January Newsletter: Sharing Gratitude & Excitement for 2024!
Happy New Year! We hope you had a memorable holiday season and a positive start to 2024. At Be the Change, we are energized and excited for the year ahead!
This week, millions have already walked in solidarity with youth leaders demanding action to address the climate crisis. Our time is running out. Sea levels are rising, glaciers are melting, we are seeing an increase in extreme weather events, and temperatures are at all-time highs.
Our modern existence seems to have forgotten its intrinsic connection to the natural world. And so here we stand, on the precipice of an irreversible climate crisis, with countless species at risk of extinction, and our frightened children leading rallies in the streets.
We got ourselves into this mess, and we have got to get ourselves out. Our way of living, governing, and going about ‘business as usual’ is going to bring us all down. So let’s take pause. Let’s reset. And then let’s act boldly by making personal choices and supporting public policies that protect our planet.
But how? How can we change hearts and minds? How can we collectively break our habits and disrupt the status quo? Well -- as we stand in the wake of a week of incredible youth-led organizing around the world, it seems we ‘elders’ could learn a thing or two about global collaboration from our ‘youngers’. It is possible!
While there is no time left for climate delayers/deniers in government, there is still time to secure a safer, more just future for all. In support of this sentiment, our Be the Change headquarters here in Vancouver, BC will shut down for the entirety of September’s big strike day: September 27, 2019.
We are truly grateful for the activism led by our youth and the ongoing resistance of the First Nations people. Now, each of us must support this civil action by taking personal responsibility to reduce our ecological footprint, and our leaders must take social responsibility to hold industries accountable. We hope that you will join us in this great movement for change.
We’ll be getting back to empowering global sustainability through education when our office resumes its regular business hours on Monday, September 30.
Latest posts
December 2023 Newsletter - ⛄‘Tis the season to celebrate at Be The Change!⛄
As 2023 comes to a close and school winds down for winter break, we’re taking a moment to reflect back over the past year. 2023 was a very regenerative time for BTCEA! We developed and delivered our Climate Action, Resilience, and Emotions (CARE) program in communities on the frontlines of wildfires in our province. And as an organization, we prioritized creating space to discuss what decolonization could look like both internally, and in our programming. Here are the highlights:
Oct 2023 Newsletter - Check out our mid-October climate-justice resources!
Hello,
An introduction from Communications Coordinator, Lucy Wicken
Dear Be The Change community,
As we approach mid-October, I’m reflecting on the changing seasons, from the warm and active days of summer to the cooler and quieter days of autumn. Personally, I’ve noticed a desire to slow down, take on fewer responsibilities, and stay inside where it’s cozy. Have you felt this way too?
As 21st century humans living in a world that operates under capitalism, white supremacy, and other oppressive systems, we can be made to feel guilt or shame about listening & responding to our needs. We are expected to maintain the same energy and productivity levels throughout the year, no matter how cold or dark the days are, how heavy world events feel, or how much we’re struggling in our personal lives.
This is where the concept of regenerative education comes in. Introduced to the BTCEA team by former staff member Jake, regenerative education calls on us to slow down and turn inward to consider our connection with the natural world. It asks us to examine the living systems that are breaking down due to violent human activity (such as fossil fuel extraction, destruction of Indigenous lands, and human-caused flooding and wildfires) and connect this breakdown with our own high levels of stress.
