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US: Maharishi International University graduates 699 students from 55 countries, honors Protect Our Planet global youth mentor

Protect our Planet (POP) and Maharishi International University Translate This Article
18 June 2022

On Saturday, June 18 at Maharishi International University (MIU) in Fairfield, Iowa, 699 students from 55 countries studying sciences, business administration and management, arts, leadership, and sustainability among other fields, graduated with undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees.

Dr. Ash Pachauri was the Commencement speaker, and received an honorary doctoral degree in the presence of MIU President Dr. John Hagelin, the MIU Board of Trustees, staff, parents, families, and students. Dr. Pachauri is the co-founder and senior mentor of the POP (Protect Our Planet) Movement, a global organization whose mission is to support 1.8 billion young people (ages 10-24) around the world to tackle climate change.

He was also inducted as Climate Advisor to the Global Union of Scientists for Peace (GUSP), of which his father, the late Dr. R.K. Pachauri* was a distinguished member. His mother, Dr. Saroj Pachauri, MD, PhD, DPH also spoke at the event and was honored with the Maharishi Lifetime Achievement Award.

During graduation weekend, on Sunday, June 19, Dr. Ash Pachauri also gave a talk to the MIU community about how Fairfield, Iowa can be a model for addressing climate change.

Following this talk, Dr. Pachauri participated in the inauguration of Phase II of the MIU campus solar array, along with Dr. Hagelin and MIU alumni Troy and Amy Van Beek (Ideal Energy LLC), builders of MIU's first Solar MEG'Array. The solar plant will serve 80% of MIU's energy needs today and will soon expand to cover 100% of its energy demand.

Copyright © 2022 The POP Movement, Inc., and Maharishi International University

See related articles:
∙ Protect Our Planet (POP) Senior Mentor Dr. Ash Pachauri—meetings at Maharishi International University (MIU) in Fairfield, Iowa
∙ Global Peace Summit: Conference report (2017) — includes a summary of Dr. Rajendra Pachauri's ''striking presentation'' on how global climate change will cause severe threats to global security, and urging swift action. The Summit, entitled Science and Peace: Proven Solutions to Violence and Global Conflict, was hosted by the Global Union of Scientists for Peace in Kyiv, Ukraine in June 2017.

Global Good News comment:

* Rajendra K. Pachauri, Ph.D., was the founder of the POP Movement, and father of Dr. Ash Pachauri. He was an internationally renowned scientist and leader on environmental and energy issues and their policy dimensions, and principal architect of the Paris Climate Accord. Among many awards and academic appointments, he was Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2002 to 2015.

Under his leadership the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for its contributions to climate change assessment and response strategies. ''Through his tireless leadership of the IPCC the issue of human-caused climate change became recognized as a matter of vital global concern.'' (IPCC, February 14, 2020)

In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on December 10, 2007 in Oslo, Norway, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri said:

''Coming as I do from India, a land which gave birth to civilization in ancient times and where much of the earlier tradition and wisdom guides actions even in modern times, the philosophy of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam', which means the whole universe is one family, must dominate global efforts to protect the global commons. This principle is crucial to the maintenance of peace and order today as it would be increasingly in the years ahead ....''

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