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!
First off: Be the Change wishes you and everyone in our wonderful community Happy Holidays and a great New Year! May you find ease and peace during these challenging times.
A Thank You Note to All Our Donors!
Thank you to all our new and ongoing donors for donating to Be the Change’s fundraising campaign. We raised $12,995 and had almost 40 donors contribute! This support will enable is to continue empowering youth to become environmental and social justice changemakers, including our Climate Ambassador Workshops, the spotlight of our #GivingTuesday campaign.
Be the Change Earth Alliance & Anti-Racism
Environmentalism and climate advocacy have a long history and legacy of discrimination and racism towards Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities. In fact, some of the most historically recognized environmental advocates perpetuated systemic racism that is still experienced today. The homogeneity in environmentalism and lack of diversity in environmental and climate narratives is a serious problem. There are still strong discouragements and deterrents to BIPOC youth pursuing an education and working professionally in environmental fields, when it is overwhelmingly made up of individuals not from BIPOC communities.
To help dismantle systemic racism and create long-lasting change in the environmental and social fields, Be the Change is further integrating anti-racism into our internal organizational processes and in the work we do in our community. This includes empowering youth of all racial and cultural backgrounds to pursue a future in the environmental and social fields.
Over the past 6 months, as part of our long-term commitment to anti-racism, we have established an internal team focused on developing formal diversity, equity and inclusion policies and practices. We’ve also created a new racial justice programming goal: “to provide accessible, participant-informed, and empowering educational programming that helps youth learn about racism through an intersectional lens, understand their role in racial injustice, and participate in solutions.”
As we continue our anti-racism journey, we hope to continue developing environmental and social educational resources that include more diverse racial and cultural considerations and perspectives. If you’d like to hear more, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].
Once again, happy holidays!
Best wishes,
George Radner (he/his)
Executive Director
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.
