The environmental studies major prepares students for meaningful lifetime engagement with the major environmental challenges facing society. Students pursue an interdisciplinary curriculum that combines course work in ecology and the social sciences. The program emphasizes the integration of ecological knowledge with an understanding of social institutions and policies in ways that support the conservation of biodiversity, the practice of sustainable agriculture, and the careful management of other ecological and environmental systems.

Possible Careers

Environmental consulting
Environmental impact assessment
Sustainable development
Environmental law
Environmental policy/research
Government
Journalism
Environmental/science education
Natural resource ecology/conservation
Parks/natural reserve management
Land use research/ management
Science education
Restoration ecology
Conservation biology research
Agroecology
Integrated pest management
Environmental advocacy
Sustainable agriculture

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Weixin Cheng secured a major research grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to build a continuous isotopic labeling facility for deciphering the complex processes occurring at the root-soil interface, or rhizosphere.

Professor of Environmental Studies Alan Richards recently presented his views and research on terrorism and U.S. policy on a number of occasions, including invited testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Erika Zavaleta received a prestigious grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to investigate the ecological impacts of the loss of plant species in California ecosystems.

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Brent Haddad directs a $2.6 million project to help communities assess the viability of desalinizing ocean water in California.

Associate Professor Jeff Bury recently received a $1.1 million grant to study the effect of climate change on human communities in the Peruvian Andes.

Delight and horror, man and woman comingled, the holiest and most shocking were intertwined, deep guilt flashing through most delicate innocence.: that was the apprance of my love.

dealings of LOVE; influence from Erich Fromm

State of Activity: one cannot be actively in love and lazy in all other aspects. State of intensity; awakedess; enhanced vitality can only be the result of productive and active orientation; and what about meditation? that is the most productive nature. sitting still with self and being alert.

share experience; share work; social loving nature.

Rational Faith: based on the insights of the very nature of man. Faith in Potential/Possible Love for all.

Some social conditions and are responsible for the absence of love in our society. such conditions are :

being a part of a consumer driven society.

bureaucracy

conformity

selling and producing goods for little true benefits. (and working for the machine) rather than allowing it to work for you.

using little love at work, home, and play

laziness

routine and avoiding individual magnificence

managerial bureaucracy

motivation by mass suggestion

Character Structure of Modern Man: arriving at a "central relationship" v.s. a "team"

there's been a shift from individual --> bureaucracy

ceased to be independent --> to become dependent

modern capitalism needs men. men who cooperate smoothly and in large numbers. men (and here I mean men and women) who consume more and more, whose tastes are standardized and can be easily influenced and anticipated.

but the twist is that modern capitalism needs men who feel free and independent; without a real conscience, yet willing to be commanded and do what is expected from them. guided without particular force rather by consumer need and quite obedience. to be lead without leaders. A routine of amusement and passive consumption (of sights and sounds) follows. Well fed, well clad, sexually satisfied puppets; but without SELF. This is important so that max profits can be obtained under existing market conditions.

Yet there exists a longing for transcendence and unity. A Brave New World.

So a drive to overcome separation persists, but with the wrong direction: the human unites by conformity; a herd mentality permits a "permanent" state of comfort, but with a 9 to 5 labor contract. There are two other options. A pagan orgaistic, spasmatic transitory state of union; a brief symbiotic union. Or, creative activity, which most would choose: the person unites self with the material and object to become "one" in the world, and unites himself with the outside world.

Love- the ideals developed over the last 4,000 years, is a semantic problem. to solve it can only be arbitrary (based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system).

"Love is union under the condition of preserving one's integrity and individuality" Spinoza.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/spinoza/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza

Envy, jealousy, ambition, any kind of greed are passions. A desperate attempt to escape the anxiety of separation. The stage of "sacrificing" is a receptive, exploitative, hoarding orientation. Love is an action. the practice of a human power. active character of love is giving. Love that is compounded of maturity, self knowledge, and courage; is a practice and a concentration to learn; it demands genuine interest. genuine insight.

It always comes down to whether it, being love in this case, is "a means to an end or an end in itself".

"And thus, while the present never satisfies us, experience dupes us, and from misfortune to misfortune leads us to death, their eternal crown... there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself." Pascal

http://www.bartleby.com/48/1/7.html

What Tango is all about

There used to be a time, when boys would covet the ability to dance tango, well. They would train after school, with each other, and a maestro, perfecting walking, following, leading, listening and understanding the fundamentals of the Tango. And they had a reason, reason was to impress a girl. The Milongas where the place to socialize and pick up ladies. You needed to dance well, if you had any chance to sway a woman. What happened to those days?

The time, effort, precision has somehow dissipated to a place of mediocracy. The importance of dancing well has been replaced with learning how to dance. Learning the steps and maneveurs out weigh connection and grace. Men can stomp along to get through a tanda and it's somehow acceptable, maybe even encouraged by the "teachers ", who give them the thumbs up. Why? Why are you encouraging movement that should be left in the closet? Perhaps this is too harsh of a statement, after all how do you get better if not without practice? But can there be a way to skip over the awkward leads, to fluid beauty without suffering? I think not, not yet at least. The follower, the female, must foster her craft as well. Can't merely get by on following and guessing. Proper balance of axis, weight distribution, connection, listening, confidence, creativity, and experience playa lot farther down the line.

The solution might simply be to practice as you know how. Ask for advice. Take privates if at all possible, with real maestros (as) and dance, a lot. Read about the history. Make friends and practice more. that's the way.

good night.

Thereau- Walden

Ch: Economy:

impertinent (rude, or behavior that is out of place)

but very nature pertinent (relevant).

"confined to this theme by the very narrowness of my experience."

outward condition or circumstances in this world approved to be doing penance.

immortal souls crushed and smothered under its load creeping down the road of life. But men

labor under a mistake;

as they will find when they get to the end of it, if not before.

to a blundering oracle.

"most men, even in this comparatively free country,

through mere ignorance or mistake,

are so occupied with the factitious (artificially created)

cares and superfluously (unnecessary) coarse labors (of life)...

that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them. Their fingers, from excessive toil,

are to clumsy and tremble too much for that."

"cannot afford to sustain the manliest relations to men"

he has no time to be anything but a machine.

"The finest qualities of our nature can be preserved only by the most delicate

handling."

to treat ourselves and one another so tenderly.

Hardiness goes naked with impunity (exemption from punishment. immunity)

"Man's body is a stove and food and fuel keeps up the internal combustion in the lungs"~ Liebig

"All men want, something to do, or rather something to Be."

"A stereotyped but unconscious despair

is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements

of mankind. There is no play in them since they come after work"

But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

Catechism

(a summary of the principles of Christianity that uses questions and answers for instruction)

"chief end of man is to glorify GOD and to enjoy him forever."

"and what are the true necessaries and means for life?"

Never to late to give up our prejudices.

No way of thinking or doing can be trusted without proof.

"my own experience has been so partial... as they believe."

Here is LIFE, an experiment to a great extent untried by me

Hinderances to the elevation of mankind

Life of luxury (the fruit is the luxury).

"courtier" (adviser to the king or queen)- like- success.

But if my jacket and trouser, my hat and shoes, are fit to worship God in, they will do,

will they not?

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes; and not rather a new wearer of clothes."

"I do not mean to prescribe rules

(to strong and valiant natures who will mind their own affairs, who build lavishly and spend riches,

without ever impoverishing themselves;

nor to those who find their encouragement and inspiration in precisely

the the present condition of things, and cherish it with the fondness and enthusiasm of lovers;

i do not speak to those who are well employed, in whatever circumstances, and they know if they are well employed;

but mainly

to the masses of men who

are discontented and idly complaining of the hardness of their lot

or of the times. who complain most energetically;

or the seemingly wealthy, who have accumulated (rubbish) and not know what to do with it, or how to get rid of it"

To stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and the future which is precisely the present moment;

to toe that line.

Symbols for the unattainable things of life.

Anticipate Nature herself.

enterprise- of being present for the sun's rising;

trying to hear what was in the wind;

to hear and carry it express.

My pain where their own reward.

Worst vice (wrongdoing) betrayed is

improvidence (inability to predict; thoughtlessness)

(double negative. in other words best virtue maintained is the thoughtfulness and foresight.)

Who shall say what prospect life offer to another?

Live in all the ages of the world in an hour.

One generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels.

I think that we may safely trust a good deal more than we do.

an incurable disease, this incessant anxiety and strain

made to exaggerate the importance of what work we do, and yet how much is not

done by us!

All change is a miracle to contemplate. but it is a miracle that is taking place every instant.

Not long since, a strolling Indian went to sell baskets at the house of a well-known lawyer in town. Having seen his industrious white neighbors so well off,-- that the lawyer had only to weave arguments, and by some magic wealth and standing followed, he had said to himself: I will go into business; I will weave baskets; it is a thing which I can do. Thinking that when he had made the baskets he would have done his part, and then it would be the white man's to buy them. He had not discovered that it was necessary for him to make it worth the other's while to buy them, or at least make him think that it was so, or to make something else which would be worth his while to buy."

yet in my case, I too had woven a kind of basket of a delicate nature, by instead of studying how to make it worth men's while to by my baskets, I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them.

To know that we know what we know, and that we don't know what we do not know,

that is true knowledge. ~ Confucius

imagination reduced to ---> fact.

Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)

"if all consciousness was eliminated, vital physiological processes would continue virtually unchanged. Deeper states of unconsciousness are not necessarily more dangerous, as long as nourishment is provided... Survival under these conditions is possible because routine adjustments in physiological sustems are made by the ANS oustide our conscious awareness."

... ANS regulates: body temperature; coordinates cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, excretory, reproductive functions. It adjusts water, electrolyte, nutrient, and disolved-gas concentrations in body fluids.

Opposed to the Somatic Nervous System (SNS), that extends from the Central Nervous System, contacts and exerts direct control over the skeletal muscles.

Motor control

ANS- [the afferent sensory information of the ANS is processed in the CNS, and then the efferent impulses are sent to effector organs-- such as smooth muscles, cardiac muscle and glands] .

At least 2 neurons are involved in the pathways, one always in the periphery; Motor control involves- Preganglionic neuron- which send axons to synapse on ganlionic neurons whose cell bodies are outside the CNS.

So, the receptor and effector organ locations differ from the SNS. The arrangement of the neurons connecting to the CNS also differs.

Sympathetic- fight or flight. Preganglionic fibers in the thoracic and upper lumbar segments synapse. Stimulates tissure metabolism, increases alertness, prepares the the body to deal with emergencies.

Parasympathetic or Craniosacral division- preganglionic fibers originating in either the brain stem (Cranial nerves: 3, 7, 9, 10) or the sacral spinal cord. Rest and Repose. conserves energy, and promote digestion.

p. 452

Waste to Energy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy

the Garbage Question

An average of 4.5 lbs of trash, per person, a day. In the U.S.> equals 130 million TONS of American trash in the landfills, every year.

1 TON= 2,000 pounds

that's 130,000,000 x 2,000 pounds= 260,000,000,000 pounds of trash. uh, that's 260 billion lbs of trash?

We see corporate sustainability initiatives, DIY composting, and in yards across the country, there are recycling bins next to regular rubbish. However, no matter how much we recycle, we have decades of trash that has already built up and must be dealt with....

A CLEAN BURING FUEL: garbage can be an asset rather than a liability.

PLASMA ARC TECHNOLOGY

-- essentially a process that involves gasifying trash in a closed-loop system. returning the material to the elemental forms.

-- operates by passing a high-voltage electrical current between two electrodes, creating an arc between them. Inert gas is then passed through the arc into a sealed container of garbage. Temps are above 25,000 degrees F. (hotter than the surface of the sun)

-- molecules are atomized and the waste is broken, down into its basic elements.

-- incinerates without combustion. no flame. no smoke.

Side effects

-- also a solution. syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, is released. If captured the gas can easily be used to GENERATE electricity.

-- the heat, can be harnessed to power a steam turbine, creating even more electrical energy.

-- slag, a solid residue, is similar to obsidian and can be turned to bricks, gravel, asphalt or other building materials.

-- if compressed air is introduced, slag turns into rock wool, 2x as effective as fiberglass, makes wonderful insulation. Its absorbent, lighter than water, so can be used to clean oil spills inthe ocean.

-- hydroponic system can be used with the material, plants will grow from seeds in slabs or blocks of it.

-- "proven" no hazardous materials dissolve or leak from slag.

The facilities are self-sufficient. They run off the electricity they produce.

Natural question is whether this is an environmentally viable and safe option.

"extensive" research thus far has shown, yes.

Because of the the low oxygen atmosphere and high temperature, the base elements of the gas are unable to form toxic compounds, such as sulfur dioxide, furans or nox. Burning syngas produces CO2 emissions similar to natural gas power plants.

However, this system is EXPENSIVE.

-High cost of building it. Additionally, a landfill will charge a city about $35 for a ton of trash.

A ton of trash costs about $172 to run through a plasma arc. B/c of the costs, the technology is associated with big businesses thus far.

Also might impede in the recycling movement. Must be clear- re-use and recycle is the #1 goal. It's not a replacement or alternative to, rather a conjunction with strict recycling policies.

OPERATING PLANTS

--opened 2008 Ottawa, Canada. Plasco , the private company that owns and operates the plant.

--Florida is currently building one in St. Lucie County, scheduled to open by 201. $425 million plant will generate 6 megawatts of electricity, in addition to the energy it needs to operate. Entire landfill in the county (4.3 million tons, accumulated since 1978, is estimated to be gone in 18 years).

-- efforts to create a facility in LA, concluded that "the technologies best suited for processing black bin post-source separated MSA on a commercial level are the thermal technologies." The possible issues found were increased traffic to and from the plant; concerns about odor, noise and dust. (but could be pointed out, that it couldn't be worse that the already existing garbage dump facilites)

-- "... received the highest total scores and the highest environmental scores, primarily due to the advantages in regard to landfill diversion rate." the report written in 2005, details a plan for creating an alternative waste management plant.

the DPW revealed that alternative solutions are still very much at the front and center, discussed as recently as May 7th.

--the city is trying to find a way to make a facility such as this possible and is currently exploring their options.

UTOPIA?

may be able to reach such a sustainable town, in that we will live off the trash we produce. THe best and most viable option for plant operation is on a smaller scale.

Smaller plants would be closer together and require shorter waste haul trucks, saving on vehicle pollution. Economically, construction would be less daunting, as small plants cost less, and financing would be easier to obtain.

We can solve this problem (like the Pacific Garbage Patch, that has 6x more plastic than marine life, estimated to be larger than Texas, while some scientists speculate it's bigger than the entire United States, or others found in the Atlantic and in the Sea of Japan), but it will require a large and enthusiastic degree of pro-activity from each and every one of us.

http://www.plasmaarctech.com/

"Green to Gold" Daniel Etsy

Incentive to sell extra permits, to people having trouble reducing, people good at reducing keep reducing. EPA modeling, how much it cost to get a ton of sulfur out of the atmosphere. est $750, electric co. said way too low, actually $1,500. Once there was a real price to be paid for releasing sulfur, companies got real creative, (the strength of a Market Based approach) facing real payments for their emissions. Every utility facing incentives to think hard at reducing emissions. It wasn't the gov't dictating the price, all utilities figured how to cut the emissions. First trades came in at $300 a ton, then a year later the price was down to $150 a ton. Price signals. Hard figure out in advance how to reduce.

Railroad de-regulation. Why don't we just ship low sulfur coal. Shifted to low sulfur coal. and saved a lot of money.

Carbon tax or Emissions allowance trading system.

Shifting the burden to some bureaucrats in Washington to thousands of companies, gives a much broader set of people to think about the problem and find interesting solutions, and test out ideas. Business world better at testing success and making mistakes. Gov't set the standard, business in the hot seat how to regulate. Corp. envir. strategy. Or pay a premium. Or buy technology from someone who already figured it out.

We don't have regulation in thinking about Climate Change.

Regulation is a critical driver. Real emission obligations. Huge amount of money going into the alternative, in Europe. beginning to in US.

Corporate environment interface.

Corn based ethanol is a terrible energy translation. 3 units of fossil fuel to produce 4 units of corn energy output. Price of corn doubled.

Australia banning incandescent bulbs.

GE- CEO Jack Welsht, failed to clean up the Hudson Rivers, fought the EPA every year... now committed to cleaner company. wind turbines, envirn solutions provider. putting it into wind power, solar... high growth high margine is the envirn. position.

Intel- making themselves environmentally attractive to the highend workers.

Walmart- ambitious envirn. goals. big reductions in green house gases. big reductions in wastes. driving the demands in the supply chains. Whatever is delivered to the store has to be put out to the customer, or is taken home. Delivered in a plastic, take the plastic home. Delivered in boxes, take the boxes home.

Juxtaposition of Ford and Toyota:

Ford- CEO- environmental guy. rebuild their river rouge plant with green roofs, natural lighting, natural ventilation . but they didn't intervene with the cars. giant fuel guzzling cars with a "natural building" doesn't match.

Toyota- prius. light weight vehicle. smart systems. no idling. cost effective. * check their consumption and use of nickel. Toxic and unsustainable uses.

http://www.naropa.edu/accepted/index.cfm

On behalf of the Office of Admissions, it is my pleasure to inform you that your application to Naropa University’s Bachelor of Arts program has been accepted by the admissions committee for entrance in Fall, 2010. The decision was based on the strength of your application and the contributions we feel you can make to the Naropa community. This acceptance is contingent upon the receipt of an appropriate, original, second letter of recommendation.

http://www.naropa.edu/tuitionfees/ugrad_scholarships.cfm

Landscape Architecture

Landscape architecture is founded on an awareness of our deep connections to the natural world and the recognition that we are part of the web of life. A healthy society rests on a commitment to landscape design that respects the land, its processes, its integrity --- and that helps fulfill human potential. These are applied to making richly supportive places beautiful in their response to human needs and ecological context. The Department of Landscape Architecture is built on the 19th-century legacy that landscape architecture is both a design and a social profession with responsibilities to ourselves, society, the past, and the future. The program combines professional understanding and skills with a liberal-arts education.

As a profession, landscape architecture includes ecologically based planning activities and the analysis of environmental impacts as well as the detailed development of land and sites. As an academic discipline, it provides an opportunity for personal development through environmental problem solving and project-oriented study.

http://landarch.uoregon.edu/index.cfm?mode=main

As a profession it includes the detailed development of land and sites of all sizes and uses, as well as planning activities, both of which rest on a foundation of ecological understanding which views human value systems as a major force in landscape change.

Our program objectives are to provide both a solid base of essential skills, tools and knowledge and enough flexibility to allow each student to proceed through the program following his or her own pattern of interests and readiness.

As an academic discipline, Landscape Architecture provides a unique opportunity for personal development through environmental problem-solving and project-oriented study. The faculty emphasize the making of richly supportive and expressive places. We see planning and design as processes for understanding the complex interdependence between natural and cultural systems.

http://landarch.uoregon.edu/index.cfm?mode=department

Graduate students wishing to pursue a Master's degree who enter the program with a Bachelor's degree from a non-design field, or from a non-accredited program in landscape architecture, enter the First Professional Master's Degree program, a three years plus one term program of study. Because graduate students are not required by the university to take general education classes, we offer a very intense first year program geared toward accelerating the graduate students in their professional education by the end of that introductory year. By that point the First Professional Master's students have established a fundamental introductory understanding of design, media, plant materials, site analysis and landscape technologies and move on to more advanced coursework and graduate studies in the second and third years.

http://landarch.uoregon.edu/index.cfm?mode=programs

A First Professional Bachelor Degree Program for graduate students is available for students who wish to pursue a course of study that culminates a comprehensive design project as opposed to a graduate research/design project. This program combines learning the basic skills and knowledge of Landscape Architecture in the early years with significant attention paid to an individually focused, studio-based design project that the students organize and execute in their third year.

http://landarch.uoregon.edu/index.cfm?mode=programs&page=grad&sub=gradbla

The First Professional Master's Degree Program combines learning the basic skills and knowledge of Landscape Architecture with graduate research work during the third year. Students are required to take five elective classes in their 'Area of Concentration' and in support of the Master's project or thesis. This program begins in the third week of June each year.

Based upon their undergraduate courses, work experience, and background in design-related disciplines, these students may have competency in some areas, gained either through previous course work or professional experience. In these cases, adjustments are made to the typical program of study for each individual, done in consultation with a faculty advisor.

http://landarch.uoregon.edu/index.cfm?mode=programs&page=grad&sub=firstpro

STUDY ABROAD

Examples of programs offered outside of the UO have included the DIS program in Copenhagen, study in Norway and Sweden offered through UC Davis, and a summer experience in Costa Rica offered by SUNY Buffalo. Students will also often elect to travel, either on their own, or as part of a scholarship-funded exploration that meets their own interests or that meets an area of concentration interest that they have.

The Landscape Architecture department also has partnered with Lincoln University in New Zealand to establish an exchange program for students. This program enables students at the UO to travel to Christchurch for two terms and study landscape architecture in the program at Lincoln. Students interested in work on the Pacific Rim, or in the landscape of that region of the world, have found this experience to be an amazing opportuniity to experience life overseas while pursuing their degree.

When Ideas have sex

At TEDGlobal 2010, author Matt Ridley shows how, throughout history, the engine of human progress has been the meeting and mating of ideas to make new ideas. It's not important how clever individuals are, he says; what really matters is how smart the collective brain is.

Trade between human groups has been going on for a 100,000 years. Idea of Cultural Evolution is done through exchange- the habit of exchanging one thing for another, a unique human feature. This creates the momentum for more specialization, people working for each other. We all know little bits, but none of us know the whole.

3. Altering my outlook of culture and society

In 150 words or fewer, describe how one of the items listed in the "Involvement and Participation" section has affected you. How have you changed by being involved with this particular club, organization, or activity? Or how has this experience altered you outlook on politics, cultures, economics or education?

What happens to you when you dance and explore contact improvisation? How much do you want to merge and how much do you want to separate? What does it means to risk connection, connection to the world of others? Is our history the most important thing or is it our soul? Do we relate to each other as representatives of groups or as individuals? What roles do we play and how do those public personas influence others, creates movement, and changes space?

Contact Improvisation has given me a framework to explore these questions and the ideas of closeness, of connection in our lives, especially when we have our own tailor-made personalities with their own set of boundaries. And then, how to shed those roles and move authentically, connected and integral in the space of dance, and society. Contact Improvisation allows us to see how we are disconnected and then perhaps move through those disconnections to more meaningful interactions. It is where you get to discover where you see yourself in relation to the greater world. This form of dance offer kinesthetic training and somatic awareness, and it also gives you tact for negotiation and clear communication. There is also this lovely, floating relationship to abstraction, while shedding light into the deep inner human existence and webbing of our reality.

What is Contact Improvisation

Contact Improvisation is an evolving system of movement initiated in 1972 by American choreographer Steve Paxton. The improvised dance form is based on the communication between two moving bodies that are in physical contact and their combined relationship to the physical laws that govern their motion—gravity, momentum, inertia. The body, in order to open to these sensations, learns to release excess muscular tension and abandon a certain quality of willfulness to experience the natural flow of movement. Practice includes rolling, falling, being upside down, following a physical point of contact, supporting and giving weight to a partner.

Contact improvisations are spontaneous physical dialogues that range from stillness to highly energetic exchanges. Alertness is developed in order to work in an energetic state of physical disorientation, trusting in one's basic survival instincts. It is a free play with balance, self-correcting the wrong moves and reinforcing the right ones, bringing forth a physical/emotional truth about a shared moment of movement that leaves the participants informed, centered, and enlivened.

—early definition by Steve Paxton and others, 1970s, from CQ Vol. 5:1, Fall 1979

Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. Sometimes wild and athletic, sometimes quiet and meditative, it is a form open to all bodies and enquiring minds.

—from Ray Chung workshop announcement, London, 2009

Contact Improvisation (CI) is a framework for an improvised duet dance. Since it is essentially a dance of investigation of weight, touch, and communication, it adheres to no single definition or pedagogical certification program. All practitioners ultimately participate in the defining, disseminating, and development of the form through their own practice and discovery.

http://www.contactquarterly.com/cq/webtext/resource.html

2. personal transformational experience

Naropa University is a place where transformation happens. Our students examine who they are, their roles in the world and how they want to meet the world and change it for the better. In a minimum of one page, tell us about a transformational experience you have had and how it enhanced your ability to see another person's view, alter your own view, or engage with the issue or you community in a new way.

In the fall of 2008 I packed a couple of panniers full of warm clothes, camping gear, and bike tools and flew to Portland, Oregon to set off on a month long bike ride to Los Angeles. Never in my life did I consider that traveling by a bike and camping for days on end was possible, moreover doable. I met my 3 friends with whom I planned this adventure in Portland and after a few days of preparations we were off.

A small footnote, I began riding my bike in Los Angeles 4 years prior to the trip and although I was a bike enthusiast, the farthest bike rides I did where 10-15 miles one way to meet some friends across town; I was used to riding for an hour max and then moving onto a different activity. I was comfortable and familiar riding in the city but by no feat was I a rode racer, pounding away miles to attain a goal. I have always been an athlete, but within recent years I have fallen into the comforts of personal choice and being able to withdrawal myself from physical challenges when they where too much.

So you can only imagine how I felt when I began to realize the first day that we where going to ride for hours on end. This was the begging of coming to terms, breaking away and expanding my mental barriers and perceived physical limitations. Not only did I have to adapt to the changed weight of my bike, whereas it was 25 pounds in the city to more than doubled on this trip; I also had to come to terms with physical pain of relentless time spent in the saddle, freezing in the nights, and nowhere to hide- emotionally or literally.

This was my initiation. I was learning to release the notion of instant gratification and endure- for success down the line. I learned to communicate my sorrows more deeply, my joys more openly. Every mountain climbed and descended, crazy autumnal elements overcome, I learned. I observed. I shared. I overcame. And with that, it began to dawn on me not only in theory but through experience, of how resourceful, resilient and patient human nature can be. I gave myself a month of contemplating, listening within, exercise and direct exposure to the natural elements. How many people in the world have that kind of time and opportunity?

My personal experiences also motivated and inspired others to do the route, as well as shed light on the very possibility to "everyone" else. It is almost like I became a certified spokesperson for bicycle touring. But more importantly the trip gave me the confidence to be a part of the bike co-op community. Shortly after my return, I began to volunteer at Bikerowave , a "do it yourself" bike shop, which has been a big figure in the west-side bike community in Los Angeles. I continued to learn about my bike, but I also began to learn about vintage French bottom brackets as well as building wheels and teaching people to do their own tune-ups. I was growing in my knowledge of bike repair, moving from simply fixing a flat to fully re-hauling a bicycle. Even more importantly though, it was all done through a community setting. We held monthly board meetings and voted on issues; raised money through fundraisers and parties; created a "women only" night for females who wanted to fix their bikes in a quiet and sensitive environment; moved to a bigger and more accessible location, and thus grew our member base. All the participation stemmed from the trip. It was my way in to the bike community.

Since then, I have toured the east coast of Australia. Learned and explored the sub-culture of bicycle polo. Connected with people around the world, who I might have never have met, if it wasn't for this medium. Not only is cycling a great way to exercise, it is an important means of alternative transportation, and ultimately an enriching journey inside and through the world.

1. how you are prepared to participate

At Naropa University students develop critical intellect, engage in service to the world, explore their inner resources, participate in the creative arts and develop an understanding of the richness of human diversity. Given this, please tell us in an essay (minimum of 500 words) how you are prepared to participate in this distinctive community and how your life and educational goals would be reached by attending Naropa University.

Since I was fifteen I have been reading about Buddhism and Sufism, finding the teachings resonating a truth deep within. I was always pulled towards self discovery and awareness, whether it be manifested through athletic focus and competition, creative expression within dance, or an interest in social and environmental issues.

My perspective is that of Holism, where every part is integrated and interrelated with the others. For a while, I felt different from my peers and internally isolated; I was interested in issues of existential reality when most of my friends where more interested in gossip and the mainstream ideas. I would wonder, how could some people be so unaware or disinterested in the macro and micro dilemnas. Senseless conversations, unsustainable consuming, destructive habits, such ideas plagued my being with confusion and sadness. I was partaking in an internal struggle and resisting what was. But, those concerns where the catalyst to my passion for change and self-improvement; the catalyst to becoming tolerant yet curious; and finally blending a sense of acceptance with productivity and action.

After high school, it took me some time to commit going back to school. But once I started, I knew I was embarking on a journey of discovery. I picked classes specifically to answer inner questions or out of curiosity of the subject, while also fulfilling my transfer requirements. I whole-heartily engulfed in the topics, or fully withdrew if they where not meeting my educational requirements. Selfishly, I wanted to figure "it" out and develop relationships with my professors, not just pass along in a class among the many. For two years I volunteered with the Student Sustainable Crew Program, which focused on us teaching peers: on diverting solid waste through recycling, become water efficient, eliminating toxic chemicals, minimizing transportation impacts, reducing energy use, and better consumer choices. In my fourth year of college, I ran for Student Secretary under the "Solid" Campaign, a group of my friends who where all concerned about "greening" the campus. We where interested in getting a food-garden on campus, a textbook- rental program started, and better food choices in the cafeteria. Our entire running party was elected by a landslide, even a new position in the Associated Student Government was created called the Director of Sustainability. But like many idealistic and enormous ideas, we where met with a lot of resistance from some teachers and Advisors. That was my first real experience to witness the ongoing bureaucracy and top-down power and control that has been part of our social system. No matter how much the students inspired and motivated the prospect of change, we where going against the status quo. What irony. Needless to say, I was disenchanted with the whole idea, and decided that my energies where better spent traveling and learning about how people live, directly.

So I flew to Sweden at the end of my semester term. I was able to witness how an entire country, small as it may be, functions under a sustainable and social system. Universal health care, strong public transportation systems, the EPA that made an impact and is a leading force for national decisions. This was eye-opening. Years later I traveled the east coast of Australia by bicycle, where I was blown away by their sustainable and conscious practices. Water tanks at every house, clothes lines and the lack of dryers in both homes and apartment buildings. Bicycle lanes through out the cities; the decision to make, grow and consume domestic products as much as possible; conservation of water, energy, and the natural environment. The list was long of efficient practices, but it made me wonder, why where we so far behind in implementing ours?

It dawned on me, people do only what they know best. If we knew more, with our whole essence, and where taught and raised with better habits, then the world would look quite different. But we are still learning; either to rediscover the the mystery of the universe, or just move closer with it's vibration. My goal is to make objective and holistic decisions, and if I can inspire or educate other's, even better. Not only do I want to understand, more importantly I am ready to learn the theoretical as well as the hands-on techniques and information on becoming a more self sustaining person, living in a natural world. To apply the knowledge and my life experiences to create some kind of efficient system where I live. And it all stems from education.

Now, 25, a little wiser, I am eager to share, express and experience a holistic university. I am more aware of my strengths, short comings, and learning abilities. I know how to apply my self more efficiently and give full-heartily. I am also excited to participate and continue growing in contemplative dance practice, such as contact improvisation and yoga. I am excited about a school that applies meditation as an integral part of it's system. Acknowledging that life is a process, I am ready for this new chapter in that process.