This page features short online courses that might be of interest to you and your networks. Many are free, others relatively low cost. We also feature venue-based courses in our free monthly newsletter, Re:Culture – where we also share news of online and venue-based seminars, talks, exhibitions and many other events as well as news items from our members and subscribers. To receive your monthly update, simply subscribe to Re:Culture.
If you know of online courses that are open to anyone with an interest in environmental or climate change or the Anthropocene, use the Contact Form to let us know.
Courses you can join now or soon include:
Essential Ecoliteracy for Creatives & Art Professionals
Haumea Online 7-week Ecoliteracy: founded by ecological artist and educator Cathy Fitzgerald PhD, this world-first accessible online course guides participants in expansive integrated concepts, words and practices from ecological philosophy and ethics, as well as environmental knowledge. Ecoliteracy is crucial for cultural workers for these urgent times.
Making Sense of Climate Science Denial
This course from the University of Queensland, Australia, examines the science of climate science denial. Climate change is real, so why the controversy and debate? Learn to make sense of the science and to respond to climate change denial.
We will look at the most common climate myths from “global warming stopped in 1998” to “global warming is caused by the sun” to “climate impacts are nothing to worry about.”
We’ll find out what lessons are to be learnt from past climate change as well as better understand how climate models predict future climate impacts. You’ll learn both the science of climate change and the techniques used to distort the science.
With every myth we debunk, you’ll learn the critical thinking needed to identify the fallacies associated with the myth. Finally, armed with all this knowledge, you’ll learn the psychology of misinformation. This will equip you to effectively respond to climate misinformation and debunk myths.
The Stories We Live By
This course from the University of Gloucestershire and the International Ecolinguistics Association explores the rich field of ecolinguistics.
The social and ecological issues that humanity currently faces are so severe that they call into question the fundamental stories that societies are based on. Ecolinguistics provides tools for revealing the stories we live by, questioning them from an ecological perspective, and contributing to the search for new stories. The course examines a wide range of texts from advertisements, lifestyle magazines and economics textbooks to surfing guides, Native American sayings and Japanese animation. In each case, the question is whether the stories that underlie texts encourage us to care about people and the ecosystems that life depends on.
You can work through the nine parts of the course at your own pace, and register any time to access discussion groups, tuition, and additional materials and apply for the certificate.
FutureLearn offers a range of free online courses throughout the year. Do check them out.