BTCEA Projects

Current Initiatives

Student Leadership for Change (SLC) 

SLC: Student Leadership for Change is an education curriculum that inspires youth to connect, understand, and respond to the environmental and social challenges facing our planet. This comprehensive suite of experiential, project-based curriculum materials helps students connect global issues to local solutions by taking specific, measurable actions with their classmates and family. SLC fosters the development of student leadership skills by engaging the passion of youth to lead and be the change in their lives, households, schools, and communities. SLC is also available in French and Distance Learning formats as well. Learn more.

Climate Action Unit

The Climate Action Unit new for Fall 2019 features: 3 customized Lesson Plans focusing on Climate Change, Climate Systems and Climate Action, 12 of BCTEA’s ‘Action Packs’ updated to reflect the urgency of the climate crisis and 1 brand new Climate Justice Action Pack. The landmark IPCC report released in October 2018 that highlights we now have just 11 years to radically transform our economies and societies away from fossil fuels. This Climate Action Unit will provide students with the most up to date resources on Climate Change related issues and emphasize the powerful role that they can play in transforming our societies and communities to address climate change. Learn more.                                                 

Youth Climate Ambassador Workshops

 The Youth Climate Ambassador Workshops is a collaborative project with the UBC Climate Hub to offer free workshops to empower Vancouver high school students to take action on climate change. These workshops aim to supplement existing resources with information about how high school students can become “Climate Ambassadors” and encourage their local communities to take action on climate change. By empowering young people to act and demonstrating how effective their actions can be, these workshops aim to foster a sense of agency and purpose. Learn more. 

Professional Development Workshops

Our professional development workshops have been delivered to hundreds of teachers who are interested in learning about our leading-edge curricular and pedagogical tools to engage their students' inquiry both in and outside the classroom, on environmental sustainability. Through this workshop, participants gain a greater understanding of a values-based, action-oriented approach to environmental education and the 21st-century pedagogical approaches to empower student leadership for Change.  Learn more.

Previous Initiatives

While these initiatives are not currently running as core programming, Be the Change is always happy to explore how these resources can continue to live on. If you are interested in any of these initiatives please email [email protected] and a member of the team will be in touch.   

Climate Action Champions Initiative (CAChI) 

Climate Action Champion (CAChI) is a groundbreaking initiative that educates and engages youth in individual, home, school, and neighbourhood climate actions. Through various district, school, and community activities, the CAChI program will inform students on complex climate change issues, engage them in local solutions, and activate their passion for climate action. Assembly presentations, in-class workshops, curricular resources, an online action and engagement portal, and a Climate Action Week will engage approximately 20,000 students, their peers, families, and neighbours in the importance of taking action for the climate in 2018. Learn more. 

Citizens of the Future (CotF)

Tackling climate change will require an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ mentality and our Citizens of the Future initiative brings more individuals ‘on deck.’ Building on our Climate Action Champions initiative (see details below), this CotF will educate and empower at-risk youth (who are often left out of environmental action conversations) and emerging youth sustainability leaders (who need additional support). Through CotF we will provide in-depth Climate Leadership training to students, facilitate workshops with at-risk youth, deliver environmental action assemblies, foster youth-led actions and project, train volunteers who will be invited to give climate action presentations and provide mentorship to students, and showcase youth action projects. Learn more.

Social Innovation in Environmental Education Research

BTCEA’s Founding Director, Maureen Jack-LaCroix is the principal investigator for Ph.D. research into social innovation interventions within B.C.’s education system for influencing the development of a school culture that nurtures environmentally conscious citizens. Utilizing the Social Innovation Lab technology, BTCEA and Maureen have embarked on a community-action research process that will bring educational stakeholders together to share professional knowledge and best practices and to prototype school-based activities, projects, and initiatives that will empower sustainable culture change in schools. Learn more.                                                       

Waste Watchers

Waste Watchers is a suite of waste education resources and activities that engage students in local zero waste solutions through education that empowers behavior change. Resources are best suited for students in a leadership class or environmental club and who the capacity to plan and take action to help their schools get to zero waste. Our educational approach focuses on the issues surrounding zero waste, such as climate change and resource depletion, while supporting youth to champion zero waste initiatives in their schools, homes, and communities. Learn more.                            

Symposium  

The Awaken and Change Symposium is a thought-provoking, challenging, and deeply moving multimedia presentation that features the combined wisdom of such international luminaries as Julia Butterfly Hill, Paul Hawken, Brian Swimme, Maude Barlowe, Van Jones, and Desmond Tutu. Through a powerful combination of rich audiovisual materials, cutting-edge information and personal reflection exercises, trained facilitators lead participants through an exploration of critical questions about our relationship with the planet.  Learn more.                                                           

Action Guide

The Be The Change Action Guide is your map to an exciting journey of personal choices, leading you to an empowered lifestyle and expanded worldview that will help sustain your health, your spirit, and the planet. It covers a full range of lifestyle choices and helps us become aware of how every single action we take either supports or undermines our vision for a sustainable, just and fulfilling future for all life. Learn more and get a copy.