The goal of Be The Change is to spark culture shift and alter North American habits of consumption. First we present the reasons for shifting our behavior, then we provide the means.

Be The Change begins with an interactive symposium that sketches out where we are ecologically, socially, and spiritually and the assumptions that got us into the climate crisis. Social change leaders like Desmond Tutu, Julia Butterfly Hill and Paul Hawken help point the way to our emerging future. The symposium is a reality check, but it returns us to hope and empowerment by setting the stage for a simple and radical solution: changing our lifestyles with the support of neighbours and friends.

Be The Change provides the tools people need to form Action Circles in their workplace, faith community, school or neighbourhood. Circles of 8-10 people use a Be The Change Facilitator’s Guide to move through weekly or bi-weekly meetings that include dialogue on readings from the Northwest Earth Institute. Circle members support each other in making lifestyle changes recommended in the Be The Change Participant’s Action Guide. The Action Guide correlates actions from the David Suzuki Foundation, Greenpeace Green Living Guide, and The Low Carbon Diet.

Be The Change Circle participants support each other in achieving the following goals:
1. Reduce transportation and energy use by 20%
2. Eat 20% more local, organic produce
3. Reduce meat consumption by 20%
4. Increase happiness quotient by 20%
5. Increase political engagement by 20%

With six symposia presented since March 29, 2008, Action Circles have begun to sprout from West Vancouver to Delta, reweaving community connections, and BTC Handbooks have been across Canada, to the USA, Australia and Britain.

Your donation will have a ripple effect, enabling us to bring symposia to dozens of schools, corporations, churches and other organizations in the coming year.

"Be The Change gives me hope... as we share stories of small steps taken and significant battles won, we begin to feel, within ourselves, a momentum for change. It's not hope that somebody, somewhere is doing something. I am doing something. These people with whom I meet regularly are doing something. This is hope-action. From the inside out we discover that we are the change we've been waiting for."
Bruce Sanguin, Circle Participant