Fashion Values: Nature - free online course for LCF students

This year we launched Fashion Values: Nature, the first of four free open-source online courses led by CSF’s sustainability experts, as part of our new sustainability education programme, Fashion Values.

You can join the four-week course at any time, learning alongside a global community of changemakers. With three hours of weekly study suggested, the course allows you to study at your own pace and welcomes all levels including undergraduate and postgraduate students, business professionals, designers and communicators.

As students at LCF we are delighted to offer you free, unlimited upgrade access to our courses, as well as other participating short-courses on FutureLearn. Once you have successfully subscribed to FutureLearn Campus, you can use a new 'Included in FutureLearn Campus' filter on the courses page to find other courses that you can upgrade on for free. You can also look for the 'Included in FutureLearn Campus' label on course cards. If you would like some more information on FutureLearn Campus and how to get started, please email Lou Budd, Education Project Coordinator, l.budd@fashion.arts.ac.uk.

The course is led by CSF’s Director, Professor Dilys Williams and Education for Sustainability Leader Nina Stevenson, with contributions from experts including Prof. Kate Fletcher, Lynda Grose, Deepa Patel, Eduardo Escobedo, Dr. Helen Crowley, Dr. Katrina Ole-MoiYoi, and Dr. Francesco Mazzarella.

We asked contributors ‘why are you part of this course?’:

Dr. Katrina Ole-MoiYoi: We are in a defining moment for earth’s planetary boundaries. Bending the curve on biodiversity loss will not happen overnight, and in order to move towards long-lasting solutions, we need to meaningfully engage the next generation of fashion leaders about the linkages between biodiversity and the fashion industry.

Lynda Grose: We need to start from where nature is and plan the capacities of all businesses to align within nature's capacities. Nothing less than this is anywhere close to being 'sustainable'.  This demands re-centering the purpose of business to being 'of service' to the health of nature, and all species, including but not limited to humans. Pioneering sustainable design, Victor Papanek, called on us to 're-establish closer links between nature and human-kind', and I am happy to be part of this effort to do just that.

Deepa Patel: The fashion industry has the opportunity to demonstrate that humanity can be kind and caring for both the world and human beings. For us to do that we have to understand that we are part of nature, it is not outside us and fashion. I hope [to] inspire students to deepen their connection to nature through a blend of mindfulness, imagination, and experiencing the world through our senses. 

Watch this space for three more Fashion Values courses (titled Economy, Cultures and Society), coming soon.