MIU Blogs
Dr. Vandana Shiva is a renowned physicist, social advocate and environmental activist. She has written twenty books, her most recent being Making Peace with the Earth. She spoke with Dr. Bill Goldstein’s environmental law class with the same name, talking about the issues that are still present in our modern world and how MIU’s Sustainable Living students are the key to making a profound and lasting change within our society and the environment. It was a pleasure to speak with her and to hear what she had...
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May 21st, 2015 saw MIU’s 2015 graduation commencement speaker Dr. Yukio Hatoyama (Japan’s former Prime Minister) and his wife Mrs. Miyuki Hatoyama (Japan’s former First Lady) visit the Sustainable Living Center along with their guests for a tour given by our faculty and staff.
They first received a general overview of the building’s design and construction while standing outside in the sunny weather, and noted that the SLC has solar panel, rain catchment and passive solar systems. After that they were welcomed into the building where...
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Due to positive response, Wednesday, May 13th, saw the second Sustainable Living department student caucus held on MUM campus. Organized by Sustainable Living department administrator Gerrie Stood and hosted by Dr. Travis Cox, the caucus allowed students to voice their opinions regarding campus an program issues that mattered most to them. Prominent students such as Heather Caldwell (tiny house builder and soon to be MUM graduate) and Alexandra Pomeroy (former student and Green Iowa Americorps logistics coordinator) offered valuable suggestions about how to improve the Sustainable...
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All graduation-related activities this year are being assessed to see how they can be made more environmentally friendly.
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Amy and Troy Van Beek report that Ideal Energy Inc., a solar energy business they co-own in Fairfield, is currently working on both small- and large-scale projects that service communities in the Midwest and nationally. The work they have already accomplished has made Fairfield the city with the highest number of solar energy installations per capita in Iowa. You can see photos of their installations at Ideal Energy’s website.
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The decor for EcoJam was simple: a black runway and large tree branches, painted white, on stands. The clothing was anything but.
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As a part of the MIU Sustainable Living department’s Distinguished Lecture Series, Richard Register, a MIU Visiting Scholar, spoke about his solution for humanity’s environmental problems: ecocities.
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Douglas Tuers, a member of Green Iowa AmeriCorps at MIU, coordinated and moderated a discussion about the environment and spirituality with a panel consisting of MIU’s Dr. Travis Cox, Dr. Evan Finkelstein, recent Sustainable Living graduate Pia Fritsch, and guests Father Thomas Miller and his wife Donna Miller discuss how religion and spirituality have affected the environment through the course of history. They delve deeply into what they believe has led to the current state of our spiritual relationship with the environment. They cover topics such as how...
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UPDATE: Watch the entire lecture below!
For the first time ever, Iowans can leave a legacy of healthy food to the next generation, making way for a cleaner planet, sustainable food farms and thriving rural economies. Suzan Erem, co-founder and president of the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust (SILT) will explain how this statewide nonprofit is creating a whole new way to own farmland and “feed the world.”
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“Making Peace with the Earth,” a course on global environmental law and food policy being offered in block 5 (May), will feature top experts, including Ved Nanda, JD, the director of International Legal Studies at the University of Denver and a leading international law scholar and global activist.
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