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’s Youth Blog Series highlights blogs written by university student interns at Be the Change Earth Alliance. In the blogs, the interns reflect on their experience completing “Action Packs,” which are learning resources that guide students in research, critical thinking and tangible action related to a global sustainability topic.
Action Pack Summary
Connecting one’s inner self with the outer world is crucial for a meaningful life. Doing so can ignite passion, foster perseverance, and lead to a happier and more fulfilled individual, community and society. Yet, traditional education curricula can often skirt around the “inner self”, that when employed, encourages an individual to think beyond their material needs and view themselves as part of an interconnected human and natural community (part of a bigger picture).
The Big Picture Action Pack, part of BTCEA’s Connection module, guides students on an exploration of their deeper self, compassion, self-actualization, meaningful work and their role in the creation of a happier, more sustainable future. Drawing on a myriad of sources, including psychologists and neuroscientists, this Action Pack encourages learners to explore how individuals obtain happiness or fulfillment, what steps they can personally take towards this goal, and how doing so would lead to impact at various levels: the personal, environmental, social and economical. The Action Pack also teaches students about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a theory in physcology about the different levels of human needs, ranging from having enough to eat to feeling a sense of belonging.
This Action Pack encourages students to acknowledge that they are part of a global community, and how their personal process of self-actualization can contribute to the self-actualization of others. By connecting with the deeper self of a learner, this Action Pack is designed to foster transformational change and deep-rooted engagement.
My Reflections
After completing this Action Pack, I signed the Charter for Compassion, which is a document that urges people of the world to embrace core values of compassion. I also wrote down five ways I would like to fulfill my needs. I really liked this process. It would be hard for me to just sit and do this because I would think it would take a lot of time and effort. When it is embedded within Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs however, it was easy to understand what to do. The article in the library of links really helped. I am glad that this was part of the Action Pack, it encouraged me to understand what I look for when finding meaning in life. It helped me align my goals with my core values.
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.
