As the season shifts to winter, we hope you find time for rest and for joy and connection with the natural world and others. We need to start the new year refreshed for the work that is necessary to create a resilient and just world for all beings. As they say, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
For those new to this list, welcome to our monthly newsletter. Read on for news from the West Kootenay Climate Hub and our partner organizations. We start with an event that we are hosting next week. Hope you can join us!
En-ROADS: Climate Solutions Workshop
Tuesday December 6, 3:30-5 pm PT on Zoom (link provide after registering)
Join us for an interactive workshop exploring strategies to address climate change using the powerful climate simulator En-ROADS.
What can we do about the climate crisis? Should we plant a tree, buy a Tesla, or go vegan? En-ROADS is a scientific model with a simple, interactive interface that lets us answer these questions.
Our FREE workshop will explore how our climate, energy and land systems are interconnected, as are climate solutions. We will look at equity considerations and impacts on health and well being. Most importantly, we want you to take what you learn into your spheres of influence to accelerate climate action.
Register Here
Note: a minimum number of participants are needed to run this workshop. Please register by Sunday evening.
TEDx Climate Countdown Recordings
We are so grateful to the many presenters who contributed to the success of our third annual TEDxSelkirkCollege Countdown event that we organized with Sustainable Selkirk. The talks covered a wide variety of topics on local initiatives related in some way to climate change.
Big thanks also to Selkirk students Marie-Luise Flury and Tia Currie, who co-hosted the live event and student musician Sapphire Guthrie, who opened and closed the session.
If you missed it or want to rewatch individual talks, you can view them here:
https://vimeo.com/showcase/9978398
West Kootenay Cycling Coalition AGM
Sunday, December 18th 10 am to noon
Meeting room upstairs in the Nelson Visitor Centre
Join our Annual General Meeting for a review of our year, elect (or re-elect) board members and share in some Christmas cheer. After the AGM, please join our Santa Bicycle Ride.
Dust off your Santa suit, put Christmas lights on your bike and join Nelson's 2nd Annual Santa Bicycle Ride — a brewery tour and a fundraiser for Our Daily Bread.
$20 dollar suggested donation although donations are not necessary to participate. Only give what you can afford. Children are welcome on the ride but, please note that we will be visiting breweries along the way. Bring extra cash for beer tasting and food.
Prizes for best costume and best bike lights. (Santa, elf, reindeer or grinch costumes all welcome) Prizes include tickets to Capitol Theatre!
More details on our West Kootenay Cycling Coalition Facebook event page.
2023 Nelson Polar Bear Swim
Sunday, January 1, 2023 at noon, Lakeside Park in Nelson
The countdown has begun!
Kootenay Co-op Radio and Friends of Kootenay Lake Stewardship Society are thrilled to announce that the 2023 Nelson Polar Bear Swim will take place on New Year's Day.
Join in on this fun and important event that raises money to improve the health of Kootenay Lake and powers your local radio station.
For more information and to sign up visit https://nelsonpolarbearswim.com/
2023 Kootenay Lake Summit Survey
Friends of Kootenay Lake Stewardship Society (FoKLSS) is planning their 2023 Kootenay Lake Summit, an event that gives you the opportunity to learn from knowledgeable individuals about Kootenay Lake, the issues it faces, and steps forward to creating a healthy lake for future generations.
FoKLSS is asking YOU to help them plan for this event. Fill out the survey below to help them decide what structure and topics they should choose.
Click here for the Survey.
Rossland Refactory Fundraiser
February 18, 7-11pm, Rossland Miners' Hall (1765 Columbia Avenue)
The Kootenay Outdoor and Environmental Learning Society invites you to learn about how to adapt to unique wildfire risks like flying bark embers and take mitigation measures as a community, for example, developing modular systems for plastics recycling and food production.
Craig DeLong, a forest ecologist who heads up a project examining the forest drought impacts of climate change and leads a project making products from local plastics, will talk about these subjects and more. Following the talk, you can see what products the Rossland Refactory are making these days, listen to live music, and dance the night away. Beer and wine will be available. Join us at the Rossland Miners Hall for the event.
For more information about the in-person event, click here.
Can’t make it to the event but want to hear the talk by Zoom, register here,
(Check back at these sites for more information closer to the event.)
Deb Wandler with IRIS seniors. Photo: Sandi McCreight
Discussing the Climate Crisis with Castlegar Seniors
I (Laura) was honoured to be invited to participate in a Lunch & Learn about the climate crisis with Castlegar seniors’ IRIS program. We wove Deb Wandler's personal story and some poetry with my slides about the root causes of the climate crisis, climate solutions, and obstacles to change. Carol Andrews joined us to talk about Columbia Basin Trust’s Climate Resilience Program and also about her recent training as a Forest therapy guide. Participants enjoyed plenty of opportunities for small group discussions and sharing their own stories. It was a remarkably positive and engaging event.
For an inspiring read, here’s Deb’s article, Let’s Talk: Recovering From Feelings Of Helplessness In The Time Of Climate Crisis.
Lastly, here’s the recording from a recent Climate Caucus webinar that has a lot of great info on ways to increase local climate action. They also created this Google doc with resources mentioned.
Watch in the new year for networking opportunities and our new webinar series. Please do reach out if you want to get involved in an initiative in your community or attend one of our monthly meetings.
Wishing you a peaceful and meaningful holiday season.
Laura and Judy
West Kootenay Climate Hub
We gratefully acknowledge that we live, work, and play on the traditional and unceded territories of the Sinixt, the Ktunaxa, the Syilx peoples.
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