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4 ESSENCE  November 25, 2010

STAFFORD RICHTER

It is a blistery autumn morning, and I am

running late — as per usual. In a hurry, I

lock my bike up beside the bookstore and

quickly take reuge inside the Multiaith

Services Centre. Once inside, I am given

a warm reception rom Henri Lock, one

o the University o Victoria's chaplains.

His role, he explains, is to provide stu-

dents with resources on how to nurture

spiritual growth and also build commu-

nity in the process. A tall and congenial

ellow by nature, Henri's demeanour

makes it seem as i we are old riends. I

am here to talk to him about Voluntary 

Simplicity and how it is subtly transorm-

ing lives at the University o Victoria. But

beore jumping ahead, I need to explain

 what Voluntary Simplicity is.

In the teaching manual created by the

Northwest Earth Institute rom Port-

land Oregon, Duane Elgin, author and

educator, writes that Voluntary Simplicity  

is concerned with challenging our pre-vailing views and attitudes to realize the

importance o “a singleness o purpose,

sincerity and honesty within, as well as

avoidance o clutter, o many posses-

sions irrelevant to the chie purpose o 

lie.” When it comes to the clutter and

the irrelevance o most material posses-

sions, Henri Lock is candid: “What are

my needs and wants, where is that cut-o 

point, and what do I really need to live?

How do I use my time? What is enough

time and not enough time? What kind

o stu gives me a sense o security? How 

much stu is enough? We all make these

choices, such as how many shirts do I

need or how many shoes do I have in

my closest?

It was these types o questions that

drove Chloe Donatelli, a current work 

study student with Multiaith Services,

towards embracing Voluntary Simplic-

ity  in her rst year at the University o 

Victoria. Chloe was dissatised with the

status quo. “I had just come out o high

school,” she explains, “and I was look-

ing or new ideas, because the old ideas

 weren’t lling me up.” Now in hindsight

she explains that this decision to take the

seven-week long program was like tak-

ing the “road less travelled,” changing her

lie or the better. “It really helped me to

question norms that I had thought beore

 were just the way lie was. o have this

atmosphere where people in many dier-

ent periods o their lie were questioning

these things [was inspiring].” Similarly,

Henri Lock had a transormative expe-

rience when he rst encountered a Vol-

untary Simplicity booth at an Earth Day 

celebration on the lawn o the provincial

legislature in 2000.

His curiosity spiked, he gave over his

contact inormation, but did not hear

back rom anybody until his phone rang

in early September. An invitation was ex-

tended to him to join a discussion circle

in Faireld. He almost decided against it

because o the back-to-school rush, but

upon attending the rst ew discussions,

Henri became enthralled. “We were able

to reely share with one another and

no one was an expert and no one waspreaching.” Te diversity o the opinions

and insights being shared was especially 

encouraging. “One ellow grew up in

Russia and became a sheep armer on one

o the Islands here. He had a rich history.

He was a member o the royal amily and

he lost everything during the revolution.

Tose o us that were rom here talked

about our own experiences, and it was

brilliant and beautiul.” Wanting to share

the wisdom and insight he gained at the

discussion circle in Faireld, Henri lob-

bied to introduce the Voluntary Simplicity  

program to UVIC.

 When Henri rst pitched the idea he

encountered some skepticism rom his

colleagues. “he irst o response was:

 why would anyone want to take another

course? But we oered it that rst all and

 we had such a great response rom the

two discussion groups. It takes about 45

minutes to read a chapter, and students

 just read and talked.” Now in its tenth

year at the University o Victoria, the

Volunteer Simplicity program has touched

the lives o over 300 ormer and current

students. Students like Heather, Alex,

Kara and Ingrid, who let me sit on one

o their weekly discussion circles this all.

Curious about their experiences, I

asked i they encountered any misun-

derstandings with riends or amily 

members who do not subscribe to their

new liestyle o sel-imposed simplicity.

Heather, a local lawyer, is candid about

the challenges she is acing. “My riend-

ships are shiting, so I can talk to some

riends but some aren’t interested at all. I 

you stop accepting the standard societal

package — graduate rom high school,

go to university, get a job, nd a partner,

get married, have kids, and buy a house

— you discover that you are living lie on

this treadmill. Ten you start to question,

and then what? Ten you have to nd

you own steps, which can be scary.”

his process o sel relection that is

integral to Voluntary Simplicity may be

intimidating, but it is also liberating says

Ingrid Brule, because it orces you to

learn how to live with a purpose and to

discontinue putting lie on autopilot: “A 

lot o people are ne with this existence,

but a lot o people, like this group, want

more.”

But wanting to change and actually 

cultivating lasting simplicity isn’t an easy 

process, states Kara Martin. “One o my 

goals was to sit down and intentionally 

eat my meal without getting distracted by 

anything like V, or reading a book, or

making it a social event. But it has been

dicult because you get bored easily.”

Kara then adds that “simpliying is di-

cult because we live in such a ast-paced

 world where we want to do everything

right now.”

Tis need or immediate gratication

is part o the problem, according to Alex

Laliberte, and bears reconsideration.

“Question what makes you happy and

gure out where the root o your hap-

piness is. ry to look at our society and

question what drives us to want more.”

But when you give serious thought to

these issues o consumption and the ail-

ure o capitalism, it can be emotionally 

draining. Apathy can arise as a deense

mechanism, because it’s overwhelming

to consider these issues on top o a ull

course load and a part time job.

Henri Lock explains that this reac-

tion is normal, but that it shouldn’t be

paralyzing. I anything, it should be a

call to action, encouraging us to change

our world view by asking: “what is the

meaning o my existence, and how can

I live in greater harmony with the Earth

and with other people?”

 You don’t have to give up all your ma-

terial possessions and live reclusively in

the woods, but what Voluntary Simplicity  

does ask o you is to be consciously aware

o your impact on the natural world.

So go or walk, call up an old riend,

or just look up at the stars on your

 walk home rom the library. You’ll be

surprised to see how connected you

can be to the world around you (even

 without Facebook).

I you want to join a Voluntary Simplic-

ity discussion circle starting in January 

contact Henri, or more inormation by 

email at: hlock@uvic.ca.

Time to Simplify: Challenging Norms through Simplicity

KYLE ARTELLE

Here on Vancouver Island, awareness o 

our ood production systems seems to be

growing exponentially. However, as we

 work towards integrating elements rom

the 100-mile, Slow Food, and organic di-

ets into new ways o sourcing, purchas-

ing, and consuming our oods, it’s impor-

tant we don’t make choices that solve one

problem while ignoring another. Unor-

tunately, despite the growing awareness

o local and organic oods, an aspect too

oten overlooked in ood production is

the welare o arm animals.

UVic oers a striking example o the

ethical blind spot associated with arm

animal welare. Campus culture has

been torn about the animal welare im-

plications o dealing with our adorable,

though invasive, eral rabbits. However,

compared to the lives o agricultural ani-

mals consumed daily on campus (and on

campuses, in homes, and in restaurants

across the region, the province, and the

 world) these rabbits have lived in the lap

o luxury. Moreover, their destruction via

lethal injection or even via ‘sharpshoot-

ers’ would be considerably more humane

than the end aced by most arm animals.

 Why is there such a loud outpour o 

support or little Peter Rabbit but not a

peep over Chicken Little? What is to be

done or the far greater number o animal

lives directly aected by the dietary deci-sions made on campus?

 While UVic has already taken great

strides to purchase local and organic

goods and oer meat-ree options, nei-

ther the university nor the SUB acilities

have animal welare requirements or

their meat or dairy purchases.

Tis is not to say the campus is a lag-

gard on this issue. Beyond requirements

or cage-ree production o eggs (already 

in place at all UVic Food Service outlets),

requirements or the welare o arm ani-

mals do not currently exist at any Cana-

dian university. Sadly, this is a blind spot

o our culture, not our school.

UVic’s Food or Tought is a group o 

students whose mandate is to stimulate

refection on the ethics o the ood we

eat. Our 10–15 year vision is or UVic to

become the rst university in Canada to

purchase meat, dairy and eggs exclusively 

rom producers certied by SPCA and/or

Certied Organics Associations o B.C..

Farms certied by these organizations

ollow a set o welare standards inormed

by the best available scientic studies on

the welare requirements o arm animals;

standards that are a great deal higher than

those required by the government.

Given that UVic is the single largest

purchaser o ood on Vancouver Island,

our long-term vision or the campus is

ambitious. In act, there currently aren’t

enough ethically certiied armers tomatch such a large demand. o work 

towards our goal we propose an interim

strategy o starting small, purchasing

rom certied sources where they cur-

rently exist, and incrementally increas-

ing the proportion o such purchases

through time.

 As armers realize that UVic would

provide a market or certied arming

methods, more and more would likely 

improve their operations, increasing the

supply available while at the same time

narrowing the price gap between certied

and conventional sources.

he cost o switching to ethically 

sourced meat, dairy, and eggs is surpris-

ingly low, with B.C. SPCA certiied

products costing 25% more on average. 

Te cost o meat in the overall price o 

a meat-containing product in the SUB

is around 10% (the rest goes towards

other ingredients and overhead). his

means the average meaty meal would cost

2.5% more i it contained certied meat.

 A $4.00 slice o pizza would cost $4.10.

he initial response to our proposal

has been positive. Te UVSS has passed

a motion supporting our campaign in

principle. Although (at the time o writ-

ing) the UVic departments o Purchas-

ing and Food Services have not made

any commitments or public statements

regarding this campaign, they have ex-

pressed interest and are looking into their

options.

Pardon the pun, but this campaign

needs to be more carrot than stick. Did

you know UVic already has a cage-ree

egg purchasing policy? I so, have you

sent a note to Purchasing or Food Ser-

vices telling them you appreciate their

eorts? Decision makers need to know 

students would actually appreciate the

transition we’re proposing i they are go-

ing to put in the hard work required.

 While some would argue that the only 

real solution is to abstain rom animal

consumption altogether, we realize that

the vast majority o our student body is

omnivorous. Working towards improved

animal welare practices, regardless o 

one’s personal dietary choices, could have

an immediate impact on the lives o arm

animals (100 million in B.C. alone). As

the largest purchaser o ood on Van-

couver Island, the purchasing decisions

UVic makes could help drive such im-

provements here and across the province.

 

Please visit uvicood.ca or contact us at

uvicood@gmail.com to nd out more

about this and other campaigns, and to

nd out how you can get involved!

Proposal: UVic to Address the Farm Animal Welfare Blind-Spot

Mila CzeMerys

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