Youth Climate Corps West Kootenay
What can our community do to respond to a changing climate? How is climate change impacting our health? Our food security? Our forests? How can we help?
To hear answers to these questions and more, join Wildsight’s Youth Climate Corps (YCC) on November 25th for the virtual event, Imagine Nelson: A Panel Discussion on Sustainability in the West Kootenay. Attendees will learn what a sustainable future could look like from multiple perspectives, how and why each field has a part to play, and consider how you can help make it a reality.
The event will run from 6 to 7:45 pm PST. It will begin with the panel discussion followed by time for audience questions. Panellists will discuss how climate change is impacting their respective fields, as well as what can be done to mitigate and adapt to these impacts. During the latter part of the evening, event participants will be supported to make a personalized action plan to take the steps necessary to advance the climate solutions proposed by the panellists.
Panellists include Dr. Andre Piver, a local physician; Ingrid Liepa, a policy and research consultant with a background in law; Jake Roos, the co-owner of Loki Tree Service with a background in forest management; Kim Watt, a permaculture specialist and owner of Thimble Hill Nursery; and Nicole Charlwood, a City of Nelson councillor with a background in economics.
Imagine Nelson is a community engagement project of the West Kootenay Crew of Wildsight’s Youth Climate Corps program. The event will be facilitated by crew members Kate Watt, Kenya Blouin, and Poppy Herbison.
“Climate change is so much more than just an environmental problem. It’s a crisis that spans across every discipline of life and work, which is why we think it’s important to discuss how everyone is being impacted” says Kate Watt, event co-organizer and YCC crew member. “This event is not only meant to identify what these problems and solutions look like at the local level, but also how community members can leverage their unique skill sets to implement action.”
The Youth Climate Corps empowers young people to inspire and implement solutions to the climate crisis through employment, training, and leadership development. Wildsight launched the program in September 2020 with the first crew based out of Nelson. At the end of this inaugural season, the program was recognized with one of the City of Nelson’s annual Sustainability Leadership Awards. In 2021, the program added a second crew in Kimberley/Cranbrook and aims to grow to more Columbia Basin communities over years to come.
Register for this free Zoom event today.
This event is made possible with funding from the Columbia Basin Trust.
