University of California, Los Angeles
EN-12: Continuing Education

Principles of Sustainability I: Introduction

ENVIRON X 400

This introductory survey lays the foundation for the study of global sustainability. With universal principles as a broad framework, this course provides a basic understanding of environmental systems and the interrelationship and effect of humans upon the environment. Topics include a historical overview of sustainability and the current problems and issues, an overview of earth's physical and biological systems and the impact of environmental issues like climate change on these systems, an examination of environmental and urban issues and strategies, and tools to investigate and analyze sustainable environmental practices.

Principles of Sustainability II: Current Issues and Case Studies

MGMT X 401

Gain a broad exposure and intimate knowledge of the business aspects of sustainability through real-world business case studies. Key elements of this course include identifying practical tools, measuring performance, and reviewing best practices. Upon completion, you have an understanding of the challenging and often competing interests between businesses and the regulatory, social, and technological efforts occurring globally.

Principles of Sustainability III: Stakeholders and Engaging Communities

ENVIRON X 402

This course focuses on the human element, addressing the adequacy and equity of sustainability efforts and taking the universal principles to a different level that includes environmental justice. The emphasis is on behaviors and characteristics of the individual as well as the larger group and community influences that help shape and transform the individual into a sustainable global citizen. Topics include psychosocial and socio-cultural behaviors affecting beliefs, change, and decision-making; potential effects of sustainable action vs. inaction; pathways toward sustainable education and awareness; advocacy and activism; and the ethics of sustainability efforts across nations, including future opportunities and challenges. Includes guest experts, case studies, and site visits. Upon completing this course, students have a preparatory knowledge and understanding of individual and group roles in global sustainability; the interconnectedness and necessity of collaboration between social, economic, and ecological responsibilities; and the importance of advocacy and the media in raising and maintaining awareness of global sustainability and citizenry.

The Solar Energy Solution: Harnessing Solar Power in the Home and Office

EC ENGR X 425.10

This course helps individuals or organizations augment their home and/or business power requirements with solar energy. Students gain a general overview of the knowledge to choose and ultimately design an appropriate system and discuss the various forms of solar energy with a specific emphasis on solar electricity (i.e., how electricity can be generated, stored, and utilized in the home and workplace through solar energy). Installation techniques, methods of monitoring system performance, and proper maintenance procedures are also discussed. This class is primarily for anyone interested and concerned about the financial, environmental, and self-sufficiency aspects of solar energy. While not a highly technical course, a basic electrical/mechanical educational background is helpful due to the technology that will be covered. Home and business owners, contractors, sales people, entrepreneurs seeking business opportunities, and those who have a keen interest in solar technology should derive significant benefits from participating in this course.

Supply Chain Sustainability

ENVIRON X 405

This course is designed to provide an introduction to the subject of sustainable supply chains in business. The course provides a basic understanding of the nature of complex supply chains, the role that sustainability plays in business, and the most commonly encountered challenges in a business career. This course looks at how we integrate environmentally, socially, and financially viable practices into an organization’s complete product and/or services lifecycle, from product design and development to material selection (including raw material extraction or agricultural production), manufacturing, packaging, transportation, and end-of-life. It is about managing the supply base to drive innovation towards a more sustainable future. It provides practical advice on how to identify supply chain sustainability issues when they arise, how to get enough information to assess one’s responsibilities, how to analyze a complex set of choices, and how to marshal the resources of a large organization to act responsibly and ethically. While the course includes some business theory, it is designed to be approached by the seasoned manager, the novice businessperson, and students in school.

Food Studies Graduate Certificate Colloquium

URBN PL XLC 216

Food is complex subject given that production, procurement, preparation, consumption, and exchange of edible matter is biologically vital to human growth, development, and function and critical to many aspects of society and culture. Food studies is growing cross-disciplinary field of research, teaching, and advocacy that encompasses and draws from cultural anthropology and geography, food law and policy, urban planning, sociology, literature, history, public health, nutrition, environmental science, molecular and cell biology, science and technology studies (STS), agronomy, and other disciplines. Survey of some of these wide-ranging topics and disciplines that define food studies.

Strategic Social Impact

MGMT X 403

This course offers an introduction to social impact strategy and social entrepreneurship, including key concepts, an overview of the field, and tools to get started as a change maker. Students learn how to innovate and design new ideas and new organizational forms to implement those ideas. Students who take this course are better prepared to evaluate current organizations and/or launch social impact organizations of their own invention. By moving through four stages: Define, Design, Pilot, and Scale, students turn their passion for changing the world into concrete plans for launching a venture designed to achieve a social goal. This course allows students to systematically think through challenges, develop potential solutions, build a business model, and measure and grow the venture’s impact. Additional topics include an overview of effective marketing communications, brand management and management of corporate social responsibility as an important driver for an organization’s success, and being socially responsible and profitable at the same time.

Renewable Energy Economics and Policy

PUB PLC X 460.5

This rigorous course provides accelerated exposure to the real-world challenges and opportunities of implementing renewable energy projects. Participants are introduced to fundamental concepts, tools, and resources. Students then apply the course concepts in a facilitated learning environment, both qualitatively and quantitatively, to real case studies drawn from industry. Topics include large-scale wind energy projects, distributed solar projects, bioenergy, energy efficiency, clean-tech commercialization, and climate change mitigation. Students will assess policy questions, evaluate economic opportunities, and develop meaningful recommendations regarding the case studies. After successfully completing this course, participants will be better equipped to evaluate policy alternatives, participate in public stakeholder processes, and make critical organizational decisions related to renewable energy. There are no prerequisites for this course. Internet access is required to access course materials, participate in discussion forums, and submit course requirements.

Climate Change, Energy, and the Environment

PUB PLC X 461

The course provides a better understanding of how future energy solutions—both power and transportation—address climate change and environmental protection from a policy standpoint. Instructors broadly discuss climate change, including greenhouse gas emissions, their impacts, and policy actions to reduce such impacts. The course also briefly discusses interrelationships among greenhouse gases, environmental quality, public health, energy security, and long-term sustainability. Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to better analyze, plan, and advise on future actions in response to new and evolving federal, state, and local programs and policies in this area.

Food Justice

PUB PLC X 477

This online course examines food justice from diverse theoretical, applied, and ethical perspectives (e.g., socioeconomic class, race and ethnicity, culture, access and equity, law, economy, ecology, sovereignty, health, and wellbeing). We survey food justice organizations and initiatives working to create and maintain healthy and sustainable food systems locally, regionally, and globally. The course explores the contemporary food system by examining food production, distribution, and consumption and their impacts on the quality of life of food producers, workers and consumers. The course provides a framework for understanding and addressing issues of food justice, specifically the role of policy and politics in determining what we eat, who experiences the costs and benefits of contemporary/industrial food systems, and how we can build equity and sustainability for our food system. Upon completion of the course, students will have a working understanding of established and emerging approaches to the challenges of improving and promoting food justice. Students also gain the practical knowledge needed to advocate effectively for food justice.

Sustainable Food and Agriculture

PUB PLC X 478

This course examines the concepts, practices, and policies of sustainable food and agriculture. Students begin by surveying the environmental, economic, and social foundations of the field in the U.S. and globally. Topics include a systems approach to sustainable agriculture; the relationship of farming to water, energy, air, and soil; field crops and animal production practices in sustainable agriculture; sustainable horticulture; organic agriculture; sustainable seafood and aquaculture; economic, social, and political context of sustainable food and agriculture; and sustainability in the culinary arts. The course also considers the impacts of agricultural industrialization and potential opportunities for the future of sustainable agriculture, including identifying practical tools, measuring performance, and reviewing best practices. Guest speakers and field trips are scheduled in the public and private sectors

Sustainability Internship

PUB PLC X 495

The internship provides students with a unique experiential learning opportunity related to environmental sustainability. The internship site is selected by the eligible student from among a variety of related disciplines, allowing the student to create a distinctive independent learning experience. The purpose is to apply the material learned in formal Sustainability Certificate academic courses to a workplace setting, acquiring valuable job skills. Students gain hands-on experience by working on real industry problems/projects in the private or public sector or in a nonprofit organization. Students intern for a minimum of 120 working hours. Throughout the internship, students communicate and work alongside an Extension instructor who helps guide them through the process. Students are required to complete a final report of their experience once they complete the internship.

Global Business Practices in Sustainability

MGMT X 481.5

This course provides a broad overview of global business practices in sustainability, designed to help students develop a strong foundation in this complex subject. The primary focus is helping students understand the business rationale for sustainability. Students examine why and how a business is addressing environmental and sustainability issues across sectors and industries. Additionally, the course covers the various principles, models, methodologies, and indicators of sustainability to help students understand how global business awareness and practices in the field have evolved since the concept first emerged in the 1980s.

Integrating Sustainability into Financial Reporting

MGMT X 423.423

Company financial statements are going green. Understanding and reporting on the impact of sustainability activities in financial reports is becoming increasingly necessary, both for ensuring compliance with financial reporting standards and to provide stakeholders with material information highlighting sustainability impacts, risks, and opportunities. This course is ideal for accounting and financial professionals, investors, business owners, and executives who must evaluate sustainability performance of a company, organization, or other entity. Instruction encompasses key topics in global sustainability financial reporting, including green accounting and sustainability economics; auditing and reporting; primary and secondary sustainability metrics and indexes; and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) modeling and monitoring procedures. Students leave the classroom with a framework for reporting and measuring sustainability activity that can be used to benchmark organizational performance and help build future initiatives.

Earth's Physical Environment

GEOG XL 1

This course examines the Earth's physical environment, with particular reference to the nature and distribution of landforms and climate and their significance to human populations. Instruction covers the major features of the Earth's four environmental geospheres (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere) and the interactions between the numerous variables that constitute the geospheres and produce the Earth's exceedingly complex physical environment. Transferable for UC Credit.

People and the Earth's Ecosystems

GEOG XL 5

Exploration of ways in which human activity impacts the natural environment and how modification of the environment can eventually have significant consequences for human activity. This course uses case studies to examine real environmental problems that confront us today. Transferable for UC Credit.

The Ocean Environment: An Ecosystem Perspective

ENVIRON X 14

This course provides students with an overview of the scientific study of the oceans with a strong focus on ecosystems and environmental issues. The course incorporates narrated lectures, readings, media assignments, and online discussion. Through these course activities and assessments, students 1) become knowledgeable with respect to basic physical, chemical, geological, and biological components and paradigms of the ocean environment; 2) become familiar with physical, chemical, geological, and biological features of several marine ecosystems; and 3) become knowledgeable on marine environmental issues including ocean acidification, global climate change, ocean resources, marine mammal conservation, and ecosystem degradation.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

C&EE X 438.8

Green buildings embody a design intent on balancing environmental responsiveness and responsibility, resource efficiency, and cultural and community sensitivity. The course primarily focuses on the LEED Rating System, currently the centerpiece of the most innovative, effective aspects of green design. The course covers both versions of the rating system administered by USGBC, LEED 2009, and LEED v4. Topics range from sustainable principles, current sustainable design, and building practices to specific elements of the LEED rating system. This course benefits individuals who are very hands-on in their role in the design and construction of a green building, as well as anyone with an interest in understanding the basic nuances of green building.

Sustainable Energy Management

C&EE X 438.9

The OPEC oil embargo of 1973 was the first real wake-up call about the U.S.'s dependence on imported energy and the consequences of unchecked energy usage. From that experience, many energy-intensive companies quickly saw the value of having a dedicated resource, often an Energy Manager, whose role was to minimize energy costs and ensure energy availability (i.e., make the company's energy usage sustainable). Consequently, the term "sustainability" has long been part of the energy manager's lexicon. Today, it isn't just energy-intensive companies that are interested in energy management. Concerns about climate change, energy security, and utility cost stability have led to a tremendous increase in the role of energy management across all sectors, and it is no longer the domain of just engineers but also business managers, contractors, and many others. This course explores the role of energy management in providing a meaningful and financially viable sustainability program. Students who successfully complete the course take away a solid understanding of what energy management entails, key fundamental energy management skills, and an overall level of knowledge enabling them to make meaningful contributions to discussions about energy management in regard to sustainability programs.

Greener Gardens: Sustainable Garden Practice

BIOLGY X 498.10

Sustainability is today's buzzword, and many people seek to create a lifestyle with a more favorable impact on the environment. From home and school gardens to commercial sites, our gardens present the perfect place to start. Designed for horticulture students, gardening professionals, educators, and home gardeners, this course focuses on turning your green thumb into a "greener" garden. Topics include composting, irrigation, water harvesting, water-wise plants, eating and growing local produce, recycling, and moving away from a consumptive, non-sustainable lifestyle when choosing materials and tools. Includes weekend field trips to the Los Angeles River to see our relationship with water in the L.A. basin, as well as the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden, focusing not only on California native plants but also on water-conserving planting design. Students also visit the John T. Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies at Cal Poly Pomona, which advances the principles of environmentally sustainable living through education, research, demonstration, and community outreach.

Building a Garden Ecology with California Natives

BIOLGY X 499.3A

This service learning course helps gardeners and landscape architecture students of all levels understand the beauty and value of using our California natives in a garden setting. There are many myths about California natives: they are difficult and need lots of attention and maintenance. Is this true? No! We explore the ecological and logistical values of bringing local native plants and other ecosystem services back into urban landscapes. We learn, by doing, how to design and install a California native garden, focusing on the concepts of Surfrider's Ocean Friendly Garden Program: conservation, permeability, and retention. In collaboration with SELVA International and the Surfrider Foundation.

UCLA Extension’s Sustainability Certificate prepares individuals to make a big impact in the world through a course of study that provides a practical, comprehensive, multidisciplinary foundation for new to mid-level career professionals. The Sustainability Certificate is a 20-unit program designed to enhance skill sets in areas such as environmental and energy consultancy, green investment and marketing, and climate change. The program is taught by experts in their respective fields, with courses designed for practical real-world applications.

Course offering data cover Summer 2022 - Spring 2023.