MIU Blogs
The term colloquy is defined as “a conversation, a theological dialogue, or a high-level serious discussion.” This is exactly what Maharishi International University’s Sustainable Living department wanted to happen regarding the concept of deep sustainability. The department’s very first Colloquy on Deep Sustainability, hosted from June 19th to June 21st, 2015, made this dream a reality.
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A young couple from Portland, Oregon recently stopped by the Sustainable Living Department on their cross country adventure that has taken them down the West coast, across the Southwest to New Orleans, up to Pennsylvania and New York, and back across the Midwest on their way home. Although Tom Walther and April Cummins drove a 1986 Ford Van, they did not burn fossil fuel on their journey. They made the entire trip fueled by waste vegetable oil.
This summer, the MIU Sustainable Living Department (SL) is in the...
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Momone Maley is known to many at MUM for being a very hard working student. Having been involved with many different projects at MUM ranging from farming to beekeeping, Momone has learned and achieved a lot in her time here. Now she is close to earning her MBA degree, but even with all of the responsibilities that come with earning a master’s degree she still finds time to pursue her sustainability projects. Last year she decided to dedicate her time toward breathing new life into a section of land next...
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Tom Newmark, the co-founder and chair of The Carbon Underground, a nonprofit that teaches farmers, ranchers, and corporations how to use regenerative agricultural practices to sequester carbon dioxide and possibly reverse climate change, recently presented a fascinating talk about these important issues. The talk was titled, “The Carbon Underground: A World Movement to Regenerate Soils and Reverse Climate Change”, and took place on April 15th in Dalby Hall, at the Argiro Student Center on MUM campus.
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The highly esteemed Ved Nanda, LLM, gave a lecture as a part of the Sustainable Living department’s Distinguished Lecture Series on Monday, May 11th, 2015. His talk was entitled, “Making Peace With the Earth: The Good News and Bad News in 2015“, which took place in the Argiro Student Center’s Dalby Hall on MIU campus. He spoke about current social, political, economic and environmental issues from around the globe, what has been done to make things better in the past, and what still needs to change.
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Daniel Gorman has just finished his four years here at MIU and is quickly moving on to bigger and better things. Having started his own business, Bubbling Brine Brothers, Dan is set to take the fermented foods market by storm. I was able to pull him aside and talk to him briefly about his senior project, Knowledge Fair presentation and plans for post-graduate life:
What brought you to MIU Dan?
“Definitely the philosophy side of it. I had an interest in eastern philosophies like Buddhism, Zen.”
...
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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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