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Maharishi University of Management provides leading edge environmental and sustainable living programmes Are there educational programmes with knowledge and tools that are actually powerful enough to reverse the damaging trends of modern society and create effective alternatives? The Department of Environmental Science at Maharishi University of Management (M.U.M.) in USA provides leading edge technologies and knowledge, which can clearly make a difference in global environmental well-being. Maharishi University of Management is the first university in the world to expand the scope of sustainable living to recognize that the environmental problems we face are fundamentally those of human consciousness; and therefore, the solutions must begin with solutions in consciousness. M.U.M. recognizes that the keys to unfolding consciousness—the experience and knowledge of consciousness—are the true keys to solving the puzzles in nature. It is through developing awareness of the true connection between humans and their surroundings that we will see lasting progress in sustainable living and the quality of the environment. At Maharishi University of Management, the Department of Environmental Science combines the tools of Maharishi Consciousness-Based Education with up-to-date Environmental Science. The result is knowledge and technologies for creating truly effective sustainable living programmes. These sustainable living programmes include knowledge of how to live in accord with Natural Law—how to avoid creating problems in the first place. As the catalogue states, 'the Environmental Science major builds an understanding of how to design and maintain communities that meet the needs of people and the environment so abundantly they function indefinitely. It involves knowledge of the ecology of living systems with implications for sustainability in the areas of technology, agriculture, architecture, and landscape design, as well as in personal growth and evolution and sustainable business practices.' While mastering practical knowledge of sustainable living, M.U.M. students also open their awareness to the Unified Field of Total Natural Law, twice a day during their practice of Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation Programme. By enlivening the Unified Field of Natural Law within their own consciousness, these students align their speech and action in accord with Natural Law. After their Transcendental Meditation programme, in activity, Environmental Studies’ students at M.U.M., learn to create practical solutions to realign the environment with the wholeness of all the Laws of Nature, functioning together in harmony and balance. For example, recently students of a hands-on course on sustainable technology created a range of practical projects in renewable energy and gave an end-of-course demonstration to the community. They built a wind generator from scratch, a solar electric vehicle, a bio diesel processor capable of making several thousand gallons of fuel per day, and a commercial-size solar oven. In the context of doing these projects, students consulted with and learnt from some skilled craftsman in town. They learnt to weld and to do blacksmithing, plumbing, and electrical work. They also learnt basic woodworking skills and visited an Amish sawmill, using the lumber in their projects. As part of the course they also lobbied the legislature in Des Moines for a renewable energy future. Lonnie Gamble, a founding faculty member of Maharishi University of Management’s Sustainable Living programme and founder of Abundance Ecovillage taught the course. The M.U.M. catalogue points out that scientific advancements depend upon the effective development of scientists of each age. The M.U.M curriculum for Environmental Science provides practical knowledge for enabling humans to be the best possible custodians of the earth. Copyright © 2007 Global Good News(sm) Service
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