EARTH University was established in 1990. Costa Rica was chosen for this university because it had been politically stable compared to its neighboring countries. When United Fruit Company established itself here there was very little concern about the people, the environment, or the future of the land. UFC was eventually expelled from Costa Rica because of their business practices and the land was used to create EARTH U. The campus covers 3400 hectares. An endowment was established by the USA which funds the school. A lot of funding also comes from Kellogg Corporation.
The campus is carbon neutral, and completely self- sustaining. There is no air conditioning, students use bicycles,they use green laundry practices and have campus wide recycling. Most of the food served in the cafeteria is produced on the farm. All leftover food that isn't composted becomes hog feed.
They also have biodigestors that they use to turn excrement into methane gas which can be used to produce electricity.
Its separated into liquid and solid components. The liquid is extracted and turned into gas. The solids are fed to California worms which digest them and then excrete a substance that can be used as fertilizer.
There are over 400 students from 26 different countries. Students come from throughout Central and South America and Africa. The program is four years and focuses on hands-on instruction that takes place mostly in the field. Fifteen to twenty percent of graduates have their own business. Most work in their own countries. First year students takes a course that teaches them how to manage waste. Waste is sorted campus wide, and all of it is studied. Very little is wasted here. Everything is either recycled or composted. EU has its' own landfill. It's the cleanest landfill I have ever seen. During their second and third years students have to develop an enterprise project, and find funding for it. We visit the senior project of a Haitian student named Amos who is experimenting with growing crops using different substrates, including rices husks and coconut fiber. If his experiment works it means that countries that don't have a lot of arable land can still be successful in food production by utilizing substrates instead of soil to grow crops.
They also have biodigestors that they use to turn excrement into methane gas which can be used to produce electricity. 
Its separated into liquid and solid components. The liquid is extracted and turned into gas. The solids are fed to California worms which digest them and then excrete a substance that can be used as fertilizer. 
There are over 400 students from 26 different countries. Students come from throughout Central and South America and Africa. The program is four years and focuses on hands-on instruction that takes place mostly in the field. Fifteen to twenty percent of graduates have their own business. Most work in their own countries. First year students takes a course that teaches them how to manage waste. Waste is sorted campus wide, and all of it is studied. Very little is wasted here. Everything is either recycled or composted. EU has its' own landfill. It's the cleanest landfill I have ever seen. During their second and third years students have to develop an enterprise project, and find funding for it. We visit the senior project of a Haitian student named Amos who is experimenting with growing crops using different substrates, including rices husks and coconut fiber. If his experiment works it means that countries that don't have a lot of arable land can still be successful in food production by utilizing substrates instead of soil to grow crops.
No comments:
Post a Comment