
4 Weeks