Climate for Change 2022 (Application)

Climate for Change 2022 will convene and (re)connect a diverse group of Indigenous, grassroots, and sectoral leaders from across Canada who are committed to going beyond incremental climate action and taking the bold steps needed to bring about a safe and just climate future. The aims for this re-energizing retreat and strategy space are to:

• Take stock of the Canadian climate movement and reflect on why efforts to overcome climate denialism – when our political leaders say there’s a climate emergency, but don’t act at the pace and scale demanded by climate science and justice- haven’t worked, and what we can do to change that.
• Establish and deepen relationships within and beyond the climate movement to build trust, enhance personal and collective capacities for transformative change, and broaden coalitions of support.
• Share strategy ideas, build skills, and exchange learnings for building and moving power, creating space for Indigenous leadership, and amplifying our collective efforts for advancing just transitions.
• Explore opportunities and cultivate practices for shifting mindsets that support reciprocal relationships with the land.
• Renew and strengthen commitments to working in a good way, while replenishing our energy and spirits in a spectacular West Coast setting.

Climate for Change 2022 offers five days of inspiring talks from movement leaders, structured group and breakout sessions, skills and capacity building, as well as unstructured time for socializing, rest, and community connection.

You can expect conversations around:

• Mapping the climate movement in order to understand our collective mandates, who’s in the movement and who’s missing, where power is situated, and frameworks in use.
• What’s working and what’s not working, and how we can go about changing the latter.
• Strategic levers for mobilizing power, including through climate policy, divestment, new forms of leadership and governance, grassroots campaigning, and more.
• What accountability, respect, reciprocity, and relationality look like in practice, and how a deeper understanding of Indigenous ways of being and knowing can be cultivated across the climate movement and beyond.
• How we can work across differences in a good way together and with the land.

Who should attend?

Self-identified climate activists, land defenders, and leaders working to move power within organizations and communities, who are:

• aware of the urgency and magnitude of the climate crisis and its intersections with colonialism and other systems of oppression;
• curious about the deep-rooted causes of what’s been keeping the climate movement stuck- and exploring opportunities for getting unstuck;
• comfortable using an equity-informed, anti-racist lens to work reciprocally and in a good way with Indigenous, Black, People of Colour, and other equity-denied identities, and;
• deeply committed to going beyond incrementalism, and meeting the climate emergency with bold action that accelerates just transitions and shifts for right relations.

Scholarships are available and prioritized for Indigenous applicants and grassroots organizers. Apply within your program application. If you prefer to have a conversation than complete the written form for your application, please contact us at [email protected]

Hollyhock is working to make sure our gatherings and events are accessible and valuable to diverse communities. We welcome and encourage applicants who will bring diversity to Climate for Change, including but not limited to diversity of gender, race, ability, sexual orientation, and class. We know that important, exciting, and innovative climate work is happening on the margins. At Climate for Change, we will hold up, support, and provide a platform for / share this work.

Schedule & Presenters

A detailed schedule will be available 1-2 weeks in advance of the program. View sample schedule here.

Terms & Conditions

You may find our terms & conditions here.

Health & Safety

Vaccination Requirements – All participants are required to be vaccinated to attend Climate for Change 2022. Please note that vaccination is not a requirement for employment at Hollyhock; staff vaccination rates reflect that of the general public.

Testing Protocol – Participants receive rapid test on arrival and self-test in their own space; they will report to a team member or front desk if positive. Tests are available at Front Desk at any time for any necessary follow-up testing.

Masks will be required in indoor spaces (except when eating/drinking); we will be offering sessions outdoors as much as possible.

Please contact us with any health-related concerns or exemptions.

Presented in Partnership with

Steering Committee

Anjali Appadurai spent her early career building a strong civil society voice at the UN Climate Convention, working with social movements from around the world to demand climate justice at a multilateral level. Today, Anjali is passionate about making the links between climate change and globalization, colonization, and economic inequality. She also works as Climate Justice Lead at Sierra Club BC, bringing an equity lens to the BC climate movement. Also a singer, songwriter and music producer, Anjali hopes to weave politics and art together to reflect the times we are living in and galvanize true collective action. Anjali recently founded a new project, the Padma Centre for Climate Justice, which seeks to build power within diasporic communities towards bold and transformative climate action.

Tzeporah Berman has been designing environmental advocacy campaigns and environmental policy for 30 years. She is an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Studies at York University, the International Program Director at Stand.Earth, the Chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, the co-founder of the Global Oil and Gas Network and the former co-director of Greenpeace International’s Climate and Energy Program. She has held appointed positions advising the British Columbia government on climate policy and was appointed by Alberta Government to Co-Chair the Oil Sands Advisory Working Group tasked with making recommendations to implement climate change and cumulative impact policies in the oilsands. Tzeporah has been listed as one of the 35 Most Influential Women in British Columbia by BC Business Magazine and awarded the YWCA Women of Distinction Award in British Columbia. In 2019 Tzeporah received the Climate Breakthrough Project Award and in 2013 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of British Columbia.

Jacob Crane (he/him) is a successful business owner and the new Just Transition Lead. He is frugal, smart, and talented with a passion to uplift Indigenous voices wherever he goes. Jacob is also a proud citizen of the Tsuut’ina Nation and is family oriented. He participates as a community leader in a variety of organizations that serve first-time Indigenous entrepreneurs, air quality, and health care for Native American populations. Jacob is proud to be serving in the nonprofit sector and looks forward to continuing to build lasting friendships all over Turtle Island.

Seth Klein is a public policy researcher and writer. He is the Team Lead and Director of Strategy with the Climate Emergency Unit. Prior to that, he served for 22 years as the founding director of the British Columbia office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), Canada’s foremost social justice think tank. He is the author of A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency. Seth is a columnist with Canada’s National Observer, an adjunct professor with Simon Fraser University’s Urban Studies program, and remains a research associate with the CCPA’s BC Office.

Amara Possian is a campaigner, educator, and facilitator who cut her teeth as an organizer in the youth climate movement. She’s a Professor in Seneca College’s Government Relations program and leads Canada campaigns at the global climate movement organization 350.org. She honed her campaigning craft over four years at Leadnow where she also managed the 2015 federal election campaign, Vote Together. In 2019, Amara managed Our Time, the youth-led campaign to elect Green New Deal champions to Parliament. She has worked in universities and non-profits, run for office, and built thriving organizations. An experienced designer and facilitator, she has trained and coached thousands of activists around the world. Amara is passionate about building political and grassroots leadership in order to tackle climate change, racism, and inequality.

Rebecca Sinclair (Merasty) is a nêhiyaw-iskwêw, wife and mother of three, she is originally from Barren Lands First Nation (Treaty 5) and a member of Little Saskatchewan First Nation. She moved to Winnipeg, a guest on Treaty One territory, to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental and Native Studies from the University of Manitoba. Rebecca holds multiple positions in land defence, cultural revitalization, research, and is a part of multiple boards. Actively reclaiming her native language, Rebecca pursues higher learning that comes from the land and through learning alongside knowledge keepers and Elders. Her childhood spent on the land in northern Manitoba, has shaped her understanding and guided her efforts to protect and preserve the great gifts of our sacred Earth.

and Tracey Maynard, Climate Emergency Unit.