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!
Hello,
Happy New Year! We hope you’ve had a restful holiday season and a positive start to 2022. At Be the Change, we are energized and excited for the year ahead.
A Warm Thank You
First off, we’d like to extend gratitude to our community of donors who gave over $35,000 in 2021 – we far exceeded our goal of $20,000! We deeply appreciate this support, which will directly advance our 2022 goals to:
- Mentor a cohort of BIPOC youth to become empowered changemakers and climate storytellers
- Support 5-10 youth teams to run climate action projects in their communities, reaching hundreds more
- Empower over 7,000 youth through classroom resources, experiential workshops, and habitat clean-ups
Stay tuned to these monthly newsletters to hear stories and updates of how our learning resources, workshops, mentorship are making a tangible impact! Thank you!
Be the Change Action Network
Since we exceeded our fundraising goal, we will be even more creative and ambitious this year in expanding our empowering climate education programs to reach even more youth and teachers. One of our most exciting new initiatives is the Be the Change Action Network. This Network aims to connect and empower youth and educators across BC to advance holistic climate education and climate action. We are building this Network collaboratively, and aim to channel its momentum to support the high-school led movement calling for Climate Education Reform in BC.
For teachers joining the Network, Be the Change will be hosting Professional Development workshops this winter and spring that help participants gain the confidence, competence and courage to bring climate change into their classrooms. These workshops will guide participants through a process of Climate Curriculum Mapping, where they collaboratively explore where and how to teach climate change in ANY high school course.
On the student side, Be the Change is offering free mentorship, training workshops and guidebooks to student clubs across BC seeking to accelerate their climate action work. Participating clubs will be added to our Action Map so they can connect, inspire and collaborate with other youth across the province.
The Gandhiana Jones Project by Joe Kelly
Joe Kelly, a member of the Be the Change community, recently published a new book, The Gandhiana Jones Project. This personal development guide leads readers on an eight-week adventure to discover the principles of Values, Passion, Skills, and Service—and how to apply them for maximum impact in the world and in one’s own life. The Gandhiana Jones Project is part inspiration, part how-to, written to show people they can become the change they want to see in the world, while having the time of their lives doing it.
That’s all for now! Thank you so much!
Warmly,
George Radner (he/him)
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.
