Learn for Our Planet
Educating the world to tackle climate change.
Our planet is changing.
Warming temperatures, rising sea levels, and more severe weather can - and will- impact the lives of everyone on Earth. It’s time for a new kind of change, but change doesn’t happen by itself.
Collective action is needed to address these global challenges and each one of us has a part to play to stop and reverse the effects of climate change. The world needs lifelong learners who reflect on the mistakes from the past to find a new path forward to a more sustainable future.
Whether you’re a student, mid-career professional, or policymaker — and if you only have a few hours or are looking to devote your career to address these issues — there is something you can explore, learn, and do with Michigan Online to increase your understanding of our changing climate.
Every journey to recovery begins with one step. Let’s do it together, learn for good, and Learn for Our Planet.
We also invite you to explore these online learning experiences and better your understanding of our changing planet. Together, we can take action to reduce our environmental impact and build a brighter future.
Climate Change
Our world is facing a global crisis with Climate Change. Creating a future where we can all thrive includes becoming an informed and empowered society. This Collection is a curated portfolio of learning experiences that will help learners understand the underlying factors of Climate Change, the social impacts of Climate Change, and ways in which we can all can enact change in our own contexts.
Act on Climate: Steps to Individual, Community, and Political Action
7 weeks
CourseAre you concerned about climate change? Would you like to learn how to address and respond to this challenge? If so, this course is for you. Act on Climate: Steps to Individual, Community, and Political Action is intended to help learners understand, address and respond to climate change as individuals and in partnership with their communities and political leaders. The course focuses on how to translate learning into action on climate change in the areas of food, energy, transportation and the…
Beyond the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Addressing Sustainability and Development
5 weeks
CourseWe’re excited you’re here! This course, “Beyond the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Addressing Sustainability and Development,” is the first course in the Sustainability and Development MasterTrack® Certificate, but you can also take this course as a stand-alone learning opportunity. Sustainability and development pose unprecedented challenges as human societies grow and seek to ensure future wellbeing and prosperity. In this course, we’ll focus on addressing the twin challenges of sustainability…
U-M Credit EligibleSustainability and Development MasterTrack™ Certificate
Learn how to design innovative solutions to core sustainability and development challenges. Sustainability and development pose unprecedented challenges as human societies grow and seek to ensure future wellbeing and prosperity. In this online certificate program, we’ll focus on addressing the challenges of sustainability and development with actionable knowledge for innovating solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. You'll be introduced to the main theoretical currents in Sustainability…
Impacts of the Environment on Global Public Health
In this specialization, you will explore how many public health outcomes are directly influenced by human contact with the environment. The four courses in this series will introduce you to the environmental health sciences (EHS) discipline; you'll examine the hazards of air pollution, water pollution, solid and hazardous waste, radon, and noise; identify the major challenges posed by climate change and unsustainable practices; and use risk assessment to evaluate the health of population, advocate…
Sustainable Food Teach-Out
1 week
Teach-OutWhat we choose to eat matters. Did you know that a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions come from food and agricultural systems? One way each and every one of us can take to reduce our impact on the environment is to change what is on the end of our forks. Join other participants and a range of experts in this Teach-Out to explore the complexities of the food system and how we can, individually and collectively, create food habits that reduce our impact on climate change. We break down behaviors…
Melting Ice Rising Seas Teach-Out
4 weeks
Teach-OutIn this Teach-Out you will experience some of our extraordinary planet's natural beauty and examine how climate change impacts one of the most vulnerable places on earth, the isolated Arctic island of Greenland. In June 2019, a team of students, faculty, and staff from the University of Michigan embarked on an expedition to conduct experiments and learn about how climate change is impacting this area of the planet. In this Teach-Out, you will join a group of students on their personal and professional…
Earth Day at 50 Teach-Out
4 weeks
Teach-OutOn April 22, 2020, our world celebrates the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, an annual event meant to bring people together from across the world in protest, solidarity, and conversation about how we can collectively fight for a sustainable and just world. In this Teach-Out, you will explore the origins of Earth Day 1970 with student activists from Environmental Action for Survival (ENACT), an environmental student group from the University of Michigan, whose efforts led to a massive “Teach-In on…