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!
We hope you are having a wonderful start to December! Here’s our last update for 2019
New partnerships, classroom workshops, fundraising campaign, speaking in the community, and looking towards the New Year!
BTCEA + BC GREEN GAMES COLLABORATION
BCTEA is excited to announce it is collaborating with BC Green Games by Science World! BC Green Games is a digital eco-storytelling contest that celebrates environmental action projects taken by k-12 students in schools across BC and offers great prizes to student entries. Now students who have taken our Student Leadership for Change program in school can submit their Action Pack and photos as an entry to the BC Green Games. All entries earn a free field trip to one of the BC Science Centres. Science World is promoting this collaboration to over 4500 BC teachers, helping us expand our reach to teachers across the province. To learn more about this exciting opportunity click here.
WE DELIVERED OUR CLIMATE ACTION WORKSHOPS TO MORE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
BTCEA had the pleasure of delivering two workshops to grade 11 students at Sir Charles Tupper Secondary School in Vancouver to kick off their Climate Change Unit. It was wonderful to see how deeply the students cared about climate justice and how ready they were to take on different actions in their own lives.
DONOR PROFILES FEATURED IN FALL FUNDRAISER
It was very gratifying to hear directly from some of our donors why they support Be the Change and to feature their insights in our fall fundraising campaign. Head over to our blog to check out their stories! We successfully raised $15,000 thanks to 33 generous donors. These funds will go directly to support our Youth for Climate Action Initiative that features youth videos, classroom workshops and free learning resources that guide students to explore climate issues, take personal and collective actions, and meaningfully engage with their peers.
OUT IN THE COMMUNITY
Maureen had a busy month with workshops, fundraising and grant writing, but still managed to take part in different community events! This November she was a featured speaker at the Brahma Kumaris’ Women’s Role in World Transformation event with Sister Claudia and Anne Mortifee. She also spoke at City Hall, weighing in on the single use plastics ban that passed! This makes Vancouver the first Canadian city to take these necessary steps to mitigate plastic pollution!
LOOKING AHEAD TO THE NEW YEAR
Are you a teacher looking for a 2020 New Years’ Resolution to keep? Let’s make 2020 the year for climate justice education!
Never has there been a more important time to bring eco-social education into the classroom. As we step into this New Year, we are entering a decade where far reaching climate action is required in order to safeguard our planet for our youth. The scale of the climate crisis means we need everybody on board to build a more just and sustainable planet. Be the Change’s SLC: Student Leadership for Change resources make it easy for teachers to bring empowering climate education into the classroom. Sign up here to for our full suite of open access resources, including the Climate Action Unit.
BTCEA is able to offer its eco-social learning resources free to BC teachers thanks to the support of donors who care. In this season of giving please consider making a gift to Be the Change so that more teachers and students receive free learning resources and empowering workshops that support climate justice education in the classroom.
HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME CONNECTING WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS
DURING THIS WINTER BREAK… REMEMBER…
THE GIFT OF YOUR PRESENCE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE PRESENTS!
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.
