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EARTH's 2009 International Interns

EARTH celebrates diversity daily with interaction between students from over 20 different countries.  Is your country represented?

• Argentina
• Belize
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Canada
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Cuba
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Haiti
• Honduras
• Kenya
• Mexico
• Mozambique
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• South Africa
• Switzerland
• Uganda
• United States
• Venezuela

Dr. Shyam Nandwani of Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica visited EARTH earlier this week to discuss possibilities of creating a new short course about solar energy.

“Right now with the oil spill and other world crises, solar power is becoming more [popular],” said Dr. Nandwani.  “What we will do here is teach and disseminate.”

Students will not only do research on and learn the science of solar energy, but they will also discuss social and economical factors having to do with renewable energy.  EARTH students as well as international students would be encouraged to take this one-month course.

The Office of International Academic Programs welcomes intern, Asmaa Abdel-Azim, who is studying Biosystems Engineering at Michigan State University. Her goal while at EARTH is to convert the practices of a local town, El Carmen, to be more sustainable.  She will use ideas from her Biosystems Engineering classes and from what she learns through visiting EARTH’s peri-urban farm to create a community garden in El Carmen.

Asmaa demonstrates to community members how they can use recycled plastic bottles to create a garden bed

Right now, El Carmen is divided by the north and south sides, which rarely interact.  People are even isolated within each neighborhood, since they don’t feel safe enough to leave their houses to visit neighbors. Asmaa believes that by working together in a safe environment to harvest practical crops that they actually will use, the people of El Carmen will share a sense of unity with their neighbors.

Another part of Asmaa’s project is to research the lifestyles of rural Costa Ricans in order to figure out ways to improve their living conditions. While spending time daily with the people of El Carmen, she will ask about their form of income, how they spend their money, what they do on a daily basis, and what they hope for El Carmen in the future.

We are happy to have you here and know that you will succeed in aiding these communities!

The Universidad Politecnica de Valencia in Spain arrived at EARTH on Monday. They are hear to form relations with EARTH in order to send their students here in the future.  Their main field of interest while here: EARTH’s advanced studies on biodigesters.

Universidad Latina published an online article about EARTH Plants the Future, where EARTH students, staff, employees, and others in over 30 different countries planted 1, 195,371 trees!

The article notes that EARTH University is also celebrating 20 years of greatly impacting humanity and the planet.  We appreciate the appraisal the article gives to EARTH.

View the article from Universidad Latina’s website: http://www.ulatina.ac.cr/?p=572

EARTH Professor Dr. Arce instructs intern Ashley Kissick (TN) and Alison Pankey (MI, not pictured) on how to make soap from plant leaves.

Dr. Jorge Arce taught US students one of the many uses of medicinal plants through a fun after-class participatory demonstration: how to make soap.  The students helped Dr. Arce select leaves from EARTH’s medicinal garden, extracted the oils, and then listened to Dr. Arce explain the benefits each plant species throughout the process.

“We chose these specific plants [to make the soap] because they are common in Costa Rica and because they are good for [the] skin,” explains Dr. Arce.

The students extracted oils from rosemary, lemon, juanilama, oregano, peppermint, gotas de maifer, and guanabana leaves.  Examples of these plants’ benefits that these students learned about is the use of juanilama, a plant native to Costa Rica, to help with digestive problems, and the use of the guanabana plant to heal skin eruptions.

Based on which benefits they wanted from the plants and the scents of the plants, the students chose which plant leaves to put in their soap.

Now that is what EARTH calls good, clean fun!

If you’re on Twitter, follow EARTH!  Get more up-to-date information on our study abroad programs, events, and happenings with our current international interns and students. http://twitter.com/StudyatEARTH

Video: Whole Foods Market Explains Why you Should Eat EARTH Brand Bananas

In this video, you will learn:

• How EARTH recycles waste products and used water
• How EARTH avoids using pesticides, insecticides and other harmful chemicals
• Which organic materials are used in the production process
• How EARTH has helped workers and their families to live better and healthier lives

Did this make you rethink what brands of produce you are buying? Let us know! Leave a comment.

This weekend, EARTH said “Good-bye” to agricultural studies representatives from twelve different US universities.  The participants made contact with professors and advisors from other US colleges, toured EARTH’s campus and surrounding communities, and learned about EARTH’s philosophies and programs.

We had a great few days with you here and are happy to be working with you.  Hope you enjoyed your stay!