Maharishi University of Management
ER-1: Student Sustainability Educators Program

Mission Our aim is to explore sustainability through serving, connecting and inspiring the Community of Fairfield. Company Overview EcoFairfield is hoping to become the town's new beloved tradition. Our aim is to explore sustainability through serving, connecting and inspiring the community of Fairfield. We value compassion, vision, strategy, integration, fun, and inspiration. If this resonates with you or the values of your organization don't hesitate to contact us as we would love to collaborate with you! Description The tradition of EcoFair began with a student-driven desire to educate and inspire people about sustainability, self-sufficiency, and integrated ecological design. Events include lectures, workshops, films, booths, live music, and an eco-fashion show. This year Ecofair has evolved into EcoFairfield in hopes of better integrating the community at large.

Volunteer based participation.

Training comes from previous courses attended, researched knowledge and faculty mentors.

Students are provided with university funded facilities and materials. Faculty assist where requested and needed.

Students Install Renewable Energy in Remote Alaskan Village Several current and former students, and Sustainable Living faculty member Lonnie Gamble spent a month in a small village on Admiralty Island in Alaska installing sustainable energy technology as part of a project to help indigenous Alaskans deal with the crushing energy costs. Students Design, Build Industrial Can Crusher Their goal was to make a can crusher that would work without electricity. The result: a human-powered press that flattens a can in eight seconds. Total cost? About $500. Permaculture Students Plant Edible Forest on Campus It’s intended to be a display of self-sustainability based on contemporary permaculture principles — the design of productive habitats for people that have the stability, diversity, and resilience of natural ecosystems. Students Build Low-Cost Solar Tube/Skylight Students built a solar tube — a project initiated during a course in high-performance green building. Students Help Build Greenhouse Sustainable Living students enrolled on the University’s track in sustainable agriculture participated in the construction of a 35-by-96-foot greenhouse, a "barn-raising" event organized by the nonprofit organization Practical Farmers of Iowa. Students Learn Beekeeping, Build Bee Hives In a first-of-its-kind course at MUM on natural beekeeping, students learned the foundations of biodynamic beekeeping from a visiting top expert, Gunther Hauk of Spikenard Farm in Illinois. Student Projects: “Living Machine,” Wood-Fired Oven Sustainable Living students created a range of Earth-friendly projects, including a "living machine," a brick oven capable of making 20-30 loaves of bread at a time, a solar collector, a website that monitors the energy performance of their classrooms, and a solar hot water heater. Student-built wind generator provides power to classroom A wind generator built by students capable of producing up to 2,000 watts of power is helping to provide power to the Sustainable Living department. Students have big plans for biodiesel processor Students in the Sustainable Living Program completed construction of a biodiesel processor capable of producing up to 500 gallons of fuel a day and are now hoping to use the fuel it makes to power University vehicles and to eventually set up a co-op to make fuel available to the community. Student Garden Offers Field Experience The project, called the “student garden,” is designed as a large circle composed of many growing beds (3’ by 12’ each) where students grow a diversity of organic vegetables, culinary herbs, soft fruits (berries), and flowers, as well as fiber crops, various medicinal plants, and more. Students create renewable energy projects In the context of doing these projects, students consulted with and learned from some skilled craftsman in town. They learned to weld and to do blacksmithing, plumbing, and electrical work. They also learned basic woodworking skills and visited an Amish sawmill, using the lumber in their projects. Students Retrofit Wing with Green Technologies Students completed a six-month project to renovate the Sustainable Living wing in order to provide more workshop space, to create an attractive environment, and to retrofit it with green technologies such as motion sensors, skylights, sun tubes, and high-performance fixtures. Students Advise Fairfield on Use of Alternative Energy The City of Fairfield created a commission to plan a strategy to save money via alternative energy, thanks to a research project by students in a course on management and the environment.

Volunteer based.

Training comes from previous courses attended, researched knowledge and faculty mentors.

Students are provided with university funded facilities and materials. Faculty assist where requested and needed.

March 9, 2012: We questioned Diana Krystofiak, Visiting Faculty Coordinator of Sustainable Living. She knew some information and gave us contacts for information not known.