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Profile: Hans Posselt

By Rebekah Oakes
October/November Issue, 2003

As the Ecology Center’s Senior Scientist, Dr. Hans Posselt spends some of his time these days working on various aspects of the Center’s ongoing Auto Project, which deals with such issues as paint technology, toxic emissions, and fuel efficiency. As a teacher of meditation and a student of Yoga philosophy, Hans devotes his energies to “finding out who we are, what reality is all about in order to become free from bondage and suffering.”

Hans acquired his “quest for knowledge and science” in his youth, from his experiences growing up in Dresden, Germany, a city of 600,000 east of Berlin. The city was not only ravaged during World War II, it was almost entirely destroyed during a firebombing campaign in February of 1945, a mere two months before the war in Europe ended. “I’m most grateful,” says Hans ironically, “for my earlier life experiences like Word War II, all of which lead to a search for meaning, and because of this search I was able to find answers.”

Hans began his search for answers, both scientific and philosophical, by obtaining his bachelor’s degree from the College of Engineering of Hamburg in the early 1950s. In 1963 Hans was hired by an Illinois chemical company for water pollution research, and while obtaining his masters in chemistry at Northern Illinois University, Hans met University of Michigan professor Walter Weber. Professor Weber later invited Hans to begin his Ph.D. studies, and in 1972 Hans became a full Professor of Environmental Technology and Director of the Environmental Technician Program at Monroe County Community College.

In 1983, Hans’s request for a sabbatical, during which he would travel and study in India, was denied but he refused to let it come between himself and what would prove to be a spiritual awakening. He promptly quit his position at the community college and moved to India to study Yoga philosophy, which he continues to practice and incorporate into his meditation classes.

Four years later a hazardous waste company purchased 1,800 acres (three square miles) of land a mere two miles from the organic farm were he and his wife lived. The company intended to develop the nation’s largest hazardous waste complex, complete with landfills, an incinerator, and deep injection well. Hans promptly organized a citizens’ group to fight the hazardous waste company, and he, along with two others, ran for township office. This led to the creation of MCATS, Michigan Citizens Against Toxic Substances, the group that vigorously opposed the company. He served eight years as a township trustee, ultimately winning the long and grueling battle against the waste company. During this time, MCATS received aid and advice from other community and environmental organizations, including the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor.

As a member of the Americorps National Service, Hans was assigned – and received funding for – his position with the Ecology Center in 1993 as a technical advisor in the field of pollution prevention. Two years later, under the Americorps program, Hans began his contract work with the Ecology Center as Senior Scientist. Currently, Hans’s main work at the Center involves technical issues related to the Auto Project, however he also devotes time helping to put out “environmental fires in our community.”

Hans is a man shaped by incredible and poignant experiences throughout his life of exploration and devotion. He is a strong believer in man’s spiritual connection to the Earth, a connection he says has been lost by so many. He says meditation is a crucial part of recognizing and understanding one’s true Self and connection to the natural world. This process. he explains, catalyzes an inner transformation because “everything that happens in our outer world is a manifestation of our inner worlds.”

Rebekah Oakes is an editorial assistant for From the Ground Up and a junior at the University of Michigan.

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