Sustainable Living Tips by Lee Leffler

Sustainable Living Center Will Be Unique in the Country

Press Conference and Earth Day Event Scheduled for 12:45 p.m. April 22

On Earth Day, April 22, the walls and the roof will go up on Maharishi University of Management’s new Sustainable Living Center — a building that will set a new standard for green building in America by being completely off the grid with respect to electricity, heating and cooling, water, and waste.

The Sustainable Living Center has been designed to meet the Living Building Challenge, the highest standard for sustainable design and green building in the world. It will be one of the first three to achieve this. And it will be unique because it will be the first to combine that standard with the standards of LEED Platinum certification, Building Biology, and Maharishi Vedic Architecture.

“There’s no other building like this going up in the nation, or in the world for that matter, that we know of,” said nationally known green building expert Mike Nicklas, who co-designed the building and whose company Innovative Design has designed over 4000 buildings that use renewable energy solutions.

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Green Marketing Mavens Ellen Finkelstein, Phyllis Khare, and Lee Leffler

From the April 2010 issue of The Iowa Source. By Linda Egenes

Last spring while setting up a series of book talks around Iowa, I started to question this fossil-fuel extravagant way to sell a few books—not to mention the cost of gas. Then my publisher fired off an email, “Create an online presence and market your book that way.”

Gulp. Even though I wrote website copy for a living, learning how to set up my own site felt daunting. But determined to finally enter the digital age, I attended a free Internet marketing seminar by three consultants based in Fairfield: Ellen Finkelstein, Phyllis Khare, and Lee Leffler.

From the tools and strategies they shared, I was able to create a blog and social media campaign to market my books—without driving my car or printing…

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Note: Ellen Finkelstein, Phyllis Khare, and Lee Leffler will be giving Marketing Make-Over Sessions in Fairfield, Iowa on April 20 – click for details.

Image linked from the April 2010 issue of the Iowa Source

The Iowa Source just issued its special Green issue for April. “Cut Flowers, Locally Grown,” “”Sustainable Repairs: The Barhdyt Pipe Organ Gets New Life,” “You Too Can Go Green!” “An Alternative to Bovine Submission” and more. Pick up a copy in the state of Iowa, or check it out online at the Iowa Source website.

Are you ready for the EcoFair 2010 in Fairfield, Iowa on April 30-May 2?

Held on the Maharishi University of Management campus, this year’s EcoFair will feature Diana Leafe Christian, the author of Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities, speaking on Spiritually Oriented Ecovillages. Also, you will hear Mark Lakeman and Micahel Cook on City Repair and the Power of Placemaking. Meet Mike Nicklas, president and co-founder of Innovative Design, Inc., who will talk about Key Strategies for Green Development. And more. Speaker’s list. Schedule.

On Sunday May 2, the Ecofair will become an Unconference using Open Space Technology. Open Space Technology is a highly participatory process that has been successfully employed in multiple situations all over the world. Learn more.

Want to live a green, sustainable lifestyle without breaking the bank? Live it up at this new website by my friend Leanne, Green on a Shoestring. Find resources and tips for eating, shopping, composting, DIY and more! Visit the site now.

Leanne is a student in the Sustainable Living Program at a university in the Mid-West. This website is part her life-long desire to help the environment and help people.

Carbon Trading and Carbon Offsets could be the worst thing to happen to the planet, according to Annie Leonard’s (The Story of Stuff) new video. Watch it today.

Click this picture to see The Story of Cap & Trade

My daughter and I will have a booth at the Holiday Trade Fair in Fairfield, Iowa on Saturday, with a totally sustainable gift: Polar Bear Donation Certificates. Customers can make a donation in their friend’s name and get a certificate to give to them. This booth is for the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the polar bears, whose habitat is greatly threatened by global warming. Did you know some are drowning because there is too much distance between icebergs? I hope you can come! Please tell your friends. If you cannot come, you can still make a donation and get a certificate online.

On Saturday December 5, the Dharma Foundation will hold a Holiday Trade Fair at the Field House on the MUM campus, next to MSAE, from 10-4. Admission is free. There will be local artisans, local companies and lots of incredible food!

By Michael Scheinbaum, M.S., Natural Health Practitioner

We think of the skin as an impervious outer layer that protects us. However, the pores in your skin are like a million tiny little mouths, absorbing lotions, shampoos, and soaps,1 which can promote or adversely affect your health.

The scalp and underarms absorb more readily than other areas of your skin. You can view your skin as the largest organ that you have and thus it can absorb more toxins than anywhere else in your body.

Did you know that if 70% of the ingredients are organic, personal care products can be labeled as such? So if 70% of the product is water and the rest of the ingredients are chemicals, you can see an organic label on the product. In the shower, your shampoo and conditioner are mixed (more…)

By Lee Leffler

Printed in the August 2009 issue of the Iowa Source. 

When I originally wrote “Savoring Sushi” in the Iowa Source 11 years ago, three restaurants offered a limited selection of sushi, all similar. Since then, the Ten-Ten has closed and Bonnie’s China Deli is now the Second Street Cafe with just one style: ginger sushi. The Noodle House’s two sushi selections have been staples in Fairfield for the last 13 years: imitation crab sushi and avocado sushi wrapped in toasted green nori (seaweed).

Sushi Maker Aron Zaragoza 

In June, The Noodle House debuted their new offerings, Simple Sushi: 16 types of Maki sushi and three Nigiri sushi selections.

On a recent visit to the Noodle House, a hush fell over the table as Noodle House cook Aron Zaragoza lowered a tray containing a white rice roll (about the size of a paper towel tube, but thicker) dotted with orange roe, smothered in stripes of spicy mayo, topped with a mountain range of crab salad. I pulled out one of the eight generous two-bite pieces to find an internal strip of green nori and a stuffing of spicy cooked Ahi tuna (shipped fresh from the West Coast), thick deep-fried tempura shrimp the size of a short cigar, white cream cheese, green asparagus, shredded carrots and zesty green onions.

“Appearance is everything,” said Zaragoza. “It starts with having the right atmosphere to bring people in. Then the food has to look amazing. Try it,” encouraged the sushi chef.

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By Lee Leffler

M.U.M. Organic Farm

The Maharishi University of Management Organic Farm in Fairfield, Iowa, has received a $13,750 grant from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture to study growing vegetables in large gutter-connect greenhouses in winter without added heat.

Not heating the greenhouse will reduce the farm’s fossil fuel consumption by about 88%. “This is an innovative study and a significant step in making the M.U.M. Farm and the University more sustainable,” said Steve McLaskey, assistant professor of biology and agriculture and director of the farm.

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