Take A Stand: Youth For Conservation

The Take a Stand program was developed to share and treasure the natural beauty of British Columbia with our youth, including our urban-nature areas, and our unique coastal wilderness, home to rich First Nations cultures, diverse and productive oceans, and an expansive intact temperate rainforest. This outreach program is specifically geared towards helping secondary school educators meet environmentally-oriented prescribed learning objectives (PLOs) in science, social studies, and fine arts in grades 8 – 12. This program was developed in response to the urgent need to protect our unique coastal wilderness, home to rich First Nations cultures, diverse and productive oceans, and the largest remaining temperate rainforest. To achieve our objectives, our group at the Centre for Coastal Science and Management at Simon Fraser University (SFU) has partnered with the creators of STAND (www.standfilm.com), an award-winning documentary film that uses surfing and stand up paddleboarding to showcase the ecological, cultural, and aesthetic value of the West Coast. Through school visits centred around STAND screenings, discussions with filmmakers, and interactive activities, we aim to foster environmental stewardship in youth across the province and empower students to become agents of effective social and environmental change in their communities.