featuring MUM special guest alumni, Monica “The Compost Queen” Moscovici

Taking the High-Road on Turkey Day

With a tradition as deeply established as “Thanksgiving,” taking some extra time to change our habits toward more sustainable practices can seem overwhelming.  What if Aunt Bessy comes to the feast only to find real, organic cranberry sauce in place of the sugar-laden gelatin product she is so accustomed to? We here at the MUM Sustainable Living Department have sewn together this guide to a...]]>

5 Ways to Make Sustainability a New Thanksgiving Tradition

featuring MUM special guest alumni, Monica “The Compost Queen” Moscovici

Taking the High-Road on Turkey Day

With a tradition as deeply established as “Thanksgiving,” taking some extra time to change our habits toward more sustainable practices can seem overwhelming.  What if Aunt Bessy comes to the feast only to find real, organic cranberry sauce in place of the sugar-laden gelatin product she is so accustomed to? We here at the MUM Sustainable Living Department have sewn together this guide to a more sustainable Thanksgiving that will be tighter than the sweater Aunt Bessy so kindly made for you last year. We even have Monica “The Compost Queen” Moscovici to help us navigate the food scrap aftermath of the day.

5. Compost Food Scraps with “The Compost Queen”

If we are careful to prepare as close to what we will consume as possible, we can end up with fewer extra scraps at the end. However, while it is fair to say leftovers are inevitable, Monica teaches us why they definitely don’t need to be a bad thing!

“While maybe new and different for a first-timer,” she says, “The best and easiest way to deal with food scraps, especially in the cold weather, is Vermicomposting. The most popular and comprehensive book on the subject is ‘Worms Eat My Garbage’ by Mary Applehof.  Someone who is interested in this could also get a lot of info from YouTube videos. For a person who is less serious about composting and more interested in low-maintenance gardening, they could plan to use the Thanksgiving veggies in a lasagna garden prep for next season. Finally, the simplest solution of them all would be to just dig a hole in the ground and bury the food.

“Fall is a great time of year for enriching soil with compost. Everything gets covered and insulated in snow and the microbes do their thing until spring, when you can use it.

“One word of warning on adding meats to compost – Be sure to do your research first. We want to avoid E. Coli in our soil, and some meats will create this bad bacteria. Keeping meats out of your compost may be the best plan for now.”

With a little motivation, planning, and education, anyone can be a Compost Hero and turn the leftovers from Thanksgiving into a new composting tradition.

4. Always Carpool

Thanksgiving often means getting our families together in one location. Though it can be a challenge to everyone’s schedules, taking some extra time to plan a route where relatives can be picked up can save a significant amount of fossil fuel usage. Taking a slight detour with one car is still about twice as efficient as a second car traveling the entire route. Besides, ’tis the season for extra family time!

3. Locally Sourced Food and Decorations

During the months approaching winter, we can all appreciate reaping the harvest of our hard-working farmers. If you know the original story of Thanksgiving, you know Squanto brought together the local Native communities with the new settlers for a celebratory feast. Thanksgiving is as much a community event as it is a family event. As a new tradition, set aside a few afternoons in November for trips to your local Farmer’s Market. By supporting these important members of our communities, we can ensure they are able to continue providing us with a way to avoid products arriving at supermarkets on trucks.  The transportation cost of produce and meats is staggering.

According to Tom Stars at ecoliteracy.org, “It takes about 10 fossil fuel calories to produce and transport each food calorie in the average American diet. So if your daily food intake is 2,000 calories, then it took 20,000 calories to grow that food and get it to you.”

Tom goes on to explain how this adds up to about 930 gallons of gasoline per year, per family!

On a lighter note, buying items like gourds, pumpkins, and hand-made crafts at Farmer’s Markets is a great way to further support these folks while ticking decorations off of your holiday task list. Give it a shot!

2. Organic Food

While the main difference between organic and conventional food is the chemicals used, organic food also has another benefit beyond your health.  The chemicals used in conventional agriculture affect the environment and animals at astronomically higher levels as by-product.  Due to loose regulations, these chemicals become even more abundant in the form of run-off.  Ultimately, while cheaper at the register for consumers, extra costs for conventional food are built into what we pay in taxes for environmental clean-up efforts.  Organic food may cost more up-front, but, by spending a little extra, you can enjoy your feast knowing you are playing a role in the health of not only our planet, but our economy, too.

The greatest impact a person can have is to choose a vegan diet.  A staggering 51 percent or more of global greenhouse-gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture, according to a report published by the Worldwatch Institute.

Are we saying Thanksgiving should happen with no turkey?! Actually, yes, we are.  And while the first scary image that comes to mind might be a “tofurkey,” rest assured, these products are typically highly processed and you should definitely avoid them.

Alternatives to turkey and meat can be as creative as you are. VegKitchen is a great place to get started and learn new recipes.

A tradition of locally sourced, organic, whole-foods make our bodies and families feel loved.

1. Finally, An Obvious One – Sustainability of Your Health!

Get out there and walk around!  Yes, Thanksgiving typically tends to be the day of the year we can allow a little extra eating, a little extra drinking, and a whole bunch of extra sitting.  Walking after meals can be considered a healthy tradition on any day of the year.  So, if you decide to push the margins on our favorite family fun feast, take it to the streets, or a nice trail, and enjoy these last beautiful moments of fall!

Your body will thank you for the love, and after all, a longer living healthy body that practices stewardship of the Earth is the greatest gift we can give to our planet.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Performance art collective The 181 performed last month MUM’s own Unity Gallery, much to the delight of an audience of MUM community members.

The 181 is made up of artists Brandon Boan, Abby Donovan, Tom Hughes, and Jason Roads. Abby Donovan’s official website describes the collective as one that “creates situations that generate experiential spaces which expand, contract, or reassemble as information sloshes about.”

“It is well-known that symmetry on a plane suggests volume to the mind,” says Abby, “but we are nevertheless surprised that even the oddest, unnatural, un-anticipatable...]]>

Performance art collective The 181 performed last month MUM’s own Unity Gallery, much to the delight of an audience of MUM community members.

The 181 is made up of artists Brandon Boan, Abby Donovan, Tom Hughes, and Jason Roads. Abby Donovan’s official website describes the collective as one that “creates situations that generate experiential spaces which expand, contract, or reassemble as information sloshes about.”

“It is well-known that symmetry on a plane suggests volume to the mind,” says Abby, “but we are nevertheless surprised that even the oddest, unnatural, un-anticipatable symmetries communicate volume. We postulate that an existential volume is equivalent to its echoes.”

The 181’s unique, thought-provoking style really cannot be put into words. You can visit their Vimeo channel to see their one of a kind performances for yourself.

You can read more about MUM’s Unity Gallery at their website, and see pictures from the event below.

Ananda Kesler’s grandmother was a respected Israeli artist. Ananda’s early childhood visits to her grandmother’s studio, “a mysterious, magical place,” fostered her fascination with painting. After her family moved to Fairfield, Ananda began to transcend cultural boundaries – traveling the world to study art, printmaking, textile/surface design, painting and drawing in Italy, Iowa, California and Thailand. In contrast, or perhaps deeply informed by her travels, Ananda’s work explores and reflects her rich inner world.

Ananda describes her work as “inspired by memories, dreams, and subtle feelings difficult to describe with words . . . by inner landscapes and inner worlds.” Ananda reveals herself as...]]>

Ananda Kesler’s grandmother was a respected Israeli artist. Ananda’s early childhood visits to her grandmother’s studio, “a mysterious, magical place,” fostered her fascination with painting. After her family moved to Fairfield, Ananda began to transcend cultural boundaries – traveling the world to study art, printmaking, textile/surface design, painting and drawing in Italy, Iowa, California and Thailand. In contrast, or perhaps deeply informed by her travels, Ananda’s work explores and reflects her rich inner world.

Ananda describes her work as “inspired by memories, dreams, and subtle feelings difficult to describe with words . . . by inner landscapes and inner worlds.” Ananda reveals herself as an artist who practices painting “as a kind of Karma Yoga, a meditation in action . . . a search of the one realm with which all things are connected.”

After completing her BFA in 2002 at the University of Iowa, Ananda worked closely with her mentor and ICON Gallery owner Bill Teeple. Ananda describes her time with Bill as a turning point in her work. “Bill gave me permission to explore and not judge myself,” she explains.

In 2013, Ananda was invited to show in Paris as part of an International Juried Exhibit. Out of one hundred international exhibiting artists, Ananda’s work was chosen as one of the top ten artists by a people’s choice award. In this group of ten, several women artists bonded after “en désaccord” with the exhibition director. Their post-exhibition Facebook friendships eventually led to the creation of the LUNA Art Collective. Each of the five international artists who form the Collective (Leslie Batty, Nicole Brauch, Ananda Kessler, Ivana Minafra, and Alexandra Rouard) are living in various cities around the world and exploring that world together from a unique cross-cultural perspective.

The Collective has “bonded on many levels,” says Ananda. “It’s always been easier for me to promote someone other than myself, but I find I can talk about the group, our Collective.” Each artist not only excels in their medium but brings unique personal qualities into the Collective that support their successful group dynamic.

In May of 2015, the LUNA Art Collective presented “Invisible Cities” at Corridor 2122 Gallery in Fresno, CA. “Invisible Cities” was a visual response to a novel of the same title written by the Italian postmodern fabulist Italo Calvino, who is one of the most translated modern Italian writers.

When I ask Ananda what’s next for LUNA Art Collective, she says that their future is unknown. “It’s not that easy to persuade a gallery to exhibit work as a Collective,” she explains. “We’re basically asking is to take over the gallery space for an exhibit,” she says. “We just want to step in and then step out, an approach that is very different from the way things are usually done with a gallery curator choosing to exhibit artists they are currently representing.”

In the meantime, after what Ananda describes as a slow phase of production, she has a collection that hasn’t been shown. I hope to see this new work soon. After our interview, I reviewed Ananda’s Artist’s Statement and understood more clearly the ’aha’ feeling I experience when I see her work. “As artists,” she writes, “perhaps as humans, we might be plagued by the fear of making mistakes. I let the painting process stand as proof that it is exactly these ‘mistakes,’ that when layered, and allowed to exist, create beauty and resolution itself.” Exactly. Art responds to life and life responds to art . . . beautifully.

Aditi Gentsch is a third year student studying an individualized major in Consciousness-Based Business and Media.  She’s applying what she’s learning in Media courses to help her growing organic skincare business, Aditi Botanicals.

Born in Fairfield, she spent some time in San Diego, studying photography and graphic design, and also going to an aviation academy.  Reflecting on her return to Fairfield and enrollment at MUM, she said, “I’ve just been really, really happy since.”

Right now she is celebrating the 20 year anniversary of Aditi Botanicals, and is taking Media...]]>

Aditi Gentsch is a third year student studying an individualized major in Consciousness-Based Business and Media.  She’s applying what she’s learning in Media courses to help her growing organic skincare business, Aditi Botanicals.

Born in Fairfield, she spent some time in San Diego, studying photography and graphic design, and also going to an aviation academy.  Reflecting on her return to Fairfield and enrollment at MUM, she said, “I’ve just been really, really happy since.”

Right now she is celebrating the 20 year anniversary of Aditi Botanicals, and is taking Media courses at MUM to “gather the tools to help me grow my business in the future.”

The course she’s taking now is Media Projects, which she says “lets you explore the creativity you have the desire to do,” resulting in a “mix of practical and very creative projects.”  And, since the course can be taken repeatedly, Aditi has had the chance to focus on different aspects of her business each time.  Now in her fourth Media Projects class, she is putting it all together into the finished project.

She has been able to customize her education at MUM to learn the skills she needs for her unique business.  “Every day I’m applying it to my business directly,” she says.  When asked for specifics she gave quite an impressive list: she’s learned publishing skills, wrote a DIY spa day eBook, created a product-selector iPhone app for her products, learned marketing for social media in the course “The Power of Media Marketing,” created her first blog in the course “Blogging and Reflective Writing,” and wrote business plans and learned communication skills to help her give more effective presentations.  And right now she is creating a website to celebrate the 20 years of success she’s had with Aditi Botanicals.

She also notes how the structure of the block system has benefitted her.  “I’m able to pick courses that are immediately applicable, so I can start using what I learned immediately.  I really appreciate that.”

“This year I’ve been focusing more on media and writing and next year I’ll do more business courses,” she says.  She also has an interest in Sustainable Living, which will come into play for her senior project.

Reflecting on her experience thus far at MUM, she smiled and said, “I love it.  I really love being here.”

Aditi sells her products at AditiBotanicals.com, on Etsy, and at the annual holiday trade fair in Fairfield.  This December she will also be at the Fairfield Farmers Market.  She wants to continue expanding Aditi Botanicals, making a thriving and lively business to help make Fairfield a dynamic place to live.

Dr. Robert Schneider is the Director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, the Dean of the Maharishi College of Perfect Health, and the Director of the MUM Physiology and Health department’s MS in Integrative Medicine, which has recently partnered with St. Martinus University in Curaçao to deliver a dual MD MS degree program for aspiring doctors in integrative medicine.

Dr. Schneider recently gave a public lecture in MUM’s Dalby Hall, entitled: Towards a Model of Vedic Psychiatry: A Whole Systems Approach Based on Principles...]]>

Dr. Robert Schneider is the Director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, the Dean of the Maharishi College of Perfect Health, and the Director of the MUM Physiology and Health department’s MS in Integrative Medicine, which has recently partnered with St. Martinus University in Curaçao to deliver a dual MD MS degree program for aspiring doctors in integrative medicine.

Dr. Schneider recently gave a public lecture in MUM’s Dalby Hall, entitled: Towards a Model of Vedic Psychiatry: A Whole Systems Approach Based on Principles of Maharishi AyurVeda, where he discusses topics such as cardiovascular health

In his talk, Dr. Schneider discusses going beyond traditional psychiatric concepts to analyze psychiatry in regard to deeper levels of the mind that are described in Ayurveda and Vedic Science. He explains how this knowledge relates to the role of the mind in terms of mental disorders, diagnosis, and treatment and prevention.

For more than a decade, Dr. Schneider and his collaborators have examined the efficacy of Maharishi Ayurveda and the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, especially hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Schneider is one of the founding faculty of the Department of Physiology and Health, and a consultant to the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on natural medicine.

View Dr. Schneider’s talk below, and learn more about how you can become a part of this new revolution in modern medicine.

Women can now enjoy a month of deep meditation on the Taste of Blissful Life courses held by Mother Divine in sunny Chanthaburi, Thailand.

The Mother Divine Program is an international group of women located all over the world dedicated to personal spiritual growth and world peace. This is achieved through collective practice of Transcendental Meditation and its advanced programs, along with the practice of a healthy, relaxed, conscious lifestyle.

Mother Divine courses, which are available in Fairfield, New York, and Thailand, are popular with MUM students, who report...]]>

Women can now enjoy a month of deep meditation on the Taste of Blissful Life courses held by Mother Divine in sunny Chanthaburi, Thailand.

The Mother Divine Program is an international group of women located all over the world dedicated to personal spiritual growth and world peace. This is achieved through collective practice of Transcendental Meditation and its advanced programs, along with the practice of a healthy, relaxed, conscious lifestyle.

Mother Divine courses, which are available in Fairfield, New York, and Thailand, are popular with MUM students, who report unparalleled rest and growth of consciousness during their time with the group. Courses are available as weekend retreats, 3 week World Peace Assemblies, month-long stays, or even six-month ventures. The Taste of Blissful Life courses are one month long – just the right amount of time to unplug, relax, and experience deep peace.

Highlights of the Thailand course include:

• Extended practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique and TM-Sidhi program
• Discussion of personal experiences with TM-Sidhi Administrators and Raj Rajeshwaris
• Videos of Maharishi
• The nourishing atmosphere of the Mother Divine Program
• Fresh and healthy vegetarian cuisine
• Yoga Asanas and daily exercise
• Presentations and knowledge meetings
• The beautiful natural surroundings of Chanthaburi, Thailand

The courses will be taking place between December 14, 2015 and June 13, 2016 in Chanthaburi, Thailand. In January, there is also a 3 week World Peace Assembly course option at the same beautiful location.

For those wanting to stay in the US, similar courses will be offered in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, between July 29, 2015 and January 28, 2016. For more information on courses, visit the official Mother Divine website.

AASHE, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, hosted its 2015 conference in Minneapolis, MN, and we had the pleasure of being one of their exhibitors! Beginning on October 25 and running through to October 28th, this conference was all about different sustainability-minded organizations coming together to share their ideas, network, and have fun while doing it. Held in the prestigious Minneapolis Convention Center, it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event, with its largest turnout ever of 2,200+ attendees!

Set up in booth #213, we had...]]>

AASHE, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, hosted its 2015 conference in Minneapolis, MN, and we had the pleasure of being one of their exhibitors! Beginning on October 25 and running through to October 28th, this conference was all about different sustainability-minded organizations coming together to share their ideas, network, and have fun while doing it. Held in the prestigious Minneapolis Convention Center, it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event, with its largest turnout ever of 2,200+ attendees!

Set up in booth #213, we had a great time interacting with very passionate students, teachers and sustainability advocates. Offering information about our stand-out BA and MA in Sustainable Living programs and being able to share just how special our university and town are was both gratifying to us, and a pleasant surprise to many of our guests.

For those that don’t know, our Sustainable Living department is unique in that the entire curriculum revolves around a concept called deep sustainability. This concept refers to sustainability as not only a means for fixing inefficient systems, but as a way to completely rebuild them from the ground up. It means coming to a place of deep communion with oneself and with nature so that communities and societies can be built to be resilient and self-sufficient.

People are seemingly becoming more and more aware of how crucial “inner sustainability” is to outer (or traditional) sustainability. Luckily, here at MUM we have amazing tools for cultivating inner sustainability, such as Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi AyurVeda (an ancient system of health for treating and preventing illness). They were also pleasantly surprised to hear that Maharishi University of Management is an AASHE STARS school, currently ranked as Silver!

While representing the Sustainable Living department at our own booth, our team was able to mingle with our booth neighbors: JavaCity & ecoGrounds, Freight Farms, and Carbonless Community, a group of great people that were offering wonderful sustainable products and services to university campuses. We were able to attend many of the talks and workshops that were being held too, where we made plenty of new friends and reconnected with old ones.

With attendees like David Orr, Shalini Gupta, and many others, AASHE 2015 turned out to be a beautiful and educational experience. Thanks to AASHE for having us, thanks to our various guests for visiting us, and thank you to our Sustainable Living team for making the trip all the more special!

*This will be my last blog article for the Sustainable Living department as I am heading on over to write for our Physiology and Health department now. My successor is an awesome, talented guy though so I’m sure you’ll all love what he has to share with you all! So long and thanks for all the fish!

The next generation of young leaders on campus began participating last month in a new program to apprentice under MUM’s senior leaders.

As part of the MUM Apprenticeship Programme, graduates of the Enlightened Leadership Program will work under President Dr. Bevan Morris, Executive Vice-President Craig Pearson, and each member of the executive committee.

The goals are to develop a relationship with each senior leader, to learn how that person’s area of the University functions, to understand what the components are, and then to form teams of four or five to...]]>

The next generation of young leaders on campus began participating last month in a new program to apprentice under MUM’s senior leaders.

As part of the MUM Apprenticeship Programme, graduates of the Enlightened Leadership Program will work under President Dr. Bevan Morris, Executive Vice-President Craig Pearson, and each member of the executive committee.

The goals are to develop a relationship with each senior leader, to learn how that person’s area of the University functions, to understand what the components are, and then to form teams of four or five to work on specific projects. The apprentice teams will meet with each senior leader twice a month.

“It’s thrilling to see how eager everyone is to participate in the Apprenticeship Programme, both senior leadership and the next-generation leaders,” said Adrienne Schoenfeld, executive director of Enlightened Leadership International.

Those involved are young students, staff, and faculty who have participated in the eight-month Enlightened Leadership Program over the past three years, with a fourth rotation currently under way. Ms. Schoenfeld expects around 30 graduates of ELP, called Global Ambassadors, to participate as apprentices.

The junior leaders are presented with the mission, vision, and action steps of specific areas and then decide which resonates with them for their long-term career goals. They then make a commitment to focus on an area and after six months complete an evaluation to see whether it’s a good fit and the progress made.

In order to have a broader perspective on the University, some will explore an additional area of focus by joining another apprenticeship team.

“It’s a rare opportunity to have this sort of personal relationship with the leaders on campus,” Ms. Schoenfeld said. “Both generations are able to get to know and understand one another. The rapport and trust that develops will foster confidence and continue a smooth transition into the future. The opportunity to learn and work closely with our senior leaders is priceless.”

The Apprenticeship Programme was launched internationally last summer in the Netherlands with members forming teams to work on projects under leaders of Maharishi’s organizations. Participants will meet there again January 7–15 for the next ELI summit.

^{Featured image is property of Enlightened Leadership International.}

Last month on a perfect October day, the MUM running club took part in the annual Lacey-Keosauqua State Park run, with two members winning second place in their age division and coach Peter Mannisi coming in first in his division.

In the 10-kilometer race, MUM student Tsegay Gebrewahd won a second-place medal in a time of 53:23 in the 20–34 division.

In the 5K race, Barbara Hays won a second-place medal in the 50–64 division in a time of 31:18. Club coach Mannisi was the 4th overall finisher in the...]]>

Last month on a perfect October day, the MUM running club took part in the annual Lacey-Keosauqua State Park run, with two members winning second place in their age division and coach Peter Mannisi coming in first in his division.

In the 10-kilometer race, MUM student Tsegay Gebrewahd won a second-place medal in a time of 53:23 in the 20–34 division.

In the 5K race, Barbara Hays won a second-place medal in the 50–64 division in a time of 31:18. Club coach Mannisi was the 4th overall finisher in the 5K race and won first place in the 65+ group with a time of 22:44.

Other 5K runners and their times were Bibek Karki (25:10), Eric Caplan (28:34), Gudete Bessi (29:32), Edward Caplan (31:18), Shane Orne (35:46), and Rick Dunstan (45:27).

Those who took part in the two-mile trail walk were Therese Schenosky, Santoria Rush, Andrew Chien, Florence Bannout, and Pankaj.

The next event for the club will be the Fairfield Recreation Center’s annual Turkey Trot on November 14.

For more information, see the club’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MumRunningClub.

Last month an additional group of 95 Computer Professionals students arrived on campus, joining the 182 students already on campus who are enrolled in the MS in computer science.

In addition, there are currently 650 Computer Professionals students who are in the practicum phase of the program working in businesses around the US — bringing the total to over 920 students.

The newly arrived students come from 20 countries, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines (had been...]]>

Last month an additional group of 95 Computer Professionals students arrived on campus, joining the 182 students already on campus who are enrolled in the MS in computer science.

In addition, there are currently 650 Computer Professionals students who are in the practicum phase of the program working in businesses around the US — bringing the total to over 920 students.

The newly arrived students come from 20 countries, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines (had been living in Singapore), Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.