This is a special six-week course that integrates the core principles and practical applications of ecology from the perspective of human consciousness. Students will learn how the Laws of Nature evolved the biosphere to provide a support system for the miraculous complexity of life. They will use their deep experience of consciousness to appreciate the power and majesty of nature, the primal forces that manifest creativity and intelligence in the universe. The course will expose the processes that make life what it is: so much more than a series of intricate, dynamic structures interlinked through constant flux and transformation. The course is project based, so students will spend most of their time in the field or performing research aimed at adding value to real world developments. The course covers speciation and interactivity, social interaction, natural selection, and adaptation in nature. Students will work in groups to develop the leadership and team-building skills needed for effective transformations to sustainability.

Looking for a challenging change from the classroom? This action-packed course will explore group dynamics and leadership in the context of adventure sports while providing visits to world-famous projects and institutions known for sustainable design. Sports will include kayaking, rock climbing, and mountain biking — all against the spectacularly scenic backdrop of the Southwest and Western United States. Some potential sites to visit: Arcosanti, the Rocky Mountain Institute, Black Range Lodge (Natural Building Center), Village Homes, Permaculture Institute of Northern California, Bullock Brothers Farm, Apprevecho Research Instititute, City Design, Pah Tempe Hot Springs, and more.

Individual health is a microcosm of the health of the planet. To prepare students for creating a non-toxic, disease-free society, they will learn self-care. This course provides understanding of the different elements of the body and how to keep them balanced and strong. Health-care experts will teach useful information about one’s own body as it relates to health, longevity, relationships, family, and career. Rather than an in-depth anatomical analysis of the body, the emphasis will be on practical information, including identification of environmental threats to human physiology, and how to protect against those threats. Maharishi Consciousness-Based Health Care^SM, the world’s oldest system of natural health care, will be prominently featured in the course.

From friendships to business partnerships, marriages to parent-child connections, society is a network of relationships. This class will explore the various categories of human relationships and how each can be mutually rewarding and sustainable. Students will learn how to draw on their own inner reservoir of energy, to give the maximum to others without getting drained or overshadowed by circumstances. We will also look at conflict resolution and how to turn perceived enemies into friends.

Critical thinking is the extreme opposite of jumping to conclusions. This course will teach students to analyze a situation and understand all its circumstances. They will learn to zero in on the most useful information and then use it in a fair and logical way. The class will also explore the difference between fundamental, primary, and secondary choices. Much of the class time will be devoted to exercises that center around important issues in one’s own life.

Living in a sustainable manner requires a special kind of creativity — the ability to solve long-standing problems and integrate diverse areas of life. This course will expand one’s capacity for seeing new angles and finding innovative solutions. Students learn how to act in harmony with Nature’s laws and thereby achieve maximal results with minimal effort. They will gain thorough understanding of the creative cycle of germination, assimilation, and completion, and at the same time, learn the gentle art of inspiring and mobilizing others, including tools for motivating and harmonizing different personality profiles.

A systems approach can be helpful in everyday situations involving people and technology where it is hard to know what to do because of a complex web of conflicting views and needs, a high degree of interconnectedness, and a high degree of uncertainty. This course offers solutions not by providing formulas or rules to follow, but by providing ways to understand and systematically work with situations that develop over time and which ultimately means operating more in accord with Natural Law. Learning to think and act systematically thus requires a fundamental change in patterns of thinking and behavior, which this course is designed to create in the student. Since systems concepts can be difficult to appreciate until applied in a variety of situations, the course structures proficiency in systems thinking by implementation of real-life solutions to problems of the student’s choice.

Although farming, like any business, has to manage the uncertainties of the market, it also has to deal with unpredictable weather and biological factors such as pests. That’s why intelligent planning is essential for success with a family farm, especially when it aims to minimize damage to the natural environment. Students will learn the basics of economic investments, farm assessment and inventory, and principles of planning, as well as what and how much to produce and how to produce it. In addition, they will be exposed to best management practices, investment evaluation, and the relationship between margin inputs earnings and costs. This foundational knowledge will enable them to plan a family farm with an elevated level of confidence.

This “hands-on” course helps students learn a method of farming that they can implement themselves as a livelihood and/or teach to other individuals and communities, thereby helping to establish truly sustainable, ecological, and economical food production systems. They will cultivate their own 100 square-foot double-dug bed, grow 60/30/10 (carbon / calorie / vegetables) crops from seeds, and how to transplant, care for, and harvest them. They will also learn to calculate the amount of land, water, and resources needed to grow and provide the daily caloric and dietary allowance for a family and a community, and will discover the caloric value of different crops. In addition, students will gain knowledge in low-tech growing techniques, farming skills, and the history and philosophy of Grow Biointensive Organic Sustainable Gardening and Mini-Farming.

Artisanal foods are lovingly hand-crafted with traditional methods, and the Slow Food movement promotes the concept as a response to fast food industry. More than just preparing food slowly, artisanal food is all about quality, attention to detail, uniqueness, avoidance of synthetic ingredients, minimal processing, and sustainability in a way that enhances the pleasure and sensuality of life. This course will explore food and culture, the local production of foods that have a ‘taste of place’, and the creation of a local food economy. Using examples from France and Italy, it will examine public policy and marketing that makes artisan foods a normal part of life in these countries. Finally, students will cook and share meals that reflect what they are learning in class. The overall result will enrich their knowledge of quality prepared food as it applies to both the home and the commercial environment.

Does an economy based on consumption of local production have a place in a world increasingly preoccupied with globalization? A growing number of economists think it does. This course will explore current thought about creating community wealth through the local provision of basic products and services such as energy, food, water, building materials, clothing, and artisan products. Students will research the local community to develop a wiki that showcases local economy solutions like the Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign. This hands-on work, combined with the foundational knowledge of local economics, will thus equip them with the know-how for setting up a local network vital to maintaining a sustainable community.

In this hands-on course students will learn the basics of working with wood. Safety will be a high priority as they learn how to use power and hand tools, techniques for gluing and joining wood, and sharpening. They will also learn tree identification, the uses for different woods, and the structure of the living tree and how it relates to the creation of wooden structures, both solid and plywood. The course will also cover sustainable ways to grow, harvest, and dry woods, which will include field trips to lumber mills. Overall, this class will teach students to be comfortable with the basics of working and designing with wood and to understand what environmental factors to consider when planning woodworking projects.

This overview of green development from the holistic perspective of the developer will provide students with a survey of the various career options in this exciting area of sustainable development. Professionals of the various disciplines in this field work together to create site-specific solutions based on their collective experience and knowledge. Through live and teleconference question and answer sessions students will have a chance to ask questions of top green developers, architects, builders, financiers etc. Each student will examine every aspect of the real estate development field in terms of personal preferences and abilities, then evaluate different possible career paths in the context of the holistic perspective of the development process.

Re-thinking the built environment is a prerequisite for a sustainable world. Buildings account for 50% of the energy flowing through the American economy, generating huge amounts of waste in the process. This course will thus feature regenerative design with buildings that create energy, purify wastes, and harvest rainwater. Topics include renewable energy systems, day lighting, use of local and natural materials, rainwater harvesting, and on-site waste treatment. In addition, students will get hands-on experience building energy simulation software and using local materials like straw bale, earth block, and natural clay plasters. The result will be fundamental knowledge about how to construct buildings that, like trees, give back more than they take from the environment.

Are sustainable and green building practices always healthy? Not necessarily, as students will learn in this course, which examines the link between building practices and occupants’ health and well-being. Founded in Germany over 30 years ago, Building Biology not only encompasses sustainable and green practices, but goes beyond them. It focuses on “building for life,” or how to optimize living conditions by applying healthy building and remodeling principles to living spaces. Students will find out how current construction practices impact the health of occupants and will gain skills to identify, analyze, and solve problems dealing with electromagnetic radiation, high-frequency radiation, indoor air quality, and water quality. They will also learn about natural building and remodeling practices through home inspections, case study reviews, and teleconferences with Building Biologists from around the country.

This course discusses the biological aspects of treating all people fairly regardless of economics, geography, or lifestyle. Is it ethical to genetically engineer a tomato and then sell it without informing the public? Is it appropriate to learn about medicinal herbs from native healers and then patent the active ingredients? Is it fair for the United States, with five percent of the world’s population, to use 25 percent of the world’s raw materials? Often questions of fairness extend to other life forms, and some issues are particularly difficult and nuanced: Damming waterways, for instance, generates clean, renewable energy, but it can also flood villages, upset ecosystems, and destroy fisheries. This class will teach students to think deeply and consider all sides of bio-cultural dilemmas, arriving at equitable, workable solutions.

One of the most exciting arenas in the ongoing movement to restore environmental integrity is the cascading effect local governmental action can have on major environmental issues. This course will explore proven methodologies that have resulted in positive changes at the local level. The student will learn how to create community-wide support for new ideas, interact with zoning boards, and effectively lobby local government. Case studies will include examples of successful campaigns that helped to create a more harmonious relationship with the laws of nature in a variety of communities. These studies will provide students with the historical, real-world perspective they will need to be an effective local force for creating positive, life supporting changes in their local community.

This course will examine the relationship of human beings to the buildings they create. We will look at the key principles of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda design, as revived by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, including orientation, proportion, and spatial arrangement. The goal of this ancient science, to bring human life into accord with Nature’s intelligence, will be the focus of this course. At the same time, we will look at green buildings whose design allows them to draw on flows of renewable energy in their immediate environment. We will consider their beauty, functionality, and affordability, examining the materials used to accomplish these goals. The physics of energy and light flow will be reviewed, along with state-of-the-art methods for designing energy-efficient buildings and “tunneling through the cost barrier.” Laboratory sessions will center on methods and software for modeling building performance.

The way our built environment looks and feels is a product of human consciousness as manifested through the design and layout of the individual elements of Natural Law. Using the M.U.M. campus as a case study, you will learn how to implement the basic landscaping components of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda in a way that minimizes the ecological impact of a site while maximizing its ecological value and esthetic appeal. In the process, you will learn drawing techniques of the discipline, how to read a topographic map and use it to build a scale model, and how to choose appropriate trees and plants for specific locations and purposes. The result will be a deeper understanding of how to create environments that are efficient, beautiful, productive, and enjoyable in a sustainable way.

A built environment should have the stability, diversity, resilience, and beauty of a natural ecosystem. More than this, it should align our consciousness with all the Laws of Nature. This course will consider all the factors that go into a sustainable landscape, including consciousness, energy, economy, transportation, mass culture, and food production systems. The course will combine classroom and project-based learning to ensure integration of the core principles and practical skills with the Vedic perspective of life. Students will work in groups to design a fully sustainable eco-village for less than one thousand inhabitants. The course will combine the use of Vedic principles with “green” planning and development to provide the ideal environment for people to grow in consciousness and fulfillment. Students will learn how to combine the micro-environmental properties of a landscape with aesthetically pleasing structures that incorporate useful plants for managing rainwater and delivering perennial food crops.

This course will take place in Angoon, a village in southeast Alaska that has been occupied by Native American Tlingit and Haida people for over 1000 years. Working in cooperation with members of the village, students will help them rethink how it is provisioned, and implement a plan to create a more sustainable, effective, and productive environment. In developing the plan, students will determine how to sustainably provide the village with water, food, energy, and building materials, in ways that create prosperity in the village. They will then work with the villagers to execute some part of the plan. The result will be will be not only increased knowledge about cross-cultural sustainable development but also practical experience in how to design and manage it.

This course offers students the opportunity to work on farms, green companies or environmental organizations and apply knowledge from the classroom to real life situations where sustainability is at the forefront. Venues range from the M.U.M. campus and farms to the Fairfield area, other areas of Iowa and out-of-state locations. While all internship units may be taken at one location, it is advisable to distribute the internships among several places of employment to get the broadest possible experience, greatly adding to a student's sustainability credentials and post-graduate employment potential. (4 units per month, maximum of 16 units toward the Sustainable Living major)

As the demand increases for Natural Law-based technologies in the production of food, buildings, and other consumer goods, so does the demand for verification that acceptable environmental and health standards have been met during their production. That demand, in turn, calls for inspectors and consultants trained to critically examine these goods and services. This course offers the opportunity to acquire certification training in areas such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), organic inspection, and Building (Bau) Biology. It can also include training in software competency such as Chief Architect. All of these certifications and competencies significantly enhance the student's credentials and employability in the field of sustainability.

Tree crops have always been a major part of human diet and culture. Tropical fruits are especially rich in diversity and present us with almost unlimited potential for food, medicine, raw materials and crafts, beauty, and a wide range of environmental stewardship. This course, held in a 150-acre organic farm in Homestead, Florida, will explore every aspect of organic cultivation and marketing of exotic tropical fruits, the plant-animal-soil connection, ecological pest and disease control, and the trials and rewards of tropical farming. It also includes field trips to local fruit related sites such as the Spice Park, Fairchild Tropical Gardens, and Kampong, lectures by experts in tropical agriculture, and hands-on experience in the propagation, tending, and harvest of organic tropical fruits, vines and bamboo.

This course will redefine the understanding of energy, heat, and power by studying state-of-the-art technologies that can generate and use energy from sources that are both renewable and sustainable. The inefficiency of our modern industrial society will be closely examined, with students learning to identify entropy in a system and find huge opportunities for improvements. Classroom sessions will also include films, slide presentations, demonstrations, presentations by students, and outside guest speakers. Besides lectures, films and demonstrations, the course will include field trips, a lab, and a project that will give students a chance to apply these technologies. Many classes will take place in a building that is powered by renewable energy, with students monitoring and operating the building energy systems. Each day, the design principles of systems based on renewable energy will be related to the natural laws that structure our own awareness and govern the universe efficiently and automatically.

This course describes the issues revolving around energy that is not only renewable, but also sustainable, and explores its potential to replace traditional energy resources. In the process, it will identify issues about the provisioning, transportation, and production of renewable energy. Students will review issues concerning social acceptability, environmental impact and risk, and economic consideration of projects related to hydroelectric energy, small hydro, wind power, solar, geothermal, and nuclear energy. They will also identify and study the ways governments have begun to develop local, regional, national, and international policies about these issues through the use of case studies and critical thinking.

Manifestation of sustainable methodologies for immediate use is the purpose of this repeatable course. Students will work individually or in teams to build and implement technologies such as biodiesel production, photovoltaic panels, hydrogen electrolyzers, biomass heating units, methane digesters, or fuel cells. Projects can also include assisting with sustainable building construction, or production of web sites or videos to display real-time building/performance indicators.

This course is devoted to preparing you for the Senior Sustainable Living Project (SL 430). You will meet with faculty to research, discuss, and plan the project to ensure that it will unfold as smoothly as possible.

In this final course you will apply what you have learned in the previous three years to a special senior capstone project. Under the guidance of faculty, you will design and implement some aspect of a sustainable community, using opportunities in the city of Fairfield, Maharishi Vedic City, Abundance Ecovillage (just north of Fairfield), or the Maharishi University of Management campus itself. The project may be an individual effort, or you may work together in small teams to produce a fitting tribute to the concept of Sustainable Living, one that will prepare you to take on real projects wherever you may choose to work.

From local regulations about water quality to global initiatives like the Kyoto Accord, the law is an important tool for regulating our use of the environment. During this course, students will become familiar with international treaties and protocols on global warming, pollution, and endangered species. The class will also study the key features of American environmental law including the Clean Air and Water Act, the Environmental Protection Act, and other current policies and regulations. Perhaps most importantly, students will understand the lawmaking process as a way to use the legal system to bring about positive change and build sustainable communities.

Plants, the source of fixed energy for virtually all life forms, are the principal topic of this introductory course. The photosynthetic groups covered range from cyanobacteria through phytoplankton and seaweeds, to bryophytes, lower vascular plants, gymnosperms, and the flowering plants. Non-photosynthetic bacteria, fungi and fungal-like protists are presented as the great integrators and recyclers of nutrients in the global biosphere. Some basic concepts in the physiology, genetics, anatomy, ecology, and evolution of plants are also included.

Fundamental to all life are basic functions that uphold self-organization, maintenance, and evolution. This course covers aspects of biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, and evolution. Emphasis is placed on the expressions of intelligence, order, and integration found at different levels of biological organization.

The classification of plants ultimately makes use of all that is known about their structure, physiology, genetics, and ecology to arrange them into a logical system for identification and study. This course, which emphasizes the local flora, develops skills in observation and interpretation to name, identify, and classify vascular plants according to evolutionary relationships. Prerequisite: BIO 250

Plants have met a large proportion of man’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs for ages and continue to do so today, though often in new and less obvious ways. The broad scope of such use is the subject of this course, covering not only food and shelter but also clothing, herbs and spices, ornamentation, medicine, soaps, cosmetics, rope, and rubber, as well as artistic and spiritual uses.

Only by aligning agriculture with Natural Law will poverty be removed from the world. This course will explore how this can be accomplished using the basic principles of Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture such as recitation of Vedic sounds at all stages of food production and the use of Maharishi Jyotish^SM programs to determine the optimal times to plant, perform cultivation techniques, and harvest crops. It also includes general principles of organic agriculture production, such as transplanting, irrigation, fertility, pest management, harvest, storage, marketing, and environmental influences. Specific management requirements for important vegetable and field crops will also be discussed. Students spend approximately half of their time in class learning principles of vegetable production and half of the time applying their knowledge and gaining practical experience in the University’s vegetable gardens and greenhouses or other area organic farms.

Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of cultivated ecosystems. Permaculture promotes land use systems that work with nature’s rhythms and patterns to create a stable society by utilizing resources in a sustainable way. Through lecture, discussion, observation, field trips, hands-on learning, videos, slide shows, and handouts, the Permaculture Design course teaches the practical skills and theoretical knowledge to design and implement sustainable systems in harmony with the natural world so participants can understand and apply these methods and skills to their home property and local community. Participants will learn principles and methodologies of sustainable design, how to read the landscape’s strategies and tools for urban and rural homesteads, food forests and orchards, greenhouse operation, natural building and alternative energy techniques.

The earth is a dynamic, living system, driven by its internal structures and processes, and interacting with life, the air, and water. This course emphasizes the geological and biological processes responsible for landforms and the chemical compositions of soils, the atmosphere, and bodies of water.

In this course students enrich the knowledge they have gained with practical experience in the techniques of modern laboratory research. With prior approval of the laboratory supervisor, students work in one of the following laboratories: biochemistry, neurophysiology, immunology, or aging and immortality. Prerequisite: consent of instructor

Structuring a living environment that can be maintained on a global scale for all future generations calls for substantial changes in our current way of life. This course provides a broad perspective for transforming the way we think about such issues as population growth, global ecology, land and wildlife resources, renewable energy sources, and sustainable agriculture.

This course is designed to allow advanced undergraduate students of good academic standing the opportunity to assist an instructor in teaching a biology course. It is especially recommended for those students who plan to go into a teaching career or who expect to help finance graduate work through teaching assistantships. In most cases it will involve helping the instructor with course planning, small discussion groups, homework and quiz grading, particularly in the first year biology course. Some lecture preparation and presentation may also be included as a teaching experience.

This course offers practical experience through work in the University’s vegetable farm or at another farm or farm business. Students will keep a journal in which they record the activities they have performed, what they have learned, what they have contributed, and suggestions they have for improvements in the farm or business. Prerequisite: consent of the department faculty and the Academic Standards Committee

This course provides a holistic overview of business for new management majors or students from other majors. Principles of marketing, finance, operations, accounting, and human resources are taught in the perspective of an integrated business strategy and are illustrated by lively examples from videos, case studies, guest speakers, and field trips.

This course covers the knowledge that every individual needs to make intelligent and responsible decisions concerning personal and family finances. Topics include major purchases such as buying a home or a car, credit, insurance, investments, retirement planning, selecting careers anmd educational institutions, and obtaining employment. Real-world applications are structured throughout the course through personal planning exercises, field trips, and guest speakers.

This course analyzes the causes of and policy options to manage global environmental problems. Lessons concerning environmental management are derived by studying the effectiveness and limitations of environmental and resource policies currently being used throughout the world.

Marketing is the process of creating exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. Topics include consumer behavior, market research, market segmentation, competitive positioning and strategy, advertising, pricing, distribution and channel management, selling techniques and sales force management, and new product development. Students conduct an industry analysis and write the marketing section for their business plan.

Principles of management, marketing, finance, operations, and accounting are taught from the perspective of starting a new business with an integrated business strategy. Students articulate their personal and business goals and produce an initial business plan. Prerequisite: MGT 200

In this course, students delve into the creative process with focus on the self-portrait. To learn about the history of the self-portrait, they review some of the most famous self-portraits in Western art — Dürer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Anguissola, Bigee-Lebrun, Kollwitz, Escher, and others. Then they create their own self-portraits. Three lessons focus on drawing. Students learn to use and combine the simple elements of line, shape, tone, and change of direction to foster self-expression. Through lectures on art by Maharishi, students come to appreciate art from the deepest perspective, that all art originates within the Self of the artist — and they verify this from their own experience as artists.

Students undertake study of XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets, and principles of design for dynamic media, which they apply in the creation of a portfolio of beautiful, highly functional, standards-compliant, and highly usable Web pages. Topics include: creative approaches to Web design; XHTML syntax, tags, attributes, entities, DTDs and validation; CSS; creating hierarchies with color, type, and imagery; principles of usability for interactive media; using a visual lexicon for designer-client communication; examples of outstanding Web design studios; homesteading the noosphere. Prerequisites: FA 361 or equivalent experience.

Brain functioning underlies conscious processing, states of consciousness, and enlightenment. You will learn how to record EEG (brain waves) and other physiological measures (breath rate, heart rate, and skin conductance), will learn the brain signatures of the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique and of higher states and consciousness, and will conduct original research testing a research question that you generate during the course.

Students explore various methods of creating peace, with special emphasis on the documented effectiveness of these methods, and understanding the underlying scientific explanations accounting for this effectiveness, particularly in the physics of invincibility. Students study the sociological concept of collective consciousness, and the course emphasizes in-depth examination of the Maharishi’s Vedic technologies — particularly group practice of the TM-Sidhi program — and its ability to create coherence in collective consciousness as the basis for creating peace.