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!
From Canada to all corners of the world, youth are collectively calling for climate action. Take for example Artemisa Xakriabá, a 19-year-old indigenous climate activist in Brazil, fighting to protect the Amazon from the unprecedented fires caused by the climate crisis, or Leah Namugerwa, a 15-year-old Ugandan climate activist, campaigning to end the deforestation, droughts and floods caused by the climate crisis. Let us celebrate all young climate leaders and advocates tackling the climate crisis, especially young those who are Black, Indigenous and People of Colour.
Photo of Leah Namugerwa by Leah Namugerwa (Twitter, n.d.)
Here’s a spotlight on two Be the Change initiatives which are helping cultivate the next generation of diverse climate leaders in Canada: Youth for Climate Action (Y4CA) and Youth Climate Ambassadors Workshops.
Y4CA empowers Metro Vancouver youth to address the climate crisis, and their own feelings of ecological despair, through designing and implementing climate action projects in their communities. This school year, we’re working with four youth teams, who are now finalizing their project goals and preparing for implementation!
Through the power of storytelling, Climate Ambassadors Workshops aim to foster a sense of hope and agency among youth, empowering them to call their communities to action through a personal, compelling climate story. These workshops are facilitated by UBC students as part of our partnership with the UBC Climate Hub. So far, we’ve delivered 18 virtual workshops so far this school year!
Without our generous donors and grantors, Be the Change would not be able to empower youth to become climate leaders and advocates. We would like to thank Vancity EnviroFund, City of Vancouver Greenest City and Trottier Family Foundation for supporting Y4CA, and we would like to thank the Hamber Foundation for supporting Youth Climate Ambassadors Workshops. Thank you!
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 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:
Hello,
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.