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!
Be the Change at Provincial Pro-D Day!
On Friday, October 22nd our team took great pleasure in presenting at three province-wide teacher Professional Development workshops and exhibiting at one other. What a day! As a result, 58 more educators have joined Be the Change and will now be able to access our Student Leadership for Change resources, which could reach hundreds more students year after year.
In our sessions, participants collaborated to draw curriculum connections to climate change. This was a short pilot of a process we are designing into a full Pro-D model that will bring teachers together to explore these connections, workshop challenges, build relationships and contribute to a Climate Curriculum Map.
Expanding the Climate Curriculum Map to empower teachers and students across BC is just one goal of our Be the Change Action Network Initiative. We can hardly contain our excitement about this initiative! By bringing together teachers who share our vision for Climate Education for all students, we believe we are working towards transformative change.
Our First Shoreline Cleanup!
This month, we hosted our very first Habitat Clean-Up with St. George’s Secondary! On a cloudy day surrounded by beautiful autumn leaves and just a peak of sun, 66 students met our team at Spanish Banks Beach in Vancouver, picked up over 60 lbs of waste, and learned about the importance of local ecological stewardship, water systems and systemic change.
Habitat Clean-Ups led by Be the Change offer a fun, hands-on learning experience where students can learn about waste management while making a positive environmental impact in their community!
We are looking forward to a fantastic and busy November, as our work continues to grow. To play an even part in our growth, please donate today!
We thank you for your continued support,
Jake Hubley and the Be the Change Team,
Communications/Program Manager
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.
