Be the Change is a non-profit society based in Vancouver, BC, formed in 2007. We offer Presentations and Symposia, Action Circles and Gatherings to inspire and support people in making sustainable lifestyle choices and re-creating healthy communities.

For more information on how you can get involved, visit our website or contact us at 604-269-9870.

> Futureworks
> Multifaith Action Society
> Vancouver School Board
> Great Northern Way Campus Masters of Digital Media Faculty
> UBC Community Support
> Capilano College
>...and many more!

Our ongoing work with the Multifaith Action Society has been an incredibly enriching experience, bringing the Awaken The Dreamer Symposium into dozens of gurdwaras, mosques, temples, churches and synagogues, activating people who are ready to make sustainable choices. We're getting disposables out of our sacred spaces! 

The MAS adventure peaked at our Sacred Earth Day Celebration at Canadian Memorial United where spiritual leaders Rev Bruce Sanguin, Rabbi Laura Kaplan, Imam Esmail  Al-Khaliq, Imam Hejazi, Acharya Shrinath Prasad Dwivedi and Aline LaFlamme led 300 people in a multi-faith ritual of song and prayer affirming our blessed connection to Earth.

Our spring Leadership Training with Jon Symes of The Pachamama Alliance trained another 30 facilitators to deliver the evocative ATD Symposium and help community form Action Circles to stay connected and engaged in the blessed unrest. To reserve your space in our next Leadership Training session, please contact us at admin@bethechangeearthalliance.org.

Our collaboration with What's Your Tree gave birth to a participant's handbook that includes the BTC Action Guide, and Regional Team Leader Kate Sutherland has launched several WYT-BTC circles in Metro Vancouver. If you would like to get involved in one of these circles, we invite you to contact Kate at kate@katersutherland.com!

Following the Spring Leadership Training, our first big grant cycle completed and our devoted team disbanded. That was hard. But we rallied to launch our first Donor Drive and were deeply touched by the generous response from our circle community. With these financial pledges and the strong support of Environment Canada, BC Hydro, Multifaith Action Society and EcoCanada we were able to launch our wonderful Student Initiative.

As we move into this season of giving, please consider making a donation to Be the Change. With your support, we can empower students to influence their peers, families and communities and become positive agents of change for a sustainable, just and meaningful future. Call us today at 604-269-9874 or click on the button below to donate quickly, easily, and securely through PayPal!

It was a hot summer as we doggedly confirmed high school collaborations and edited our new Be The Change Student Action Guide. Our first September presentation was at Kitsilano Secondary, where we trained 90 Grade nine students to form Action Circles and use the Student Action Guide. Then, on to John Oliver where 90 Grade ten students formed Action Circles.

Following that, the environmental clubs at St. Patrick's and Prince of Wales brought the program in. We even had UBC 3rd year Sociology-Consumerism students mentoring the high school Action Circles so we could get good feedback from a youth perspective. Their blogs are inspiring and testament to why circles really do work! check them out at bethechangecircles.wordpress.com!

Wow! Over 250 students have started making sustainable lifestyle choices! And guess who else they immediately get involved? Their parents! I think we've found the crack where the light gets in! The Action Circle experiential learning program is really bearing fruit now!

Moving into the new year, we are grateful for all the wonderful gifts and support from the community, including:

> 4 teachers at Vancouver Technical are welcoming the BTC Action Circle program into their Planning 10 classrooms. With their input we will create a strong Program Manual so that teachers across the Province and throughout Canada can easily integrate it into their curriculums!

> A student team from Capilano College has designed a new 'wireframe' to upgrade our website!

> Masters of Digital Media students at the Great Northern Way campus are going to design a brand new Action Tracker application for us, with the goal of making sustainable lifestyle choices easy and fun to track online!

Mark your calendars for March 26th & 27th, 2011 when THE GREAT TURNING will bring us together once again to dialogue on how we can best influence our community's critical issues. It was a dynamic process last year, with 30 NGOs and 300 participants fully engaged. This year the event will span two days. On day 1, we will explore sustainability issues together, and on day 2 we will develop Action Circle for future collaboration. The momentum of this evolutionary movement propels us ever onward!

Sophia's faculty of Wisdom is quickened in us now. Divine Wisdom empowers us to make wise choices. We are blessed with positive changes in all areas of our lives.

Sincerely,
Be the Change Earth Alliance