Cornell University
IN-27: Online Sustainability Course

Plastics: Impacts and Action Online Course

This course explores our social and environmental relationships with plastics and uses plastics to help understand the complex dynamic systems shaping our planet and our lives. During the course we will use critical and systems thinking while learning about everything from the plastic lifecycle, to plastic's social and environmental impacts, to NGO and government plastics policies. You will apply your knowledge by designing and implementing a locally-relevant action targeting plastic pollution. Such projects may include working for policy changes at schools or workplaces, art projects, reuse initiatives, and so much more! This is a unique opportunity to be part of an online learning community taking action against plastic pollution.

Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, participants will:
- Learn about systems thinking and apply systems thinking to describe the plastic lifecycle, plastics' global circulation as goods and waste, and the environmental and health impacts of plastics.
- Discuss the feasibility and effectiveness of plastic governance approaches.
- Develop and implement a locally-relevant action to address plastic pollution.
- Critically reflect on the experience and outcomes of your plastic pollution intervention and write a 1-2 page report describing your action and reflections.
- Participate actively in a global online community of plastic-concerned citizens.

Participation is open to Environment and education professionals, volunteers, university students, and plastic-concerned citizens from any country. Discussions will be in English and Chinese. There is a $60 course fee if the participant is able to pay, but there is the option for no fee if unable to pay. To ensure the information is accessible to all, the Civic Ecology Lab offers this course (and the additional courses highlighted below) for FREE for any individuals who cannot afford to pay the suggested course fee.

Additional free, online sustainability courses are offered through Cornell's Civic Ecology Lab, including:

"Climate Action with Family and Friends":
Participants will choose an action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and apply the latest social sciences research to influence family and friends to take the action alongside them.
https://www.civicecology.org/caff

"Nature Education":
Topics include personal and community benefits of nature education, cultural ecosystem services, traditional and novel approaches to nature experiences, and challenges and critiques of nature education. Based on research and practice examples, this course is designed to help educators, volunteers, community leaders, parents and anyone else to gain professional credentials in nature education, and to incorporate nature in their educational programs and everyday life.
https://www.civicecology.org/ne

"Environmental Education Outcomes":
Through short pre-recorded lectures, podcasts, readings, social media, and live webinars, this course will help you define your environmental education goals and learn what the research says is the best pathway to achieve them. Topics include environmental behaviors, collective action, knowledge, values, attitudes, nature connectedness, sense of place, identity, self- and political efficacy, norms, social capital, health and well-being, positive youth development, academic achievement, and resilience. Course participants diagram their own theory of change outlining how to reach their environmental education goals
https://www.civicecology.org/eeo#:~:text=Environmental%20education%20outcomes%20include%20individual,youth%20development%2C%20and%20academic%20achievement.

"Sharks! Global Biodiversity, Biology, and Conservation":
The curriculum includes shark biodiversity and evolution, morphology and physiology, as well as cognition and behavior. The course provides an in-depth analysis of the relationship between sharks and humans, including the impacts of commercial fishing and global trade. Conservation issues are explored by highlighting the importance of sharks in the marine food web and the impact of their population decline on biodiversity as a whole. The professors hope to inspire students to take action to prevent the looming extinction crisis that threatens the very survival of sharks.

March-April 2022: "Plastics: Impacts and Action" online course, 665 participants from 78 countries.

July-August 2022: "Nature Education" Online Course, 591 participants from 49 countries.

September-October 2022: "Environmental Education Outcomes" Online Course, 527 participants from 66 countries.

June-August 2022: "Sharks! Global Biodiversity, Biology, and Conservation" Online Course, 1,550 participants