Online Courses in Environmental Studies That Might Interest You

There’s always a brain-room for a bit more knowledge — especially for a subject as critical and intricate as how our environment works. Of course, if you’re sufficiently intrepid (and time-rich!) you could always go out and grab a Masters Degree or Ph.D. in Environmental Studies. But this path to understanding is not your only option; not by a long shot. There’s a rich assortment of online courses you can take in a sliver of the time and a tiny fraction of the expense. 

What About Teaching?

First off, in talking about learning it’d be an oversight not to talk about teaching!

After all, one big reason why so much knowledge is available these days is that qualified people have decided to share what they know online.

Whether you have advanced recycling techniques to share or valuable insights on how to reduce your carbon footprint, why not share it with the world?

One of the most effective weapons we have in the fight for a cleaner world for future generations is knowledge. It’s in everyone’s interest to learn, teach, and apply what we know in our daily lives. 

For a detailed explanation of how to start an online course, check out the ecosecretariat.org website.

Now, here are a few online environmental studies courses that can enrich your understanding of biology, ecology, and our species’ complicated relationship with the natural world around us. 

Looking for a Solid Overview?

The online learning giant, Udemy, is better known for offering a vast software training library, but this versatile platform also hosts courses in a wide range of disciplines with ecology and environmental science well-represented among them. 

It’s worth taking a browse through Udemy’s whole environmental studies collection, but their Overview of Environmental Issues course is a fantastic starting point. Created by a respected sustainability consulting firm, EDS Global, the course starts with the big concepts — pollution, water scarcity, and air quality for example — and then drills down into the social, biological, and technological factors that shape them. 

It’s a quick course. You could easily absorb the entirety of its content in one coffee-augmented afternoon. However, you’ll walk away from the content with a great foundation of overall awareness and a renewed appreciation of what it means to be an environmentally responsible citizen. 

Here’s a great practical course for kids

This one is for anyone who has ever had to have “the recycling talk” with their kids or with young students. It can be remarkably challenging to explain abstract concepts like sustainability and scarcity to younger folk, yet these concepts form a critical foundation for understanding why environmental awareness is important. 

Recycling Lesson for Kids, on Study.com offers a superb window into these tricky yet crucial concepts. The beautiful thing about this platform as a learning resource is that topics are intuitively connected. Right on the lesson screen, you’ll find links to a wealth of related topics, so once they understand the basics of recycling they can instantly follow their interest to learn about the impact of pollution in the Arctic, say, or car pollution facts, or content around climate change. 

The information is wonderfully comprehensive without being overwhelming, and the visuals are colorful, easy-to-understand, and aesthetically appealing. 

And a practical course for adults too!

Sometimes doing is the best way to learn — especially if the process of doing it gets your fingernails dirty! Udemy’s healthy soils course is exactly this object lesson in practicality. Over 90 minutes of instruction, you’ll learn not just how to test and rejuvenate the soil in your garden, you’ll also learn a ton of useful explanations for why composting is both ethically responsible and good for your wellbeing. 

A unique bonus this tester’s family encountered was the added information the course provides on how to set up the best pollination conditions for your fruit trees. There are some great tips across the ten lectures in this course, and you’ll end up seeing your garden in a new light. 

But what if you’re looking for a deep dive?

All the above courses are great for a quick dabble. But what if you’re looking for a comprehensive education into environmental science, ecology, and how the many intricate systems our planet depends on interact? There are a handful of good courses out there, but one leaps out as providing a great combination of depth and flexibility to venture down any number of fascinating knowledge rabbit holes. 

Study.com Environmental Science Course

This is a paid course, so you’ll want to take a close look at the content before deciding if it’s a fit for you. But it’s a fabulous way to learn if you don’t mind the small outlay. 

Make no mistake, this course covers some serious ground. 

The course starts by ushering you through some foundational concepts in environmental science. You’ll learn a little about the history of environmentalism (with an admittedly US-centric perspective), and gain familiarity with some key terminology you’ll use throughout the course. 

The course then walks you through a working understanding of various ecosystems and how they evolve overtime. And once you have that foundation, the course will put a magnifying glass over biology, geological science, and atmospheric science.

It’s a magnificent foray into environmental science that’ll leave you with an up-to-date yet historically contextualized understanding of the physical world and how science has sought to learn more about it.