Certificate in Human and Planetary Health
A healthy planet is essential to human thriving. Climate change, disease, pollution, and disrupted food systems pose critical threats to a healthy future, with the heaviest burden falling on the most vulnerable and marginalized. Combatting these challenges requires a holistic approach, one that embraces technological innovation, policy change, environmental justice, and cultural paradigms and that draws insights from environmental science, medicine, public health, law, and other disciplines. This certificate brings together the diverse perspectives and analytical skills needed to evaluate challenges and create solutions for a healthier world – one that sustains nature and supports health.
Learning Objectives
Connect
Analyze the complex interplay between human health and the environment and identify multisectoral, systems-level approaches to resolving large-scale problems through our cornerstone course, SUSTAIN 103.
Courses
You must complete the core course and 3 elective courses from the list below. 1 elective must be a project based course.
Reminder: All courses must be taken for at least 3 units and a letter grade. Read the FAQ's for more information about course restrictions.
Core course
Elective courses
View Stanford Navigator for detailed course offerings and descriptions
| Course | Title | Project based |
|---|---|---|
| BIO 276 | Disease Ecology |
|
| BIOE 271 | Frugal Science* | ✔️ |
| CEE 263D | Air Pollution and Global Warming: History, Science, and Solutions |
|
| CEE 265D | Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries |
|
| CEE 265F | Environmental Governance and Climate Resilience |
|
| CEE 278A | Air Pollution Fundamentals |
|
| CHEMENG 455 | The Future of Food: Defining Challenges to Reinvent Food Systems | ✔️ |
| CHPR 166 | Food and Society: Exploring Eating Behaviors in Social, Environmental, and Policy Context |
|
| DESIGN 273 | Negotiation by Design: Crafting Environmental Agreement |
|
| EARTHSYS 160 | Sustainable Cities | ✔️ |
| EARTHSYS 215 | Science for sustainable solutions |
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| EARTHSYS 216A | Climate Perspectives: Climate Science, Impacts, Carbon Markets, Decarbonization Models and Projects |
|
| EARTHSYS 221 | Environmental, Climate and Energy Justice in Africa |
|
| EARTHSYS 225 | Shades of green: exploring and expanding environmental justice in practice* | ✔️ |
| EARTHSYS 279 | The Science & Practice of Valuing Nature for a Better World |
|
| EARTHSYS 281 | Urban Agroecology |
|
| EBS 220 | The Psychological Foundations of Climate Solutions |
|
| EBS 291 | Renewable Energy Transition in Rural America, A Human & Planetary Health Action Lab | ✔️ |
| ENERGY 101 | Energy and the Environment |
|
| EPI 237 | Practical Approaches to Global Health Research* | ✔️ |
| ESS 114 | Regenerative Coffee: Biochar, Climate, and Health, A Human and Planetary Health Action Lab | ✔️ |
| ESS 266 | Will Technology Save the World?: Environmental Ethics and Techno-Optimism |
|
| INTLPOL 271 | Climate Politics: Science and Global Governance | |
| LAW 809T | Policy Practicum: Building a Sustainable, Transparent, and Humane Food System | ✔️ |
| OCEANS 223H | Catalyzing Solutions for a Sustainable Ocean: Learning with Local Communities | ✔️ |
| PEDS 250 | Advancing Health Equity: Exploring Social Determinants of Health and Multi-sector Solutions | |
| STRAMGT 345 | Impact: Taking Social Innovation to Scale | |
| STS 177 | The cultural politics of food and eating: technology, history, and justice |
*In order to apply this course to the Human and Planetary Health Certificate, the project must be centered upon an issue that impacts both human and environmental health (e.g. pollution, food systems, disease ecology in a changing world, and climate change).