BC bookstores come together to support conservation education for youth
How little gifts from the community strengthen our programs.
There’s nothing like a good book, right? As we have been spending more time learning on the land with youth, we came to realize we were shorthanded on a key resource – field guides!
Field guides, such as plant identification books, are important educational tools for place-based learning. Many of these guides, such as Pojar and MacKinnon’s Plants of Coastal British Columbia, are resources widely used by professionals, researchers, and naturalists alike.
Giving youth the opportunity to learn how to use these guides and explore ecosystems with them in hand is an integral part of being able to deliver quality conservation education programming.
We would like to sincerely thank the following bookstores that generously donated in response to our call:
These books will be used during educational activities for our Land Healing Stewards Initiative, a multi-year collaboration between the Forest Conservation and Salish Sea Emerging Stewards programs.
To help inform and shape our programming, pedagogical books, such as Renewal, provide important guidance on how to deliver meaningful and inclusive place-based learning activities. These books will also be available for reference during public events and forest walks as part of our continued efforts to advance environmental literacy throughout BC.
While donating a book or two may not seem like much, the combined efforts of these businesses gave us the ability to focus more of our funding on getting youth out on the land in immersive learning activities.
Our Forest Conservation Program Coordinator, Priya Puri, commented:
“As someone who never goes out into the field without my trusted field guides, I want to share my immense gratitude to the local businesses who are supporting the next generation of scientists and land stewards through these donations.
These books will be a part of creating coastal conservation education programming and will guide skill-building that youth participants will bring back to their communities, studies, and future professions.”
We’re always seeking new business collaborations and opportunities to feature BC products or services at our annual Raincoast Ocean Science Awards silent auction. If you’re a business owner or employee interested in supporting our programs or fundraising through in-kind donations, please contact our Development Director Lauren Duboisset-Broust at lauren [at] raincoast [dot] org.
