6 Best Sustainable Living Courses You Can Take Online

No matter what subject you’re looking to learn, you can find loads of excellent online courses With the global movement toward a more sustainable lifestyle, more people are seeking knowledge and ideas that will help us protect people and the planet. This ranges from simple green living skills to professional sustainable practices that require additional study. From learning how to grow fresh food to other self-sufficiency skills, if you’re interested in a sustainable living course that addresses an aspect of green living, you’ll find options here. 

Seeking Education To Aid A Sustainable Lifestyle 

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Sustainable living education
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To live sustainably requires being open to education, new ideas, and new ways to adopt healthier choices. Since sustainability has many layers, some aspects may require spending time with the subject matter and taking courses to fuel your knowledge. 

You may be looking to study specific areas like renewable energy, recycling, and permaculture. Since these tend to require specific tools and skills, it helps to seek education to enhance learning. 

Sustainable living is essential to not only sustainable development but also personal development. Switching to a sustainable lifestyle encompasses nature and community care. It also arms you with knowledge and practices to support healthy living. This way, you can enhance your lifestyle through healthy decisions while reducing your carbon footprint

Online sustainable living courses are here to help

With the presence of the internet, it’s easy to access resources that support your development from the comfort of your home. 

There’s a growing need for people around the world to reduce their ecological footprint and live sustainably. With the ever-increasing consciousness of the human impact on the planet, it’s up to us to develop an interest in protecting our planet. 

A mindful lifestyle switch affects the environment and the person practicing. Although there are a number of sustainable living skills that you can quickly adopt, some require in-depth learning. 

Top companies, institutions, and experts constantly create digital courses and take on students. The same way you take online courses to learn a digital skill, for instance, is the same way you can learn sustainability skills. You can learn new ideas and concepts and understand how to live better through nature care and self-care. 

Related: To further your sustainable living knowledge, you might also be interested in our compilation of the best zero waste courses

What To Expect As You Explore Our Picks Of The Best Sustainable Living Courses

With people regularly creating more courses, you’ll find tons of options to explore. Many of the courses explore general sustainable living concepts, while others focus on specific areas. 

You may be wondering how you’ll complete each lesson, the money involved and how to begin. There are also the expectations of learning outcomes with any course you take on. Here are some things to expect as you discover more courses. 

Learn at Your Own Pace

Several course options are available. For instance, you may have tight schedules around work, school, and parenting. As a result, you may not have the time to stick to a structured learning schedule. If you’re interested in learning new sustainability methods, you may be glad to know that many courses have a “learn at your own pace” flow.  This allows you to learn in your own time, at your own pace, and access and complete wherever you are.  

Save Money

There are two sides to this. On the one hand, sustainable living courses teach you methods that aid in saving money. On the other hand, many online courses in demand offer discounts and cost-saving benefits. Some of the ones we’ve compiled below have deals running. 

Lifetime Access

Some course providers offer free options with limited access. However, to enjoy lifetime access to the course videos, resources, and other tools, it’s often worth it to go ahead and pay. Not to worry, these come at different fees to suit different needs. 

Certificate of Completion

You’ll often get a certificate of completion when you complete a course. This serves as a badge of honor. It also communicates that you’ve gone through a learning process that makes you stand out with specific skills. If you’re looking to get into a particular industry with sustainability at its core, a certificate can help you demonstrate the skills you’ve acquired. 

Where Can I Learn about Sustainability?

Learn about sustainability
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If you’re wondering where you can learn about sustainability and sustainable living online, you’ll find options here. Discover some of the most helpful courses to help you kickstart or continue your sustainable journey. 

6 Sustainable Living Course Options

1. Fundamentals of Sustainable Living

Costs: Instant video: $169.95, DVD: $199.95. Discount at the time of writing at $19.95 and $29.95 respectively. 

This course gives you an overview of what it means to be a conscious consumer. The course consists of 12 lectures with an average time of 30 minutes each. You’ll watch videos that address helpful sustainability practices to implement into daily living within each lesson.

This course is ideal for anyone looking to change the way they consume: food, energy, or water. 

Globally, we’re experiencing a sustainability revolution. This was born out of the growing consciousness of human impact on the environment. As we continue to explore life on the planet, it has become crucial to become mindful and conscious consumers have become essential. This way, we reduce adverse effects on the world.

The course overview provides students with new ideas to embrace living sustainable lives. Across the practical 30-minute lectures, you’ll learn new strategies to help you establish a fulfilling life with minimal impact on the environment. Some aspects include sustainable energy, water use, growing food, building choices, and home products. 

To live sustainably, you need to understand certain practices. As a result, the videos take you through real-life scenarios. This serves as a helpful resource to see sustainability in action. 

Throughout the course, Lawrence A. Gamble will be your guide. He’s an award-winning Assistant Professor of Sustainable Living. Professor Gamble is also Co-Director of the Sustainable Living Program at the Maharishi University of Management. 

At the end of the course, you’ll be armed with knowledge and helpful ideas to help you manage your cost of living. Essentially, it’s a win-win situation where you can provide for yourself, reduce costs and protect the world. 

The course comes in two formats. You can either get the course in the Instant Video format or order the DVD. With Instant Video, you get immediate streaming rights and can instantly play it on your computer. You can also download the lectures for offline study. With DVD, you get the physical disc in the mail. With both options, you get guidebooks to support studying.

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2. Sustainable Living Made Simple: Basics of Permaculture Design 

Costs: $99.99 with a current discounted rate of $15.99 for a limited time 

This course is ideal for people looking to live off the land. It includes strategies and ideas to help you live by implementing permaculture design. Although it’s open to everyone, it would be most beneficial to people who have a piece of land that they’re ready to work on. 

The course provides an overview of sustainable land design and dives into principles and methods of sustainable living. So, if you’re interested in building an organic farm using the permaculture approach, you’ll learn here. 

This course follows a permaculture book called The Permaville Handbook: Strategies of Permaculture Design (available here on Amazon). It’s also based on the certified Permaculture Design Course. You’ll join other learners to understand how to build with natural materials, grow plants, filter water and make compost. If you’re at the beginning stages of your farm journey, you’ll also learn helpful strategies for starting a farm and raising animals. 

The course currently has over 5,000 students. It also has a 4.2 rating from learners. To give you an idea of what you’ll get, this course consists of 3 hours of on-demand video content. It also includes 45 downloadable resources to support your learning journey. 

Apart from using your computer to learn, you can also create an account and access the course using your phone or television. Once you’ve completed the course, you get a certificate of completion. You can use this for multiple purposes and share it on your social platforms. This also gives room for you to build a community with like-minds. The best part is that you get full lifetime access. This way, you can always return to certain parts of the syllabus to refresh your memory. 

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3. Exploring Sustainable Living and Loving with Mogli

Costs: Free

If you’re looking for an inspiring online course that’s free, allows you to learn at your pace, and offers a short duration, and this is it. This course is ideal for anyone looking to embrace a sustainable life. So, if you have little to no prior knowledge of sustainability, the course will take you through. Even if you’re already on your journey, it provides fresh insights on contributing to a healthy world. 

This course introduces learners to helpful tips, ideas, and resources to adopt green living. It guides you towards embracing a mindful life. As a result, you’ll gain insights into new ways to reduce your ecological footprint. 

Many times, we might think our little actions have no impact. Rather than taking a typical lecture approach, this course prompts you to reflect on your actions. You’ll study areas like the Sustainable Development Goals and overconsumption. This course will also inspire you to reflect on how your behavior affects not just the planet but also people.  

A unique offering that the course provides is linking sustainability and self-care. You’ll discover new perspectives on how self and community care align with sustainable development through the course. It also shines a light on developing yourself so you can help others and the planet. 

You’ll learn from Mogli, a singer-songwriter who champions sustainability, mental health, and living thoughtfully. It’s 100% digital, free, and easy to complete. If you follow a weekly study plan of just 2 hours, you’ll complete the course within two weeks.

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4. Sustainable Cities and Communities Specialization

Costs: Free with additional payment to receive a certificate 

We also need to explore sustainability outside of the home through the city and community lens. When we build sustainable cities, we create room for greener economies. 

This course is ideal for those in the urban development space. You’ll learn new skills to navigate urban transformation as you navigate it. It also fuels driving sustainable changes in communities and cities for climate-friendly and healthy spaces. Even if you don’t work within this space, taking on the course will arm you with the knowledge and skills to champion changes in your community. 

This specialization program consists of 3 courses. The first is Greening the Economy: Sustainable Cities. The second is Urban Nature: Connecting Cities, Sustainability, and Innovation. The third is Cities and Consumption: Urban Sustainability and the Sharing Economy. 

As you go through the course, you’ll gain skills in systems thinking, energy, urban living, and nature-based solutions. The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) offers the course at Lund University, Sweden. It’s also in conjunction with The City Futures Academy. Once you have your computer or phone, you can access it through the Coursera learning platform. 

One of the best parts about this specialization is that it also includes an applied learning project. This enhances the learning experience as you go through the course. Upon completion, you can celebrate your achievement by sharing your certificate. 

You can access various course options for free through Coursera. However, you’ll often need to pay a fee if you want a certificate. If this certificate of achievement is crucial to you and you don’t have the funds to pay, you can apply for financial aid through the platform. 

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5. Business Sustainability in the Circular Economy

Costs: Free with additional payment to receive a certificate

Business plays a significant role in society. Its processes and methods also have an impact on the planet. As a result, it’s worth examining how to implement sustainability within the business space. Although you may not immediately tag this as “living,” sustainability in business can influence employee lifestyles outside the workspace. Since companies play a role in consumerism, it’s worth examining how to introduce sustainable practices within these spaces. 

This course, hosted on Coursera, explores how businesses can embrace circular ideas. It highlights methods like waste reduction and recycling to tackle environmental issues. Apart from underscoring businesses’ contributions, it also looks at personal contributions. 

As a business owner, you’ll find this course helpful. As you dive into the course, you’ll learn topics such as fair trade models, corporate social responsibility, and repair strategies. At the end of it, you’ll have new research and analysis skills at the end of it. These will arm you with what you need to embrace a new working and organizational culture.  

The University of London and Royal Holloway, University of London offer this course. Also, this course is part of the online Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of London. As a result, taking the course counts towards your degree learning if you’re enrolled in the program. The main instructor is Alan Pilkington, a chartered engineer and Professor of Technology Management.

It’ll take you about 15 hours to complete this course. Once you’ve completed the course, you can get a shareable certificate to prove your success. Similar to other programs on the Coursera platform, you can apply for financial aid if you’re unable to pay for enrollment to secure a certificate.

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6. Sustainable Living Diploma Course

Costs: £197, with a current slash to £127

This course examines how society currently uses resources in an unsustainable way. Then, placing us at the center of it highlights the steps individuals and global communities can make changes. 

In a nutshell, you’ll study how people and organizations play crucial roles in a sustainable world. Also, you’ll learn the benefits of living sustainably and how you can take action now. One of the highlights of the course is that it dives into understanding the 3 Rs. These are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (and sometimes Refuse and Rot to make 4  or 5 R’s). 

Apart from the advice, strategies, and tips you get from the course, you also receive a checklist. This checklist serves as motivation to begin to take action within your home. You’ll get recipes to create solutions and products for those who love the DIY approach. Some of these include shampoo, toothpaste, and other wellness and home goods. The course consists of 7 modules. Each module has different parts and an assessment at the end.

This diploma course is certified and accredited. The Quality Licence Scheme endorses this course. As a result, you can receive a certificate of achievement from the Quality Licence Scheme. You get two main certificates after completing the course. The first is from the Centre of Excellence. The second certificate is from Continuing Professional Development. The latter displays the number of CPD points that you’ve earned while studying.

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Benefits of Online Programmes

One of the benefits of taking an online course is its accessibility. Many traditional university programs tend to be out of reach due to various reasons such as distance. However, with a digital course, all you need is a computer to get started with a new program. 

Many also have free access, meaning that as long as you make the decision, you can get started using your computer. Apart from these, digital courses also require much less money compared to traditional classes. They make it easy to create your study pace, gain helpful planet-protecting ideas from experts and establish a community with fellow students. You can also complete your courses knowing that you have a certificate to show your success. 

Conclusion

No matter what aspect of sustainability you’re looking to learn, there's a course for it. You can discover general strategies to apply within the home. You can also study those methods that you can take outside to contribute to a healthier earth. 

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