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!
Earth Day 2021 Webinar: Eco-Consciousness Rising
On Earth Day, hundreds of millions of people all over the world will be affirming their alliance with earth…learning, growing, acting, being in alignment with eco-social-climate-justice values!
This Earth Day, Celebrate our beautiful planet in community, learn the principles of Deep Ecology, explore Eco-Consciousness and the vibrant inter-connected reality of our living Earth, quicken the collective journey of personal and social transformation to a life-sustaining society.
Please join us on April 22nd @ 7:30 for an free inspiring, informative and interactive online workshop co-hosted by Inspiring Yoga and Be the Change Earth Alliance, facilitated by Maureen Jack-LaCroix, PhD (cand.), eco-educator, Joanna Macy facilitator, and founder of Be the Change Earth Alliance.
Recap of Winter Pro-D Conferences!
Be the Change is honoured to have been able to present at four recent Professional Development conferences to over 80 teacher participants from: North Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Central Okanagan, BC Independent Schools, and more! Our Pro-D facilitators Maureen, Cate and George were thrilled about these wonderful opportunities to share our Student Leadership for Change resources with teachers across British Columbia that are passionate about environmental and social issues, and want to empower their students to become long-term sustainability and social justice changemakers. Here’s what one teacher participant had to say after the workshop:
“I am blown away by the depth and quality of the resources
provided on the website. A treasure trove of competency-rich
engaging inquiries!”
Welcome to Our New Youth Projects Coordinator!
Be the Change is excited to introduce our new Youth Projects Coordinator, Anna Tokunaga, who will be leading the Youth for Climate Action project.
About Anna
Anna grew up in Jasper National Park on the Beaver, Cree, Ojibway, Secwépemc, Stoney, and Métis territories where her passion and love for nature developed. In 2019, she graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and Environmental Studies, specifically focusing on environmental health. While in Montreal, Anna worked with the non-profit, Youth Fusion, to guide students through creating a project based on environmental design.
Anna is interested in encouraging and supporting the young change-makers who are passionate about social and environmental issues and are ready to take action. She is excited to reduce the sense of climate grief through agency and action.
Be the Change Earth Alliance is able to continue its work empowering students and youth through the generosity of its donors. Please consider donating today. Thank you!
Warmly,
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.