Want to help the environment? Join one of the Coursera online courses

In recent years, there has been encouragement for, and realization among, young people to learn more about climate change, its challenges and threats, and ways to prevent it. As responsible citizens, it is every person’s responsibility to switch to more sustainable ways of living and show individual responsibility for preserving the environment.

Universities and institutes are now offering courses on global warming, greenhouse gasses, renewable energy, and carbon footprint, among other global challenges that we are currently facing. There are courses available online from some of the world’s top universities.

This World Environment Day (June 5), here is a curated list of some of these top courses on Coursera:

1. Introduction to Sustainability by the University of Illinois

This course introduces the academic concept of sustainability. It investigates how today's human societies can adapt to global change, ecosystem degradation, and resource scarcity. Population, ecosystems, global change, energy, agriculture, water, environmental economics and policy, ethics, and cultural history are topics covered in the course.

2. Environmental Management & Ethics by the Technical University of Denmark

Through this course learners will learn to analyze ethical challenges associated with environmental dilemmas and apply different decision making tools relevant to environmental management and regulation.

3. The Age of Sustainable Development by Columbia University

This course is designed to help learners understand the key challenges and pathways to sustainable development: economic development that is also socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable.

4. Water Resources Management and Policy by University of Geneva

The objective of the course is to develop an understanding of the problems related to water management. The course looks at water management in detail by analyzing the different types of rights and obligations associated with, for example, the development of a multi-sectoral regulation system or a watershed management approach.

5. Environmental Health: the Foundation of Global Public Health by University of Michigan

The course provides learners with a foundation in environmental health sciences (EHS). It covers the influence of the environment on human health, environmental health policies, and the application of systems thinking to understand and analyze environmental health issues.

For professionals looking to address environmental damage caused by vehicular pollution, Coursera offers a certificate programme by IIT Bombay, titled Power Electronics and Motors for Electric Vehicles (EVs) certification. This will help learners build essential skills to advance their careers within the field of EVs and gain insight into the design and development of new solutions that are optimised for India’s transportation future while helping the environment.