My name is Mathew Michels and I am a native (literally and figuratively) of the small bush Alaskan community of Nome (population between 3000-4500 seasonally). I’ve been attending Montana Tech since the fall of 2003, after graduating high school a semester early. In the spring of 2005 I had to withdraw myself from my studies for a semester in order to assist my hometown by working on upgrading the utility grids (both electrical and sewer/water) in my hometown.

Since I have started attending Montana Tech my college goals have changed substantially. I first enrolled here to earn a degree in Computer Science and become, as my former employers call it, “independently wealthy”. However, since then I have changed my major to Liberal Studies and also am picking up a minor in Professional and Technical Communications. Upon exposure to higher education I have decided that the things I value most are not things at all, but ideas.

I look at the world around me and see that there are great injustices whereby some people abuse the resources of this especially privileged country, while other people do not have their basic needs fulfilled.

When I think about the fact that the United States makes up four percent of the world’s population and uses a fourth of the world’s resources I am appalled and begin to ask myself: How can this be justified?

I come from a subsistence culture, where historically my ancestors thought that the most outrageous and unforgivable behavior was waste. For them, in their frigid and unforgiving terrain, this behavior came out of necessity as a survival trait. I believe that it is because of this background that I have decided to attempt to educate others with what I have learned about Voluntary Simplicity.

Voluntary Simplicity may appear to be an individual’s goal to feel better about themself by choosing to get by with less, but I see it as a stewardship duty to others, especially to future generations. They are the ones who will one day have to deal with a landfill packed full of technological garbage that is practically outdated before it is even shipped.