Essential Skills for Climate and Sustainability Action

Free online course for UoR students

 We all have a role to play to help protect the health of our planet and our impact on it.  

From the increasing number of extreme weather events worldwide to hearing that another species is endangered, it can be difficult to know how you can make a difference. This course will guide you through the key skills for breaking down a difficult problem  and identify an intervention point to enable you advocate for change.  

Advocating for a Better Planet is a free online course developed exclusively for University of Reading students. You can complete it at your own pace in just a few short sessions (approx. 9 hours in total) and is a great way to demonstrate (and evidence) you’ve engaged with environmental and sustainability competencies beyond your studies. 

What the course covers 

Climate and sustainability crises are the biggest challenges we face today. This course is designed to help you explore the issues you most care about and to identify one step you can take to make a difference within your context. You’ll research and plan an action to address and advocate for a sustainable or climate-based challenge of your choice.  

Over three Sessions, you’ll discover techniques to help you explore and understand complex problems and identify areas for change. You'll develop a ‘headline statement’ for your chosen issue, research the causes and effects behind it, find an intervention point for acting, develop a stakeholder and feasibility analysis and finally create your advocacy plan.  

As you develop your own ideas, you’ll explore a case study about the University of Reading’s approach to food waste management on Whiteknights campus. 

Benefits to you 

You’ll build confidence in communicating about the issue you care most about and we hope you’ll feel inspired to go further. The course is an ideal starting point for engaging with other opportunities at the University e.g. live events, the RED awards or more in-depth online courses.  

This course will equip you with the knowledge and skills to critically research a complex issue and develop an effective and measurable action. These transferable skills are helpful for your degree but also increasingly in demand across in the workplace — not just in environmental fields but also in business, engineering, education, and government.  

You’ll finish this course feeling more informed, empowered to make a difference and a certificate to evidence what you’ve learnt for the next step in your career.

How to access 

You’ll find the enrolment link on the Me@Reading Student Portal.

The course is hosted on FutureLearn. If you haven’t already done so, you’ll be asked to register using your university email address.