Stories & Updates

Transforming the SLC Database Towards Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

This summer, our team of five program assistants at Be the Change Earth Alliance (BTCEA) were tasked with Student Leadership for Change (SLC) revisions. We wanted these lessons to match our important values of justice, anti-racism, anti-oppression, and diversity.

As we looked through the lesson plans, we noticed some things that didn't feel right. For example, some resources in the lesson plans spoke about BIPOC communities from a white person’s perspective, instead of someone in that community. Some lesson plan’s only included BIPOC perspectives 3-4 pages into the workbook, positioning them as something of an after note. We also identified some outdated language, and had critiques around the general structure of some of the lesson plans, feeling they could be more oriented around anti-oppression and anti-racism than they currently are. We wanted to change this and make sure the lessons respect and centre the perspectives of the people they talk about. Social justice and environmental justice are intrinsically linked. We understood that the content we offer to educators must not only empower students but also emphasize that climate and environmental justice must include all other fights for justice.

Exploring Climate Joy in Activism

Being engaged in climate action can sometimes feel like a never ending doom scrolling cycle, characterized by images of fire, floods, and destruction. Moments of righteous anger can translate into action, but the overwhelming and emotionally draining nature of the climate crisis often makes that action unsustainable. This burnout can especially be seen among youth organizers, teenagers who should be in one of the most carefree periods of their lives. Climate change’s mind boggling scale, rapid timeline, and existential consequences is understandably difficult to process.

The Power of Maps: GIS in Environmental Education

What is GIS?

A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer-based tool used to analyze and visualize data that contains location information, known as geographic or geospatial data. For example, global population data is connected to a location so it could be visualized in a GIS by creating a map. One of the key strengths of maps is their ability to summarize and display a large amount of geographic data in a visually-appealing way, which makes it much easier to identify any patterns and trends in the data.

GIS has numerous applications in fields that involve environmental work, from natural resource management and conservation to climate change analysis. Many complex environmental problems require a data-informed approach, where GIS can play an important role in finding spatial relationships and visually presenting these results. However, it’s important to note that GIS is only a tool designed for a specific type of data. While GIS and maps are ideal at handling geographic data, alternative tools like spreadsheets and graphs may be much better suited to other types of data like numerical data.

Combating the urban heat island impact through community engagement

About the UHI

Urban areas create novel conditions for humans and wildlife by modifying the local climate; one example that is becoming more prominent is the Urban Heat Island (UHI) Effect, as we saw in the 2021 heat domes in BC. The UHI effect occurs in cities as buildings and paved surfaces trap heat more effectively than natural landscapes. Moreover, cities produce their own heat from sources such as vehicles (Urban Heat Island Effect, n.d.). The heat stress exacerbated by climate change and the UHI effect poses a risk to public health with higher mortality rates, heat strokes, dehydration, labor and learning productivity loss (Hsu et al., 2021).

June 2023 Newsletter - Summer Newsletter: School’s Out!

Hello

Summer is a season for relaxation, joy, and contemplation. It is a season for feeling our bodies in the warm sun and cool water and taking time to recharge and reconnect with our families, the natural world, and ourselves. It is a time for harvesting our gardens, both literally and figuratively.

April 2023 Newsletter - Spring Newsletter: Nurturing Impact and New Growth

Hello,

Spring is a time when living systems begin their cyclical transition from wintering rest, back into a state of new growth. Together, the members of ecosystemic communities co-participate in bloom, regeneration, renewal and synergistic relationships. These relationships allow collective emergence and wellbeing.

February 2023 Newsletter - Winter Newsletter: What can we learn from winter?

Hello,

What can we learn from winter? Tuning into the intelligence of the natural world through listening to how it moves, adapts and expresses itself is one-way to live a more life-attuned life and tap into the wisdom of billions of years of evolution. 

Imagine the power of education, when we foster a deep awareness of the wisdom of the natural world and facilitate a deeply embodied connection to that wisdom by helping our students see and feel the patterns of nature alive in their being. 

December 2022 Newsletter - End-of-year newsletter: Our story of hope through action

Hello,

In our final newsletter of the year, we wanted to start off by giving a heartfelt THANK YOU to you for being a supportive member and participant in our community! Our teachers, supporters, volunteers, members and donors are the reason we have had such a successful year. I want to offer gratitude for those who donated in our Giving Tuesday campaign – we raised over $15,000 to go towards educating and empowering 10,000 students on climate change over the next year! 

Below, we highlight a story of one of our most impactful programs! Enjoy! 

 

Oct 2022 Newsletter - Fall Newsletter: It’s our birthday!

Hello,

Today marks our 17th year of bringing transformative, eco-social learning to youth and community members across BC. Thank you for being here with us, on a shared journey of realizing education truly transformative and regenerative for people, communities, ecology and climate!

As the Fall season sets in, it offers us an opportunity to reflect on how the seasonal rhythms of our Earth show their essence in the rhythms of our own lives. For many, the Fall time of year is for new beginnings - another school year, another chapter. In this sense, it may feel more closely like Spring, as we grow new shoots, embrace new opportunity, new potential, new possibility and begin to pick up momentum. We can experience the essences of seasons and cycles in our day, our week, our month, a lifetime. 

In the seasonal cycle, Fall is a time for harvest after a long summer season of mature growth. In our lives, times of Fall are when we celebrate and harvest the gifts of our efforts, commitments and projects. Fall is when we begin to slow down into reflection, enjoy the fruits of our labour and to shed, digest and recycle what is not needed so we have the space and nutrients for our next Spring cycle.