The King’s Green Pad

By Dr. Randolph Haluza-DeLay

It is unusual for an academic book to be attacked by a newspaper columnist. But that happened to a recent book called Rethinking the Great White North. Remembering Pierre Berton’s line that having sex in a canoe is what makes one Canadian, The Globe & Mail’s Margaret Wente had suggested that maybe new immigrants should be taught to canoe – so they could be more like real Canadians.

The editors of Rethinking the Great White North took her to. The perception that “Canada = Canoeing” they said, was just one of the ways a European colonial mentality permeates both our sense of nation and our sense of nature. Wente lashed back in the pages of The Globe & Mail. Yet nature reflects race – read the book!

When I came to Canada as an immigrant, I quickly learned how much the North matters to the Canadian imagination. Nature and the boreal forest are also huge parts of the typical history and sense of identity for the country. But I first lived in northern Saskatchewan and quickly learned there isn’t one “Canadian” way of thinking about the land and often these ways of thinking split on ethnic lines. This book clearly shows how race and nature intermingle.

For example, that view of the North as wilderness is a way of thinking that often absents native peoples. The national narrative refers to, and then brushes over, the native present/presence. It is part of why the oil sands development proceeds as rapaciously as it does – “there’s [sort of] no one there” they say, and Canadians believe it, so can sacrifice the empty land.

For Christians, there is no way that creation can be seen as simply raw material for industrialization. It is a “gift of good land” as Wendell Berry put it. The Earth is the Lord’s (Psalm 24), and we are tenants. But even thinking about property ownership of land (or water, see http://parklandinstitute.ca/media/comments/new_report_says_markets_are_a_poor_solution_to_albertas_water_woes/) is a Eurocentric approach. Christians are heavily influenced by the cultures in which we live.

Rethinking the Great White North is an academic book with some of the complicated language that make people avoid reading such books. But that would be a mistake. An even worse mistake would be to ignore the entwining of race, nature, ethnicity and colonization that still permeate Canadian society. We need to trouble the narratives of nature too often used in environmental action.

Baldwin, Andrew, Laura Cameron, and Audrey Kobayashi, eds. 2011. Rethinking the great white north: Race, nature and the historical geographies of whiteness in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press. Paperback: $37.95. ISBN 9780774820141.

By Dr. Heather Looy, Professor of Psychology

The past two blogs I mused in a somewhat rambling manner on the importance of names and the relationship between naming and being.
A new species is named for its discoverer, a mountain for a respected political leader, an institute for its corporate sponsor. Our acts of naming seem arbitrary, occasionally whimsical. We do not treat naming as identifying something essential about what we name. The archipelago remains truly itself, we think, whether we call it the Queen Charlotte Islands or Haida Gwaii; the plant retains its identity whether we call it kinnikinnick, bear-berry or arctostaphylos uva-ursi.

Yet all of these names both express and change how we perceive, understand, locate, and relate to something or someone.

Here is a paradox: Until we name something, we do not know it. And until we know it, we cannot truly name it.

That we do not understand or even recognize this paradox is, I believe, one reason why we struggle so to resolve our concerns about creation care. We name creation in generic, mechanistic terms. In our arrogance we believe that this reductive language tells us the truth of creation. But these are not true names; they cannot be. They are distortions because we have not taken the time to truly know that which we are naming.

It is only when we intimately know each creature, each place; when we know this particular weeping birch and that pair of falcons and those blackberry patches, that we can truly name them.

I believe that the ‘true name’ of anything or anyone is not something that each holds within itself, in isolation. True names are unique expressions of rich relationships, of deep knowing.

God calls us to name creation. To name we must know. To know deeply is to love. Naming matters, then, because the process of discovering true names involves entering into intimate loving relationship. Only through this journey can our relationship with creation, and creation itself, find healing.

Edmonton – It’s the only post-secondary institution in Canada to receive such professional recognition for an environmental studies program that includes BA and BSc degrees. The King’s University College Environmental Studies (ENVS) program has been granted professional accreditation from Environmental Careers Organization (ECO) Canada, the certifying body of the Canadian Environmental Accreditation Commission (CEAC). This Professional accreditation is in addition to the academic accreditation already granted by the Campus Alberta Quality Council.

The Eco Commission’s granting of accreditation to King’s encourages all future and past graduates of the ENVS program to apply for the designation “Environmental Professional” and put the letters “EP” behind their names, along with their degrees.

“We are delighted at this recognition of the quality of our environmental program,” says President Harry Fernhout. “Doubly so as it came only after an accreditation team from across the country visited us for two days, reviewed all our material, and interviewed numerous faculty and students. They were impressed with what they saw and heard, and confident our program truly measured up to their rigorous professional standards.”

“For our graduates, accreditation of King’s ENVS program will mean increased employment opportunities—employers will know the program meets national standards,” says Dr. Michael Ferber, Director of Environmental Studies for the university. “The site evaluation team had no knowledge about King’s before their arrival, and were quite taken by the quality of our programs, professors and students overall. This is just another example of what a hidden gem we are, and the high quality of what we do here.”

The King’s evaluation team concluded all the criteria have been met and there were no specific recommendations for changes to the programs or their implementation. King’s ENVS program is now listed on the ECO Canada website as having national accreditation.

The King’s University College offers fully accredited Bachelor degrees in the arts, humanities, music, social sciences, natural sciences and commerce/management, as well as an education after degree. King’s currently serves almost 700students from across Canada and abroad, representing more than 16 nations. Faculty are highly qualified, committed to academic excellence and communicating a Christian perspective in their teaching. Students are challenged both inside and outside the classroom to apply what they learn to their life and their future career.

ENVS – ECO CANADA ACCREDITATION BACKGROUNDER

• The professional accreditation process is a rigorous process. The applying institution prepares a comprehensive and detailed Self Study Report, which was made available to the Site Visit Evaluation Team (SVET) in advance.

• The four-¬member SVET visited King’s for two days this past September. The team interviewed everyone involved with the delivery of the program. They also meet with current students, alumni of the program and employers.

• The team prepared a 36-¬page report evaluating the program on the basis of an extensive set of criteria.

• As the accreditation team concluded in its report: “It is clear that King’s students have a remarkable education experience as a result of very close interaction with the faculty. This is an institution where faculty members even know all of their first year students by name.” (The Globe university report recently gave King’s an A+ for exactly the same kind of attributes – for the fifth year in a row.)

Highlights from the Site Visit Evaluation Team’s report

• King’s University College (King’s) is to be commended for having a dedicated and passionate faculty and staff who take the time and effort to get to know and engage their students, and tailor their needs in their program planning.

• Administration, faculty and staff are commended for their commitment to STARS (Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Rating System) to encourage sustainable practices at King’s University College (King’s) and to exercise leadership in greenhouse gas emissions and environmental stewardship as part of its strategic direction to care for creation.

• The accreditation team recognized that student remedial support was a particular strength of the program and commends the faculty and staff in providing exceptional support and guidance to their students.

• The SVET commends the program and institution for the dedicated and passionate faculty and staff who take the time and effort to get to know and engage their students, and tailor their needs in their program planning.

By Dr. Randolph Haluza-DeLay, Associate Professor of Sociology at The King’s University College

I used to be a big advocate of cycling as a form of transportation. Ideally it’s cheap, environmental –friendly. It keeps cars off busy roads and for a place like where I work, which is poorly served by public transit, might be a good alternative. Plus, cycling is good for fitness and I have a hard time finding time for gym workouts so working out while doing something I have to do (getting to or from work) makes sense.
With some other health and urban environmental researchers I’ve even written an op-ed on the topic for the Edmonton Journal . It appeared on the Ideas page back in May 2011: “Broad changes, not just helmets, key to bike safety: Improving roads better approach than laws that create barrier to cycling.” http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/ideas/story.html?id=82a68092-b271-4aba-a705-4a22ac74a12c&p=2 Although I emailed every city councillor, I heard back from only one.

For me, it’s a 17 minute bike ride between home and work. It’s a 9 minute car ride at the best of times. During rush hour I beat the cars by bike. It’s a 23 minute busride once a rush hour and up to 90 minutes at another time. So biking is a no brainer, so to speak.

But my kids have challenged that it is Immoral for me to bike to work.

They’ve heard me complain about unsafe streets and unsafe drivers. I have to ride 50th Street from Millwoods to King’s. There are no side streets or trails and not even sidewalks; 75th Street would be no better. So I am riding right with the traffic and in the 9 years I’ve worked at King’s traffic has increased quite dramatically. There’s been lots of building along 50th Street, and truck traffic is greater too.
I used to be a rockclimbing instructor, backcountry skier, and whitewater rafting guide – the adrenalin-fuelled focus of city cycling matches those activities. I worry for my safety. And the kids say “if you get hurt, because you bike but the roads aren’t safe for cycling, you are choosing to put yourself in harm’s way, and that’s wrong!”

It’s wrong that my kids might be without a healthy father, should an accident happen. Glad they love me!

So that’s the question – cycling to work is a set of tradeoffs , mostly the public goods of environmental and congestion benefits, but at increased personal risk. And the consequences would be borne by my family.

What do you think? Is it immoral to cycle if the streets are less safe than they could be? Is this a moral issue?

(By the way, in the current version of the Edmonton city Budget, there is no money budgeted for “Active Transport” like improving cycling or walking as means of getting around the city.)

By Dr. Heather Looy, Professor of Psychology at The King’s University College

CLICK HERE for part 1

Proginoskes is a junior cherubim in Madeleine L’Engle’s wonderful story “A Wind in the Door.” The main task of cherubim is Naming. Proginoskes explains that the act of naming enables things to BE, to exist, to MATTER. The worst possible fate is for your name to be wiped out, because then it is as if you never existed at all. As long as the cherubim continue their recital of names, even death does not destroy.
Cherubim in L’Engle’s conception acknowledge every element in creation through the act of reciting True Names. But can WE know the true name of anything, even our own? Who are we, truly, at our core?

Certainly your name expresses your cultural heritage (Shantha, Jane, or Mingmei), gender (Patrick or Patricia), your clan (Bjornssen, Macdonald), your religion (Kaur, Singh, Mohammed, Fear-the-Lord), and sometimes your parents’ personal predilections (Rainbow, Jaxson, or Legolas). But is that your TRUE name, a name that captures the essence of you, as an utterly unique being?

I have always wondered, when learning the names of rocks, animals, weather patterns, psychological phenomena, and other aspects of creation, whether those names really tell us anything meaningful. Is love a real thing in the world, or just a word we use that carries a meaning we created? Does it make any difference to a rock or fox or tree what name we assign?

Hiking in the mountains I delight in figuring out the names of the mountains, trees, or alpine flowers. I use my topographical maps and field guides, but realize that all these things have been given other names by other people through history. And even if people never named them, wouldn’t they continue to exist, to be themselves?

Yet God calls us by name, and calls us to name creation. Does God care what names we choose, or is there a ‘right answer’? Do we assign, or do we DISCOVER, true names? And if we fail in this task, does it matter—are elements of creation literally wiped out of existence? Are WE wiped out if we name ourselves wrongly? This is a troubling thought.

By Rob Van Weerden, Director of Facilities

Alberta gets much of its energy from coal-fired generating plants, which have higher impacts than energy (electrical) sources such as hydro as in Ontario or Quebec. Therefore, what we do in Alberta to reduce consumption has a proportionately higher benefit to lowering ecological impact. With this in mind The Kings University College takes energy management seriously.

Looking at how the Kings University College measures up against other Universities gives us insight into how we are doing. I have benchmarked ourselves (below) against other larger institutions, then scaled appropriately.

The graph below was taken from CAUBO’s pilot project on University performance indicators. The Canadian University average utilities cost is $2.91 psf/ annum for the period (2009). The Kings University College utilities cost psf/ annum for the same period is $1.29 or 56% below the average university utility cost.

Based on our size of 270,000 sq. ft. while paying $1.62 psf/ annum less than the average university in the report equals a utilities consumption cost of $437, 400 per annum less than our average cohort .

So why the big difference in a small to mid-sized institution such as Kings from larger institutions, such as University of Alberta, in utility cost/ psf. Kings certainly doesn’t have the purchasing power for utilities that larger cohorts have, although we are a part of a Christian aggregate utility purchaser comprised of mostly smaller Christian schools. The answer is that we predominantly have lower consumption levels in power and natural gas. This outcome was achieved through wise energy stewardship via sustainability projects undertaken over the years. Some examples of projects that the university has undertaken are;

- Increasing the R-value on re-roofing projects
- Replacing all single pane windows with double glazed, low e, argon filled units
- Installation of 3 high (95% heat reclaim rate) efficiency HRU(heat reclaim units) with an estimated payback rate of 8 years
- Proper heating and cooling set points on our Building Automation System (BAS) to reduce natural gas consumption
- Using high efficiency boilers
- Retrofitting older HID parking lot lighting with induction lighting (80% consumption reduction)
- Using LED lighting in applications where lights are on 24 hours/ day
- Eliminating use of incandescent and halogen lighting applications
- Use of intelligent motor controller and power conditioners resulting in an 18% overall drop in power consumption
- A gymnasium that has two tired lighting . The first tier is lower level lighting but bright enough for most applications. The second tier are used for games and are high efficiency T5 high output lamps
- Installation of light sensor activated roll blinds on the south facing glass of the North Academic Wing. These roll blinds block 85% of heat gain on sunny days, dramatically reduce air conditioning chiller run times, yet stay open on cloudy days.
- Use of occupancy sensors in all classrooms

Total Energy Cost Including Purchased Utilities/GSF:

By Dr. Heather Looy, Professor of Psychology at The King’s University College

A young Queen wins back her her firstborn child when she learns Rumpelstiltskin’s name. The apprentice wizard Ged is able to command and bind the dragon Yevaud when he discovers its true name, in Ursula Le Guin’s fantasy “A Wizard of Earthsea.” Bilbo Baggins in J.R.R. Tolkein’s “The Hobbit” knows better than to reveal his true name to Smaug, for to do so is to make himself vulnerable to this wily dragon.

Why do names have such power? Or do they?

Philosophy, folklore, and modern fantasy have long suggested that your name is connected with the essence of you. In our culture, the first thing we say in answer to “Who are you?” is to give our name. Our name IS us. You should reveal your name only to those that you trust, because the gift of your name is a gift of power, making you vulnerable.

Naming is also important in the Christian faith. God names the first human, and calls Adam to name the creatures (Genesis 2:19-20). God reassures us, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1-3). In the Christian tradition, a child’s name is given at their christening (hence, “Christian” name), and by this act of naming the child is embraced by the community of faith and understood to be acknowledged by God as a child of God.

God names us. God calls us to name creation. We are encouraged to call upon the name of God. Naming must be centrally important in how we live our calling. But why? And how can we ever know someone’s true name?

By Dr. Randolph Haluza-DeLay, Associate Professor of Sociology at The King’s University College

If you have been watching the news, it’s not possible to avoid hearing about the Occupy Wall Street protest and now today’s the Occupy Edmonton/Bay-Street/Canada rallies. The media is a diverse entity, but the mainstream media has been frequently commenting that “the protestor message is muddled.” There’s so much sociological analysis to make of that! (Alternative media give a different picture, including one TeaParty website finding much common ground!)

But, if you wonder what all the fuss is – take a look at charts in the following webpage:

http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-four-charts-that-explain-what-the-protesters-are-angry-about-2011-10

For more in-depth analysis, you might also look at:
http://www.businessinsider.com/plutocracy-reborn

I’m teaching a class on “Social Inequality and Justice” this term. Frankly, the more I look at the data, the more mind-blowing it is.
Even the Conference Board of Canada (the Chamber of Commerce for corporate CEOs) has produced two reports in the past 4 months on rising income inequality in Canada and the globe. http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/hot-topics/worldInequality.aspx. It is apparently a concern even for that elite(ist) body.

What is highly interesting is that the board offers no explanations for that. The task of a social scientist is not just to collect data, but to derive explanations of the data. (That is what “theory” means in the sciences – data-derived explanations, in contrast to the meaning of the word in popular talk where it tends to imply “guesses” or at best “hypothesis before we really know/collect information to test”). My guess is that the explanations would challenge the Conference Board’s typical audience; rising inequality point to fundamental problems in a system of deregulating capital accumulation.

Much of the typical talk is about the “greedy rich” but this misses the point for several reasons. It moralizes rather than offering an explanation that deals with the socio-economic structure of our country. Morality is finger-pointing. Plus, it is problematic. As my relatively well-off brother said, “It would be immoral for me not to do the best I could do for my family.”

A socio-economic/structural/sociological analysis does not focus on the social positions of individuals in the system (whether rich, poor, doctor, oilsands worker, or anyone else). Sociological analysis focuses on how and why wealth, income, advantage, and disadvantages tend to accrue as they do. That is far more challenging. As Roman Catholic Cardinal Dom Helder Camara is quoted: “When I feed the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.” To ask why is the system structured as it is, will confront many ideas, values, taken-for-granteds, and, especially, those who currently have advantage in that system and would like to maintain that advantage. What detail on the causes of the 2008 recession? See the Oscar-winning documentary “The Inside Job” – the system is rigged to advantage a narrow slice of the population. (Hint, no substantive reforms to the rigged system of finance have occurred, hence, the current global financial instabilities.)

Canada’s inequality is rising faster than the United States. The US “Gini coefficient” (the standard measure of income inequality) is the worst in the developed world. Brazil and Mexico and India are improving, while we in Canada and US are declining. These are simple facts. What do we do with them?

There are many reasons for concern. For one, it’s a question of JUSTICE. However, if you don’t feel that moral concern is valid enough, it’s also a matter of security and national excellence. Numerous studies show how inequality is linked to poorer societal health, increased governmental costs, higher levels of overall insecurity, and so on.

In other words, Equality is Better for EVERYONE (even the societal elites, ergo, the rich, famous and powerful). See the data presented in the book “The Spirit Level” http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resource/the-spirit-level and the book I wish I had used for the social inequality course: http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/injustice/

Think about the “Occupy” protests as pointing out serious problems of exponential and inequitably distributed expansion on a finite world. All the different messages – global ecological degradation, global inequality, financial reform, down-with-capitalism – are parts of the greater overall problem of a broken and unjust system that will sooner or later catch up to us all. The options, as the Global Scenarios Group articulates, may include various forms of barbarism or authoritarian securitization, or new systems to establish social security or new paradigms of just and sustainable societies. The difficulty, demonstrated by historical analysis such as that of Sing Chew (http://www.humboldt.edu/sociology/docs/Professor%20Explores%20Ecological%20Futures%20-%20Humboldt%20State%20Now.mht), is that elites often work harder to secure their resources to protect their position as long as possible, eradicating the smooth transition to better alternatives.

Disheartening? Maybe. But all the more reason to work for just and sustainable, ergo, equitable solutions to the present interconnected set of crises. As the saying goes – be part of the Solution, not part of the Problem.

Hear my confession: Last spring, we became, for the first time, a two-car family. Last week we began serious discussion about finally buying a dishwasher. And I feel terribly guilty about both decisions.

For 25 years, my spouse and I have managed with one car and at times with none. For 25 years, we have done without an electric dryer and without a dishwasher. These were principled decisions, attempts to reduce our ecological footprint.

We rather like washing dishes: it’s a gentle task that allows us to slow down for a few minutes. Having no clothes dryer is no big deal in the dry air of Edmonton where even blue jeans and thick cloth diapers dry between 1 and 24 hours depending on the weather. Plus our clothes don’t shrink and also last much longer. With one car we have incentive to take the bus or bike. Both allow time for contemplation and relaxation; biking also confers the benefit of regular exercise.

But these decisions also come with a price.

Having one car in a sprawling city means constant, complicated planning and negotiating, even in a household of three. Many times those plans feel like a house of cards: a single wobble and the whole thing collapses. Transit and biking also take triple the time of driving.

Handwashing dishes is great in theory but increasingly we feel the need for a “dirty dishes storage closet.” Plus it just seems more efficient to be able to put the used dishes in the washer, and then every two days when it’s full just add soap, press a button, and walk away.

In other words, we are increasingly finding that living sustainably is not necessarily living simply.

By having a second car and a dishwasher, suddenly there is time: Time enough to sit down and eat a meal all together rather than waving at each other as we dash past. Time to have a conversation or watch a show; time to read and to contemplate; time for friends and community.

It feels wrong that adding more ‘stuff’ to our lives, more financial cost, and more ecological cost, results in greater simplicity, space, and serenity. Shouldn’t we do more with less and in so doing discover how little we really need? Shouldn’t simplicity and sustainability go hand in hand?

This post was authored by Dr. Heather Looy, Professor of Psychology at The King’s University College.

Through the years many King’s students have benefited from taking courses through the Au Sable Institute. Therefore it will interest many in our community that Fred Van Dyke was recently appointed as the new Director of the Institute.

Dr. Van Dyke is currently Professor of Biology, Chair of the Department of Biology and Director of the Environmental Studies Program of Wheaton College (Illinois). Dr. Orin Gelderloos, head of the Board Search Committee, praised the appointment, saying, “This appointment heralds a new day in the life of the Institute and represents Au Sable’s commitment to continuing its mission of providing excellent field-based courses in environmental studies for college students and learners of all ages.”

With the naming of a new Executive Director, the Institute also acknowledged the leadership of Dr. Martin Price, long-time CEO of Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO) in Fort Myers, Florida, who served during the past 12 months as the interim Executive Director of ASI. Van Dyke’s relationship with the Institute spans several decades, beginning with his role as a faculty member in 1984 when he taught the Natural Resources Practicum in each of two summer sessions. He taught the May Term Natural History course from 1986 to 1999, and has served since 1992 as a Faculty Representative to Au Sable from both Northwestern College (1992 – 2001) and Wheaton College (2001-2011). He also has been a contributor at past Au Sable forums and conferences. Van Dyke also developed a special Au Sable internship in wildlife ecology in Montana, which he taught from 1988-1991 with the cooperation and support of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the US Forest Service. Van Dyke’s tenure on Au Sable’s Board began in 2009, during which he held positions as Faculty Representative, Trustee, Treasurer, and Board chairman.

Van Dyke is known nationally and internationally for his contributions and leadership in environmental education, conservation biology and Christian environmental stewardship. A graduate in wildlife management with a B.S. degree from the University of Idaho, Van Dyke earned an M.S. in wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and a Ph.D. in environmental and forest biology from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York-Syracuse.

His career has included work in academia, government conservation agencies, and private environmental consulting. Van Dyke has served as a wildlife biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, a scientific and management consultant to the National Park Service, an ex officio member of numerous interdisciplinary management teams of the U.S. Forest Service, and a consultant to private industry in studies of the responses of wildlife to energy development.

Van Dyke is the author of numerous scientific studies, articles, textbooks and books, most recently Between Heaven and Earth: The History and Practice of Environmental Stewardship in the Judeo-Christian Tradition (Praeger Publishers 2010). He is a past recipient of The Henry Luce Scholarship Award from Evangelicals for Social Action, recognizing his contributions toward extending applications of Christian environmental stewardship to public environmental policy and Christian higher education, and has served as a consultant to the Global Stewardship Initiative program of the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Center for Christian Studies, assisting in the development of curricula in environmental stewardship at private colleges and universities.

Au Sable Institute is a Christian environmental Institute based in northern lower Michigan with campuses in Michigan, Washington, India, and Costa Rica. The Institute trains student leaders to care for God’s world through its college program, which partners with 60 Christian colleges and universities throughout North America; environmental education program for Grand Traverse Bay K-12 schools; graduate fellows program at the University of Michigan, Cornell University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Michigan State University; and its winter retreats program.

For more information about Au Sable Institute and the appointment of Dr. Fred Van Dyke, visit the Institute’s website at www.ausable.org.