This free online course will teach you how human activities generate pollution and alter water availability worldwide.

What happens when polluted water, unsafe sanitation, toxic chemicals and poor air quality become part of daily life? This environmental health course answers that question by showing how environmental hazards damage ecosystems and place human health at risk. You will explore the growing global water crisis, the effects of industrial waste, and the links between environmental change, public health, safety and human well-being. If you want to understand one of the biggest challenges facing modern society, this course gives you a strong and practical starting point.

As the course develops, you will examine major environmental health issues that affect communities across the world. You will learn about biological and chemical agents, traditional and modern environmental health hazards, routes of exposure, environmental toxicology, antibiotic resistance, indoor air pollution, malaria, and emerging diseases. The course also explains how poor access to clean water and sanitation threatens child survival and long-term health. These topics are presented in a way that helps you connect scientific knowledge with real public health problems.

You will also gain a clear understanding of the hydrologic cycle, surface water, groundwater resources, water supply challenges and the sources of water pollution. Along the way, you will study environmental contaminants, health effects of chemicals, the Clean Water Act, and famous case studies including groundwater pollution in the United States and the Aral Sea. By the end, you will not only understand the causes of environmental health risks, but also the sustainable solutions needed to protect ecosystems, strengthen communities and build a healthier future.