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The Work Behind Membership & Gratitude Report on Your Impact via Sierra Club Canada · The Environment in Canada Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you're gonna be here, yeah, we want you to be here for the long run.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: We want you to be part of the family for the long run.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's seeing the cause through, it might not be easy, it might not be quick, but it's like you are committed to making a difference and it it really does matter.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: We have now distributed roughly 20 million native seeds, which has been supported by hundreds of volunteers.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And PEI alone, uh, Wild Child over the past year has had 711 participants, um, which represents over 17,000 hours outdoors.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the really great part about that is 40% of participant spots are free or subsidized.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's directly from our supporters.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: Wild Child also like offers programs specifically for, for instance, gender diverse youth, right?
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like there's does a lot of the work that they are doing is specifically often targeted at getting kids into nature who do not or might face barriers in actually getting out into nature.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: The other great news, of course, uh is 23 North Atlantic bright whale cats were born this spring, um, which is fantastic uh because we were working for two decades against offshore drilling uh in the Gulf of St.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Lawrence to protect the critical whale habitat.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's directly because of the support from our supporters.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like they enabled us to keep the battle going uh for two decades.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh 23 whale calves doesn't seem like a big deal, but there's actually only 380 North Atlantic right whales uh alive in the world.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: It really demonstrates that our work does take years sometimes.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and donor support is super important uh when environmental decisions, um, environmental issues are coming up, and we kind of need to be there on the ground in the moment.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: And a reliable monthly support.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, not to if we are an NGO, I have to do the pitch, right?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: Like the reliable monthly support that lets us do that work.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many similarities and like the issues that we're fighting for as well in terms of like pollution or climate erosion or as you said, democracy or social and environmental justice is like, okay, this is not like an isolated issue.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: How do we encourage them to take the next step?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: And say, okay, well, now I'm trained.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Not saying you need to lead an out with 500 people, but it could be you and like two other people.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: You want to take them on a trail and show them your favorite birds.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's something you can do to start building steps to gain more confidence and then lead.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: The happy part of it is that those are conversations I get to have, those are uh encouraging words I get to share with not only the outdoor leaders, but also members and also potentially new members or volunteers or someone that I've met at a farmer's market who's never heard of his favorite club candle before, that I get to quite honestly yap with for a good 15 minutes of the different buckets of work we get to do.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Companies will come in wanting to do polluting projects and they just want you to give up.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: They're gonna try to make things as hard as possible so that at some point you get worn out and you you give up.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_03: And so having a base of people who actually know what it's like to do those long-term um struggles and survive them and be able to commit to them is is super valuable.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of us.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: There, I would argue there are more of us who care and are turning that into action than there are people doing the opposite.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think it just we just need to be vocal.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to another episode of the Environment in Canada Podcast, a podcast about the environment in Canada by Sierra Club Canada.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Connor Curtis, Director of Communications with Sierra Club Canada, and today our podcast is with Chenil Callender, our grassroots engagement and membership coordinator, and Taylor Ferrugia, our development manager who handles our fundraising.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: And it's about the work that goes into reporting on the impact of the donations that you make to the club and the work that goes into coordinating membership at our organization, where we are member-based organization.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: Before we begin today, just a reminder that you can take action on environmental issues by visiting SierraClub.ca with tons of petitions, other actions and events, and regular news updates.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: You can sign up for on the homepage.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: And we recognize it's a difficult giving season, but if you are encouraged by this work and you've seen our new strategic plan or our gratitude report and you'd like to contribute to it, uh please consider a donation or even a monthly donation to help sustain this work regularly.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: There'll be a link in the description of the podcast to where you can donate.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_03: And you can become a member of Sea Club Canada by joining one of our local or nationwide youth chapters.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: You can also find Sea Club Canada on social media, including Gander Social, and you can listen to the Environment in Canada podcast on the Harbager Media Network, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: This podcast also airs on CKUT Broadcast Radio in Montreal, 90.3 FM bi-weekly on Tuesdays at 11 a.m.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: Eastern Time.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: Don't forget to click follow or subscribe to get the latest episodes from us.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_03: Taylor Chanel, thank you so much for joining me today.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having us, Connor.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for I'm excited to be here.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: For those tuning in, who are you and what do you do?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: I am the development manager at CR Club Canada.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I manage our fundraising efforts, uh, which involves reaching out to supporters, creating fundraising materials, and managing our database.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I am the grassroots engagement and membership coordinator.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: So all things membership in terms of your annual memberships, uh communications from memberships, um, events tailored to campaigns and stuff on the ground.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: That will be me.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_03: Taylor, you've just had a report come out uh and it's highlighting Sierra Club Cannon's work and impact uh over the last year.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: And Chanel, you've been working on numerous events for the club.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh tell me a little bit about the report and the events.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: What's been going on?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, so we just released our gratitude report.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I guess at the time of this recording, it came out uh just over a week ago publicly.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the report gives us a really great opportunity to look back at what this community has made possible over the past year.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it is partly about accountability, showing our donors, our members, our supporters what their support actually translates into.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but we deliberately call it a gratitude report because none of our work happens in isolation.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a good way to kind of say thank you and show people where they fit into the bigger picture.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, this year uh we kind of changed things up.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: We did it a little bit differently in terms of the structure.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: So usually we organize it um around our regional chapters, but this year was kind of neat uh because we organized it around um our strategic plan, the pillars of our new strategic plan that was also just released publicly.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, that was kind of a fun difference this year, and it was a great way to show um how our strategic plan has already been like starting to be put into action.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, that's the gratitude report in a nutshell.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's kind of great because we we had the gratitude report, which kind of looks back at the last several months, right?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: Of kind of implementing the new strategic plan.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then I think in the strategic plan itself, we have some examples of like the last, even like the last few weeks or last couple of months of of just what's happened in there as examples of of the continuing implementation of what's coming in in the future.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and on that note, in terms of implementation, uh Shanil, did those events and uh I think particularly you did had an outdoor leadership uh training event that sounds pretty interesting.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so this year uh I coordinated and we ran Sierra Club Canada's first outdoor leader training program, and that was really a fun experience.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: That was May this year, it feels honestly kind of like last year.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, we had 11 members completely training, and then since then it's been more of a role to encourage the members to kind of independently lead and organize outings on their own, which will take some support, but it's it's more about getting them outdoors, right?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that might look a little different.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: So there are some ideas percolating, some want to do like some cleanups, potentially some hikes during the fall.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there are no ideas for winter yet because I think everyone kind of wants to stay inside.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: But the idea is that the members will get uh their friends and just more members in their community to be outside with them.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so keep an eye out on some of those that might be happening mostly in Ontario for now, but we're hoping to expand that throughout the year as well.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and it's been great to see actually, you know, like we go to CierraClub.ca forward slash events, right?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_03: And like um, I I see I kind of like a full schedule actually going through September into October when we're chatting doing this interview.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and people should go check it out whenever you're you're listening to this, right?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: Tracking progress as an organization is obviously key to having good relationship with our donors, uh, Taylor.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: We are a member-based organization, so having opportunities for members is obviously key to making progress in the first place.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_03: There's also a real need in these times of disconnection to have places where people can connect with other people.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_03: I I know a lot of work goes into both tasks, but what are some of the aspects of your work you'd like to highlight and maybe some of the obstacles you face along the way?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, let's start with the obstacles.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think, you know, specifically for compiling the gratitude report and then also just us um as an environmental organization is how to actually measure impact.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh sometimes it can be straightforward.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like we can pull out exact numbers for, you know, how many native seeds have roughly been distributed through It Starts with a Seed, our program, or how many uh participants have we had over the past year in Wild Child, right?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like those are concrete numbers.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but a lot of our important work doesn't neatly fit into a statistic like that.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, for example, a court case, those can take years, as we well know.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can think of like our advocacy work, which we do quite a lot of.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that just means like putting an issue on the agenda rather than immediately changing a law.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when we think about coalition building and developing relationships, it's like, how do you actually meaningfully report on those kinds of things?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so from a donor perspective, that is my job is connecting those dots.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like people might make, you know, a$25 donation, a$50 donation, and they might not see all the things that kind of happen between the gift and the actual outcome.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but the gratitude report is one way we can close that loop and say, like, look at what we've been a part of, like, look at what you've been a part of and what you've helped us accomplish.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that is one challenge and obstacle.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And another one that we've definitely touched on before from a communications point of view is um what do we do?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: We do a lot as an organization.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: It can be really, really hard to surmise like all of our work into a neat little category.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not like we just fight court cases, um, or it's not like we just get kids outside and enjoying nature, right?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: We do a lot more than something that fits neatly.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that's why this report this year made me happy because it really worked out well with the new strategic plan.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: And with those pillars within it, it kind of establishes that common thread throughout our work.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: So when we talk about like cultivating hope and belonging, like that's a common thread throughout a lot of our different programs.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's not necessarily just tied into one regional chapter or one specific program.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so those would be my obstacles.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think like the inverse of that, I would say, is like, what a privilege to be able to do that.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like what a joy that I get to be creative and think about how to explain our work to someone who's maybe maybe never heard of us before, um, and how to kind of demonstrate that impact in a tangible way.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like it really does involve a lot of storytelling.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I love stories.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I love a good story.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so I kind of enjoy that part of my job, but I will admit it's definitely one of the trickier parts for sure.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: And and I I guess, yeah, that's something that comes up too.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: I I know in the strategic plan we we talk about our connection is our strength that uh we do fill a unique role in the larger environmental movement because we are a connector between issues, not necessarily like the experts in just one, right?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, we're not an environmental law firm, we're not, you know, an advocacy organization only on clean energy, right?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: Our job is actually more to look at like what are the connections between different people who are doing that work and people work our members are doing on the ground, and how do we bring it all together and connect it?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_03: So I I do imagine that leads to a bit of um a statistical issue because again, though those benefits are not necessarily like easy to write down, but maybe are there are there a few highlights from the report that you want to like highlight, like some some actual like stats or or outcomes?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think one program um that I really enjoyed learning about uh from Leslie Adams uh was our it starts with the seed program.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so since it's kind of conception, uh we have now distributed roughly 20 million native seeds, which has been supported by hundreds of volunteers.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think this program kind of particularly resonates with supporters because it really does demonstrate that seemingly small actions do add up to a big impact.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and 20 million, like that's awesome.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: That was pretty cool to learn.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm pretty proud of that to hear that from the organization.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then, yeah, Wild Child, of course, um, and PEI alone, uh, Wild Child over the past year has had 711 participants, um, which represents over 17,000 hours outdoors.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the really great part about that is 40% of participant spots are free or subsidized.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that's directly from our supporters, uh organizations and supporters supporting that program specifically, um, allows those spots to be free or subsidized, uh, which is really, really cool.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_03: Wild Child also like offers programs specifically for, for instance, gender diverse youth, right?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_03: Like there's a lot of the work that they are doing is specifically often targeted at getting kids into nature who do not or might face barriers in actually getting out into nature.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think Wild Child references resonates with a lot of people, um, specifically because like we talk a lot about like opposing harmful projects, which is super important in their advocacy work and our legal and our policy work, of course.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think it kind of gets to the heart of who we are, which is really helping people develop a relationship with nature.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: And because as we know, like as the science says, um, people protect what they care about.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that starts really early, right?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like if we can have those immersive experiences um in nature at a young age, then people grow up to realize like we kind of need this thing, this nature thing.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that can lead, you know, to future things down the road.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, Wild Child obviously is a really special program um at the heart of our organization.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: The other great news, of course, uh is 23 North Atlantic white whale calves were born this spring, um, which is fantastic uh because we were working for two decades against offshore drilling uh in the Gulf of St.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Lawrence to protect the critical whale habitat.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's directly because of the support from our supporters.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like they enabled us to keep the battle going uh for two decades.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh 23 whale calves doesn't seem like a big deal, but there's actually only 380 North Atlantic right whales uh alive in the world.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that number is actually quite statistically significant.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it yeah, just really demonstrates that our work does take years sometimes.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and donor support is super important uh when environmental decisions, um, environmental issues are coming up and we kind of need to be there on the ground in the moment.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: And a reliable monthly support.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, not to if we are an NGO, I have to do the pitch, right?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_03: Like the reliable monthly support that lets us do that work, right?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: No, but I I I really hear what you're saying, Taylor, on that it it can be a and we tend to be there for the long-term struggle.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's also something that maybe makes us unique in that we we we stay with issues for a long period of time rather than maybe like focusing only on what's present in the moment, it's it's long-term.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, when you talk with people when you're handing out wildflower seeds, I mean that's pollinator benefits for sure, right?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: But that's also um, you know, outreach, that's awareness, that's you know, a whole bunch of other spin-off benefits.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_03: On a note, Chanel, um, you know, I'm curious, you know, for your work, uh, what sort of work goes into what you're doing and what are some of the highlights and maybe some of the obstacles you face on the way.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think I'll mimic Taylor's strategy also start with the obstacles first and then wrap it up with like the kid and the highlights.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of the obstacles I find I face are recruitment, but also like retention in terms of membership.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's I wouldn't necessarily say it's easy to get someone in.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: They might say, Oh, this seems like a really good cause.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: I like the work Sierra Club Canada is doing.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there are different tiers of memberships, so I don't need to like feel like I am spending too much annually, so I can choose.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then they might say, Okay, well, I'm a member, but I haven't really done anything over the course of the membership.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I won't renew next year.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the difficulty is encouraging our members.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: As you said, a lot of the issues we're working on is aren't something aren't things that change overnight or over the course of one day or a week, or it is causes that takes sometimes years.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of also articulating that if you're gonna be here, yeah, we want you to be here for the long run.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: We want you to be part of the family for the long run.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's seeing the cause through, it might not be easy, it might not be quick, but it's like you are committed to making a difference, and it it really does matter.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Something that parallels that, that what I've been learning through the outdoor leadership program, which I'm super grateful for all of the participants and everyone who became like a leader, is that sometimes being a leader and like being trained doesn't automatically directly translate into immediate action.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: It might be okay, yeah, I did this training or um I participated in this workshop, and then that's it.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like, how do we get people motivated to go beyond that?
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: How do we encourage them to take the next step and say, okay, well, now I'm trained.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Not say you need to lead an out with 500 people, but it could be you and like two other people.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: You want to take them on a trail and show them your favorite birds, that's something you can do to start building steps to gain more confidence and then lead in terms of later action.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: And it's those like small steps towards building your confidence or towards working and towards like a longer issue that I think that I really want to hit home and I want to encourage uh members to look into.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a kind of an obstacle I think I would face.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: But part of it, or at least the happy part of it, is that those are conversations I get to have, those are uh encouraging words I get to share with not only the outdoor leaders, but also members and also potentially new members or volunteers or someone that I've met at a farmer's market who's never heard of Saver Club Canada before, that I get to quite honestly yap with for a get 15 minutes of the different buckets of work we get to do.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: So there are a lot of different things that can be obstacles in terms of like the technical side of stuff, making sure your membership renewal reminders are going out on time, making sure like the communications of um there's a campaign we're working on and we want you to join, or their webinars coming up.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: So that site also has its own obstacles as well.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: But overall, it's more of I'm just happy to have conversations with people who are not only interested but just want to learn more, but then also can be encouraging them to take a step further than they may have planned to or may have realized they wanted to take in the beginning.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, it's funny, we we actually just had another podcast with uh Pauline Thornham, uh, that Andre Miller, who's on our board of directors, had done Pauline's done work with the club for like a really long time in in Brampton, Ontario.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_03: And actually the the name of the podcast was like the virtue of stubbornness, which is something Pauline said, right?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, that that that you know it doesn't matter whether or not like I'm gonna do it anyway because it it's right, but also that sort of long-term thing that a lot of our members and our dedicated members do do in their communities where they they you know they go to the municipal meetings or they go to whatever level of government they're involved with, you know, they're going to like provincial federal meetings calling their MP, um, often pushing fights on things for like years, right?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: To to get results.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_03: And and those things do pay off.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, obviously we have our losses as well, but um, I think we see overall how often these things you know do pay off, and sometimes the the virtue is sticking around and and doing that.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm curious.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: I I think you you've had some events recently where maybe some younger people were showing up as well.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just wondering if it What sort of things maybe you've heard from them, or or what you know those new people you're interacting with are saying in terms of what concerns them, maybe.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Especially with youth, I think there are a lot of concerns.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like the primary ones is are there's this big environmental issue, or there's this climate issue.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: What can I realistically do about it?
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just one person.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, okay, yes, I understand that the issue is big.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I guess there's like a whole other conversation around like climate anxiety or eco anxiety or thinking a problem is too big for one person to solve.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: But most of the most of the conversations go towards, well, you don't need to figure it out alone, or the solution doesn't need to click overnight.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's connecting with people who are also passionate about the issue as well, and having those difficult conversations, okay, this is really bad.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Realistically, what tiny step can we take that might have a larger snowball effect?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, so that I think the youth is more concerned at first with oh my goodness, this is a really big, scary problem.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I I don't think there's something I can do, but there are there are there are different things you can definitely do.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I find I'm not sure exactly the number how many youth members we have, but I know like when the uh guarantee report would have come out, it would have had like 206 members, and I will say we're up to 212 today.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I that number might seem small, but I'm like looking at it, I'm like, okay, those are six new people that either someone talked to or they found us online or they listened to a podcast, or someone mentioned something, and they're like, okay, they're doing work that I'm actually interested in.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: If I can't do anything else, I'm at least gonna join this organization and we can figure out together, or maybe they might have resources that can point me in the direction that I might be able to help as well.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_03: And that's also 200 people again dedicated to that long-term impact making, right?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_03: Which is a lot different than, you know, I mean, like you can have 10,000 people and you know, they'll spend an hour doing something, and that's great.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: And that that helps, don't get me wrong, it's a different, I think it's a different approach maybe to membership in some ways.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: I think sometimes even if you have a smaller membership, those people, if they're really dedicated to actually like long-haul fights and making the difference over and you know, sticking with something, and um and also just so much on the side of, I mean, I deal again mostly in the climate and the pollution side of things.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so much of that is just like you know, companies will come in wanting to do polluting projects and they just want you to give up.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_03: They're gonna try to make things as hard as possible so that at some point you get worn out and you you give up.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_03: And so having a base of people who actually know what it's like to do those long-term um struggles and survive them and be able to commit to them is is super valuable.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: I just really love too how you're talking about like connections, right?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like that people feel alone until they're connected because it ties in so well with like what you're doing, Taylor, with the gratitude report and the new strategic plan, which is all about you know really centering our strength and making connections um as an organization, sort of what we do.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_03: You know, my my next question is what keeps you know you personally motivated in these times when we see more and more threats to nature, justice and democracy?
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_03: Is there something that you do that really you know keeps your sense of hope up and and allows you to continue doing your job?
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a great question.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and obviously, you know, like climate anxiety um and and burnout uh is a huge um yeah challenge uh when you work for an environmental organization and when you're a part of yeah, part of life really reading the news.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, uh like honestly, for me, it always does come down to like people and come down to community.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when I've been putting the gratitude report together, um, I'm talking to people, like I'm talking to our volunteers, I'm talking to our staff, hearing about the work they've been doing, hearing about how passionate they are about what they're doing.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's exactly what we've been kind of getting to is really like our connections.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Our connections are our strength, our connections to each other, our connections to the land that we're working to protect, our connections to our communities that we love and we want to protect.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: You kind of realize like how many people are actively working, how many people are putting enormous amounts of energy into making our world better.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I think it's hard.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like there are obviously like really huge um threats to nature of justice and democracy right now, and it is pretty easy to feel overwhelming.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, bad news makes the news, good news a lot less so.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I think like there are a lot of people out there who actively care and they are turning that care into action.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're not just passively watching the world burn.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of us.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: There, I would argue there are more of us who care and are turning that into action than there are people doing the opposite.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think it just we just need to be vocal, which we do.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: We just need to keep getting out there, we just need to keep talking about it, right?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like talking about climate change is the most important thing you can do about climate change.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: So many more people care than you realize.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: You just have to make those connections.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for me.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um what keeps me motivated?
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: To be honest, I feel like sometimes I need to fully unplug.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: And we have a sitting at home, get outside and touch the grass.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like when it gets very overwhelming, I quite literally need to go on a walk, or I need to go to the park, or I'm gonna drive to the beach, or I'm gonna sit by the lake.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: I need to just be in like a green space, nature, just to collect my thoughts.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, this is a part of the landscape that has been here for a really long time, and my role or my purpose, or like my drive is to make sure that it is here for a long time after I'm gone as well.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's just recentering myself by just having like a day with just a quiet the noise and the bad news, as Taylor would say, um, just to really refocus on like, okay, this is my white, this is what I am fighting for, this is what I'm trying to protect and defend.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'm able to have those conversations with people, but I'm able to realize, okay, there's a lot of noise coming in, there are a lot of different issues that are all important, but it can sometimes be, well, how am I gonna do this from where I am, or how am I gonna do that?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, one step at a time, one day at a time.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: I've had my lovely walk in the park.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go come back home and I'm like, okay, now I get to do one task at a time from where I'm I'm stationed, and then that really helps me to keep going.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: And also sometimes talking, yes, to people as well, but to family who are in a completely different geographical landscape to where I am.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like there's so many similarities in like the issues that we're fighting for as well, in terms of like pollution or climate erosion, or as you said, democracy or social and environmental justice is like, okay, this is not like an isolated issue.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: We can, it's something that I'm experiencing here in Atlantic Canada.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: My family is experiencing back at home as well in Barbados.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, okay, there's a lot of stuff we can work on different angles.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it's okay, I can do this for myself, I can do this for my family, can do this for friends, and for the larger part of it for the community as well.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_03: I think this is something interesting that came up, came up last year.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_03: We did a bit of internal polling just to see, you know, what was important to to our supporters and you know, like social justice and uh you know, environmental justice and climate change and biodiversity and democracy and sovereignty.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: People cared about all of these things, right?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like very highly, right?
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: There was it was a large portion of our base cared about all of this stuff.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_03: And and getting outdoors as well was was super important clearly to our base.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that does speak to the fact that, yeah, just as a as an organization, right?
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like people here seem to, and people our supporters seem to understand the the connections between these these different issues.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I really like that also idea of the fact of just disconnecting completely.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's hopefully something.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if are we going to have events that are just about that as well?
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think people are familiar with protests.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_03: We do do a lot of like protest activities, that side of things.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_03: Are we also planning things to help people just disconnect?
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's definitely part of the plan.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: There are definitely stuff in the works.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: I want to say they're 100% confirmed yet, but they do want to be able to offer just moments for our members, and not even only our members, like volunteers, like anyone who's been in receiving our newsletter, friends, family, to just spend some time outside and disconnect, just really immerse yourself in the community, listen to the birds, touch the grass, hug a tree, not quite literally, but um we're definitely planning those events, and I'm hoping that either in the fall at least we can have some running.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: I know it's fall now, but uh yeah, so that's the plan.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, how can people find out more?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: Check out the website searclub.ca.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you can read the full gratitude report there.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: It'll probably be linked, I'm assuming, within this podcast.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and sign up for the email list as well.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really great way to stay involved um and keep tabs on what we have going on.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you're following us on social media.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's our Instagram, Facebook, I think is it Gander Social as well?
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, Canadian social media app.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_03: We've we've sort of been an early adopter of it.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_03: I I am trying to I I think it would be nice to see more people switch over there because it's unfortunate that we do need to uh and you know, some people are going to be watching this on like Facebook and stuff, and you know, like fair enough.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_03: It's unfortunate, like especially in rural Canada, it's like uh an app people use, right?
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_03: So you kind of have to be there, but it it would be great to see more people switch over to alternative apps, perhaps, so that that way, you know, the our our means of contacting then becomes a lot easier, right?
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_03: While still getting out there to people who are beyond the normal bubble of our supporters, maybe, or um, you know, the people we really need to reach, right?
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so yeah, no gander social as well.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_03: If I'm not mistaken, membership at SierraClub.ca, email for membership and development at Sierra Club.ca, email for things like fundraising or donations, inquiries, things like that.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_03: If people want to contact Eva Review to like chat about some of this.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, feel free to send an email anytime.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's me behind there.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I will see it and I will respond in due time.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it takes a few business days.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but yeah, development at Sierra Club.ca.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to chat.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: Same goes for membership at Sierra Club.ca.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's also me behind there.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm also happy to chat.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: You can ask me anything or any queries you have, regarding membership or potential new membership.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just shoot me an email.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe for people who are in the mid spot of like being a supporter, but they're not quite ready to be a member.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_03: I think there's also volunteer at Sierra Club.ca, and we have a volunteer coordinator uh as well now kind of working on that.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: So if people want to reach out, I understand that's the best way to do that.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so volunteer at Sierra Club.ca, that's gonna be up and running.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's up and running now.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: You can definitely send an email too.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: But our volunteer coordinator starts this week.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna ease her into the role.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but super excited.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're interested in volunteering or you just have questions about what other volunteering opportunities we have at Sierra Club Canada, feel free to email.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_03: Perfect.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you both.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_03: And Sierra Club.ca forward slash events.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry, it's like the URL now, like a million times.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so yeah, and and then of course, uh, thank you both so much for joining today.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_03: I really appreciate it.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Connor.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: You thanks for being here.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_03: And once again, a reminder before we end today, you can take action on environmental issues by visiting SierraClub.ca.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_03: We have tons of petitions, other actions and events, and regular news updates you can sign up for on the homepage.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: If you can give this giving season, again, there's some links in the description to how you can do that and how you can become a member of Sierra Club Canada.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: You can also find Sierra Club Canada on social media and you can listen to the Environment in Canada podcast on the Harbinger Media Network, Spotify, and Podcasts, our radio and YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_03: This podcast also aids on CKUT Broadcast Radio in Montreal 90.3 FM bi-weekly on Tuesdays at 11 a.m.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_03: Eastern time.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_03: Don't forget to click follow or subscribe to get the latest episodes from us.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_03: And thank you once again for everything you do to help us make this work possible.