As my background is in Civil Engineering, I have to gather my knowledge in sustainability from different sources, and I have to be honest it was not easy. There are a lot of technical knowledge, and not all information is available for free. Below is my collection of sources that I have been studying so far. Hope you find them useful!
1. Free Online courses
There are quite a number of courses online, on famous websites like Coursera, edX, udemy, ... and they all have many interesting courses. You can study for free (but you cannot get certificates), which is a useful way to get more knowledge at your own convenience. I have done a number of courses here, really cool information to know.
Another website that I am enjoying learning is from UN CCe:learn. Information on this website is more technical, covering a greater scale topic. However, you can earn a free certificate (but you have to take a test and passes at over 70% with 3 attempts). I particularly enjoy this one as all lessons are really interactive (there are lots of quizzes on the way to test your knowledge) with real life examples.
2. Facebook pages and groups
This is probably one of the most popular ways for any newbie to sustainability. You can find many groups and pages of both NGOs and individuals covering different topics like Sustainability lifestyle, Sustainable fashion, etc. You are always to join my Facebook page too!
To get the most out of those pages and groups, I recommend you reading the comment section. You can learn so much about how people around the world are practising their sustainable lifestyle. I have learnt and improved my lifestyle a lot by reading those comments. Thank you Internet!
Some popular Facebook pages/groups for you:
Zero Waste Heroes: How to make better use of our resources and waste less.
Journey to Zero Waste: For people who are trying to reduce their waste
Slow Fashion World: Promote circular economy and sustainable fashion industry
Global Goals for Sustainable Development: This is the United Nations’ official Facebook page about the Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on the 17 Global Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic UN Summit.
3. Online/Offline Workshops
Before Covid-19, it is so easy to find workshops covering sustainability, from how to make soap to how to compost at your own home. However, as we are living in a new normal, we have to adapt to this change by bringing all those workshops online. I have been in various workshops and they are always so great. Most of them are free too, and you can make lots of friends who love sustainability too after those workshops!
4. Reading books
Let's go back to the traditional way of learning. READING. Books are always a great source of knowledge and more authors are writing books about sustainability but in a really fun and easy way to understand. I have some recommendations for you:
‘The Joyful Environmentalist’ by Isabel Losada: a fun way to know how we can live more sustainably without loosing ourselves.
‘The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide’ by Jen Gale: hundreds of tips to live more responsibly but not being too strict to yourself.
‘How to Break Up with Fast Fashion’ by Lauren Bravo: the honest truth about fast fashion industry and how to stay away from it.
‘Turning the Tide on Plastic’ by Lucy Siegle: the ugly truth about plastic and the ocean that will make you say NO to plastic.
‘Sustainable Escapes' by Lonely Planet: eco-tourism tips from the most famous travelling publisher.
‘How Bad are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint of Everything’ by Mike Berners-Lee: the ground-braking green guide on the carbon footprint of everything.
How about you, could you share your tips with us?
Love,
Tram Anh