LiveSmart BC Community Hero
LiveSmart BC Community Heroes: Ian Hourston & Penny Hasell
You might not realize it at first glance, but Ian Hourston and Penny Hasell are probably the greenest couple in Prince Rupert. Penny is an elementary school teacher and Ian works for the city as an engineering technician. They've been together for 25 years and moved to Prince Rupert from Victoria in 1991.
A green lifestyle is not for show-offs. It's rather inconspicuous - just the opposite of conspicuous consumption. Penny tells me that, "a lot of what we do is like what people did in England after the war - except we're choosing to live that way." They don't have a dryer. They buy everything used - their car their furniture, even their clothes. They both walk to work. They keep most of their house cold except for a few of the rooms they use the most often.
Penny compares what they are doing to the "Voluntary Simplicity" movement. "It's simple living, but when I say simple it's actually quite complicated. It takes a lot more work to do what we do and a lot more time."
The big picture is: to reduce their "environmental footprint". Use less energy, less resources, and produce less output. They buy food in bulk and eat mainly vegetarian. They don't buy things that have a lot of packaging. Penny showed me a week's worth of garbage. It easily fit into a typical sized plastic grocery bag and she was able to compress it into a ball the size of her fist. Needless to say, they make regular visits to the recycling centre.
Ian and Penny have just started a vegetable garden this year, and when I came to interview them it was full of kale, arigula, swiss chard, and spinach. They spend a lot of time in the kitchen preparing food and almost never throw away leftovers. They cook everything from scratch and buy few prepared foods.
Ian emphasizes that the main reason that they live a green lifestyle is not to save energy. They do it because they enjoy it. "My walk to and from work is sometimes the best part of the day - it's what I look forward to. Taking the car is an inconvenience for me," he says. When they do use their car they do a lot of pre-planning and try to combine a number of trips into one.
Both Ian and Penny are outdoor enthusiasts like many others in Prince Rupert. They love kayaking, canoing, hiking, and skiing. All of their recreation is non-motorized, according to Ian, not just because it's better for the environment but because it enhances their enjoyment of nature.
"Moving through the environment under your own power allows you to take in more of your surroundings, to feel more, hear more, smell more, and see more."
They see it as a more spiritual, more peaceful, and a healthier way to have fun.
