Tackling Environmental Challenges for a Sustainable Future (FutureLearn)

Offered by University of York,
Tackling Environmental Challenges for a Sustainable Future (FutureLearn)

Discover how environmental research can inform how we respond to and solve the major global environmental issues of today. Explore sustainable solutions to environmental issues like changing glaciers. Our energy use is unsustainable, we’re producing waste plastic that’s endangering oceans, and large parts of the natural world are disappearing. We know our planet is facing huge environmental challenges, but what are we doing to solve them?

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

On this course, you’ll discover how the environment is studied and learn how research at the University of York is helping to develop sustainable solutions to environmental problems.
The course will encourage you to reflect on the importance of a more sustainable future for our planet and will introduce you to the role the Sustainable Development Goals can play.

Syllabus

Week 1: Changing glaciers
Week 2: Protecting our oceans
Week 3: Environment and development
Week 4: Energy and Society

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

  • Explore major environmental challenges and how we investigate them.
  • Evaluate the importance of interactions between people and the planet.
  • Investigate potential sustainable solutions to major environmental problems.
  • Reflect upon the need for a sustainable future and the role of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Who is the course for?
There has never been a more important time to study the environment. This course is designed for anyone interested in how research is informing our knowledge of global environmental issues and potential solutions.
The course will be particularly useful for final year school students who are considering studying an environmental course at university. It will also appeal to anyone with an interest and with a general understanding of issues surrounding environmental issues.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Transforming Urban Mobility: Components of Transport Planning for Sustainable Cities (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University College London,Transforming Urban Mobility Initiative - TUMI,GIZ

Transforming Urban Mobility: Components of Transport Planning for Sustainable Cities (FutureLearn)

Examine how different types of public transport can be employed to make urban transport more sustainable. Discover how urban transport can be made more sustainable. Good transport systems and projects are critical to the development of sustainable cities. On this course, you’ll consider the Avoid-Shift-Improve (ASI) framework – particularly the ‘Shift’ and ‘Improve’ dimensions – as key components of a sustainable urban mobility strategy.

Self Paced
5-12 Weeks
Making Climate Adaptation Happen: Governing Transformation Strategies for Climate Change (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Groningen,Global Center on Adaptation

Making Climate Adaptation Happen: Governing Transformation Strategies for Climate Change (FutureLearn)

Explore how adaptive governance could help policymakers plan for and manage sudden environmental changes. Learn the governance tools to respond to climate change. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing governing bodies across the globe. On this course, you will be introduced to climate science, the societal effects of climate change, and the responses already available in the form of climate adaptation.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Nutrition for Health and Sustainability (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
EIT Food,EIT

Nutrition for Health and Sustainability (FutureLearn)

Learn what makes up a healthy, sustainable diet and how certain food types can help to treat and prevent disease. Explore the relationship between health, nutrition, and sustainability. Diet is the biggest single risk factor for preventable diseases in the world and a key driver of diabetes, heart disease, and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs). On this course, you’ll look at what makes up a healthy diet, and see what types of foods play a crucial part in preventing diseases and improving wellbeing.

Sep 4th 2023
3 Weeks
Planet Partners: Tackling the Climate Crisis Together (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Reading

Planet Partners: Tackling the Climate Crisis Together (FutureLearn)

Investigate the impact of climate change, the research being done to tackle it, and what you can do to take meaningful action. Explore the different areas affected by climate change. The impacts of climate change are being felt worldwide and across many areas of life. This includes our food, our physical and mental health, where and how we live, wildlife and environmental systems, and political direction.

Self Paced
2 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
Achieving Transitions to Zero Carbon Emissions and Sustainable Urban Mobility (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University College London,Transforming Urban Mobility Initiative - TUMI,EIT Urban Mobility,ICLEI

Achieving Transitions to Zero Carbon Emissions and Sustainable Urban Mobility (FutureLearn)

Discover how cities can transform their urban mobility systems to become more sustainable and reach zero carbon emissions. Understand the steps to becoming sustainable city. Transport accounts for a large proportion of carbon emissions, so ensuring urban mobility systems are sustainable is key to helping cities to achieve zero-carbon goals. On this four-week course, you’ll discover how cities can transition their mobility systems to become sustainable, innovative, and inclusive.

Self Paced
4 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: 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
Service Science and Sustainability (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
National Tsing Hua University

Service Science and Sustainability (FutureLearn)

Discover the science behind service systems, and in the process learn how the service sector can become more sustainable. Discover what service science is and how to best provide sustainable services. The service industry is underpinned by the systems that help to provide a service, and the stakeholders in the companies involved.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Chemometrics in Air Pollution (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Malaya

Chemometrics in Air Pollution (FutureLearn)

This course briefly introduces the causes and effects of air pollution in Asian, chemometric models and chemometric application. This course briefly introduces the causes and effects of air pollution. Air pollution is a growing concern the we experience in our daily life. But not everyone has a clear understanding of what the sources of air pollution are. Here, you will not only learn how to identify them, but also understand the potential impact air pollution has in our present and future.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Chemical Engineering: Shaping a Sustainable Future (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Chemical Engineering: Shaping a Sustainable Future (FutureLearn)

Learn how chemical engineering can help to solve global challenges and explore its role in delivering sustainable development. Understand how chemical engineers can provide sustainable solutions. Chemical engineers are leading the way in providing answers to global challenges such as climate change, food security, and effective healthcare. On this two-week course, you will be introduced to the exciting world of chemical engineering. You’ll explore how chemical engineers develop and design chemical manufacturing processes to provide sustainable solutions.

Self Paced
2 Weeks