The following newsletter has been reprinted here with the permission of the BC Hub, Seniors for Climate group.
Dear Climate Friends,
October 1st was Seniors Day in Canada and internationally. Seniors for Climate ran a national campaign to motivate seniors across the country to organize in their own locations and to speak up for climate action. The campaign achieved very positive results, and the BC campaign was outstanding. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard on the more than 60 BC events on or around October 1st during which seniors spoke up with a strong voice about the need for urgent and effective climate action.
The BC Hub Seniors for Climate along with three other community groups* organized and hosted a Vancouver event at Performance Works on Granville Island that drew nearly 300 participants. This was a great opportunity for people to come together, view locally made films with environmental themes, and engage in activities designed to build community and mobilize action. People left feeling energized and motivated to do more.
(*Climate Cohort of UBC Emeritus College, Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society, and GTEC)
Below is a map of our provincial actions, and a picture taken at the Vancouver event.
Across the country October 1st was a ringing success with numerous locations holding climate actions that were reported to the national Seniors for Climate map. Nation-wide, over 6,200 seniors participated. There were close to 300 media hits across Canada. The national Seniors for Climate (SFC) contact list has now ballooned to over 3,100 subscribers, and SFC is hoping to expand those numbers in the coming year. Please consider taking the SFC Climate Pledge now.
We see organizational collaboration as the wave of the future and we will continue to work to build this movement of concerned and motivated Seniors for Climate. The BC Hub consists of a small group of committed volunteers (Suzuki Elders and SPEC Elders), and we are planning to:
- Host a 2025 BC Map and a 2025 Calendar of Climate Actions,
- Provide Resources and FAQs for Seniors to support Climate Action.
We will be in touch again in the new year when we hope to share more ideas and resources with you.
If you have any questions or comments at this stage, we’d love to hear from you.
Thank you for caring!
BC Hub Seniors for Climate group
bc-hub@seniorsforclimate.org
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GTEC is at the forefront of solutions to the social and environmental challenges of our time. Our Climate Response Centre will be the Hub in our Community-based Collaborative Model. The Centre will be an interconnecting hub serving as a source of programming, consultation and support for community organizations in the effort of strengthening climate change resilience in communities.