Sustainability

Become part of shaping a sustainable future with the Certificate in Sustainability, offered jointly through the  University of Regina and Luther College. This unique certificate program provides an in-depth understanding of how the economy, society, environment, and governance interact to create a sustainable future. You’ll explore how these interconnected systems affect human well-being and the natural world, both now and in the future.

This 18-credit-hour certificate (6 courses) builds on existing sustainability-focused courses, offering exposure to a variety of disciplines and methodologies. It also allows you to study sustainability alongside your main field of study.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals serve as a global framework for addressing pressing challenges by 2030. The Certificate in Sustainability equips you with the tools to engage with these goals at local, national, and global levels, empowering you to contribute to meaningful change and help shape the planet’s future.

Through this program, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Understand the ideas behind sustainability and sustainable development
• Learn about key issues that affect people and the environment
• Build skills to think through real-world sustainability problems and explore possible solutions
• Get hands-on experience with sustainability in communities or organizations
• Explore the values that guide sustainability, like caring for future generations, animals, and people in poverty, and learn how these values connect to your field or career
• Learn the common language used in global development, which is useful for international jobs or roles that need public support

What is Sustainability?

Sustainability means meeting today's needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It’s about balancing environmental, social, and economic factors to ensure long-term well-being for people, communities, and the planet.

Sustainable development brings together theory, practice, science, ethics, and local and global perspectives. It focuses on how people and organizations make decisions about using resources to achieve their goals.

To work in sustainability, collaboration, interdisciplinary thinking, and adaptability are key. The process often involves taking small, thoughtful actions to address real-world challenges, building on the strengths within local communities.

This program explores environmental sustainability (protecting the planet) and human/social sustainability (ensuring community well-being).

Sustainability Courses

As part of the Certificate in Sustainability, you’ll explore six key focus areas, taking one course from each.

Below are some of the courses available in each area. For official program requirements—including course level expectations, subject limits, and community engagement components—please refer to the Undergraduate Calendar.

1. The Sustainability Problem

SOC 230 - Environment and Society

2. Dimensions of Human Sustainability

INDG 100 - Introduction to Indigenous Studies
INDG 225 - Principles of Indigenous Law
JS 100 - Introduction to Justice
JS 280 - Introduction to Social Justice
PHIL 270 - Ethics
PHIL 271 - Social & Political Philosophy
RLST 275 - Women in World Religions
SOC 208 - Inequality and Social Justice
SOC 211 - Sociology of Diversity and Intersectionality in Canada
SOC 214 - Sociology of Indigenous People in Canada
WGST 100 - Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies
WGST 300 - Missing Women: Decolonization, Third Wave Feminisms and Indigenous Peoples
SOC 214 - Sociology of Indigenous People in Canada

3. Dimensions of Environmental Sustainability

BIOL 150 - Biological Principles for Non-majors
GES 120 - Human Geography
ESC 102 - Earth and Environment
PHIL 275 – Environmental Ethics
PSYC 340 - Psychology and Environmental Change
SOC 330 - Sociology of the Environment

4. Human Sustainability

ANTH 340 - Anthropology and Contemporary Human Problems
ECON 253 - Economic Issues in the Canadian Health Care System
ECON 281- Wages & Employment in Canada
IDS 101 - Interdisciplinary Studies: Contemporary Issues
INDG 200 - Introduction to International Indigenous Issues
INDG 201 - Introduction to Contemporary Indigenous Issues
IS 200 - Feeding the World and Cooling the Planet
PHIL 272 - Contemporary Moral Issues
PSCI 344 - Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment
WGST 201 - Women, the Environment and Change
WGST 206 - Feminism & Activism
HUM 260 - Utopian Literature, Thought, and Experiment
JS 317 - Justice, Democracy and Social Change
SOC 314 - Sociology of Development
SOC 333 - Sociology of Disaster
SOC 355 - The Global Food System

Econ 253 - Economic Issues in the Canadian Health Care System

5. Environmental Sustainability Options

BIOC 200 - Medicinal Plants and Culture
BIOL 276 – Environmental Biology
ECON 273 - Environmental Economics
ECON 274 - Ecological Economics
ECON 275 - Energy Economics
ECON 373 - Climate Change Policy
INDG 236 - Indigenous Economic, Environmental, and Geographic Systems

6. Sustainability in Practice