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!
As the summer draws to an end and students head back to class, both remotely and in-person, Be the Change is committed to supporting teachers and empowering students during these unprecedented times. We are focused on being nimble and adaptive to the ever-evolving circumstances. And we have some exciting updates ahead of the school year!
Be the Change’s New Website
Be the Change’s website makeover is complete! Our new website is more visually appealing and user-friendly for teachers, students and community members. Check out the new website!
New SLC Resources
After a busy summer, Be the Change is excited to announce a series of FREE, new online learning resources for the 2020/21 school year as part of our flagship Student Leadership for Change (SLC) program. Check out some highlights below!
Climate Change Infographics
Over the summer, Be the Change developed a collection of two-page infographics introducing concise key facts, statistics, concepts and impacts for 15 different climate change topics, such as: climate justice, deforestation, sustainable consumption and much more. Each infographic empowers hope and further action for students by including links to groups and organizations, including Indigenous Peoples organizations, making a positive change and impact locally, nationally and internationally. These infographics are also visually appealing, easy-to-use and applicable across a range of courses, grades, and lesson types. If you’re registered to use SLC, you can access the infographics here!
Launching Soon: Public Health and Healthy Cities Action Packs
Be the Change will soon be launching two new SLC Action Packs: Public Health and Healthy Cities Action Packs. These new Action Packs will provide online learning resources that teachers can deliver to their students, whether it be through remote, in-person or mixed learning. The Public Health and Healthy Cities Action Packs are focused on providing students with solutions- and action-oriented learning on environmental, health and social justice topics. They are also designed to be flexible, accessible and engaging for diverse learners throughout a wide range of courses and grades.
Our new Public Health and Healthy Cities Action Packs help students build relevant knowledge and Core Competencies on questions such as:
- What do terms such as public health, community health and urban health refer to?
- What is a pandemic (e.g., COVID-19)? How do they originate, and how can they be addressed?
- What are the social and ecological determinants of health?
- What actions can individuals take towards preventing health and wellbeing problems?
- What actions can individuals and households take to improve the physical and mental health and wellbeing of themselves and their community?
Those are all the updates for now! A reminder: support from donors is essential for us to continue our work empowering students during these challenges times. Please donate today!
Warmly,
George Radner
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.
