“The resources that came from Be the Change Earth Alliance and their Student Leadership for Change (SLC) program offered a wide variety of activities. In our class, we worked with the topics of Acidic Oceans, Saving Water, Ocean Wise, Water Privatization and Oil during our Water Systems unit, and GMO’s, Organics, and Health during our “Body Systems unit” […]Students became more aware of the school environment and took more initiative to take care of it (picking up garbage, recycling, taking better care of school resources like textbooks and PE equipment, etc).”

“We applied for the Be the Change Earth Alliance Student Leadership in Sustainability Curriculum. This topic was chosen because it is a Social Justice class that is relatively new to the school – students are interested in these topics but want to choose research that is meaningful to them.”

“Overall I believe the project was interesting and motivated many students to look at their own sustainability habits and decisions. It was also very helpful to have the direct support from BTCEA via phone, e-mail or workshops […] Prepping this unit was only possible due to the SLC curriculum prepared by the Be the Change Earth Alliance, and we found the way the materials were organized work well. We plan to repeat this process with another group of grade ten’s at the end of our last term this year.”

“I plan to access the SLC program again. We also plan to continue our work with the waste audit and hope to change our school and community’s approach to waste management so that it is more in line with the sustainable practices and principles emphasized by the Vancouver School Board.  On a personal level, these projects have transformed my teaching.  Collaborative inquiry is a powerful agent of change and observing the impact these SLC projects have had on my students has inspired me to seek new ways to incorporate this learning modality into my classroom much more often.“

“This year I was sampling the new BC Science 9 Curriculum and an inquiry project on sustainability fit perfectly […] I used resources from Be The Change Earth Alliance to have my students complete a variety of inquiry projects on different sustainability topics […] The overarching questions were as follows: “How can I value the Earth’s limited natural resources in my every day choices?” or “How does a “disposable” mentality affect global sustainability? Is “more” better?”

“This year’s goal was to give students an opportunity to research a sustainability topic of interest using on-line resources by BTCEA and then develop their own plan for changing an action, habit or attitude related to their topic […] Overall I believe the project was interesting and motivated many students to look at their own sustainability habits and decisions. It was also very helpful to have the direct support from BTCEA via phone, e-mail or workshops.”

“My teaching practice has blossomed through the teaching of this course. I have seen pride and joy in my students and they are learning to deal with and work through failures and make connections to their food and the local community.”

“We received an Inquiry Grant and at the heart of it, our question was “What can I do to help improve my environment?” We undertook an in-depth study about the environment. First, we worked as a whole class on the topic of transportation. Second, students chose various topics for study. We used various sources with the primary source being the bethechangeearthalliance.org website”

I am new at the school and worked with a group of students I have not worked with before (Grade 11 Leadership students). The students were incredibly engaged with the inquiry and the resources we used (SLC Action Packs). The most important observation I made from the overall experience was the empowerment the students felt after finishing the projects. Because the students were required to take actions and because the actions were “doable” students felt like they were actually making a difference. The students commented several times on how surprised they were at the impact the small actions made in their own lives and in the lives of their family, friends, neighbourhood, and community.

“Be The Change Earth Alliance introduced us to the zero waste program […] We learned to properly recycle, compost, and throw away our garbage wisely, so that very little goes into the landfill […] with the resources provided by BTCEA, we are inspired to keep the project going in the following year”