October 24 is the International Day of Climate Action. Our team is using this day to reflect on the urgent action needed to protect our planet. 

With the official number of species at risk of extinction in B.C. at an all-time high, B.C’s ecosystems are under pressure. The urgency to protect them has never been greater. 

Earlier this year, Be the Change Group brought together several organizations to explore one question: What do B.C.’s ecosystems actually need right now? 

Joining us at our 1% for the Planet gathering were representatives spanning land, ocean, and wildlife conservation, including Allison Colina from the Pacific Salmon Foundation, Jason Emery from the Nature Trust of BC, and Scott Bohachyk from Ocean Wise. 

One theme kept rising to the surface: collaboration. In a time when everything feels fragmented and overwhelming, it might be exactly what nature, and all of us, need the most. 

Here’s what came out of the conversation.

We live in an era of endless noise.

Generation by generation, we have become further removed from nature. Our connection to nature has declined by more than 60% over the past 200 years. Researchers call this the “extinction of experience”, defined as the progressive loss of human interactions with nature. 

Admittedly, it’s challenging for us to prioritize the environment when we’re being inundated with other challenges. We live in an era of endless noise; economic anxiety, political uncertainty, and constant information pull us in all different directions. Scroll for ten minutes, and you will be flooded with more information than you can process. 

Jason acknowledged, “With the media that’s out there right now, it’s hard to have hope at any given moment when you turn on the news.”

It’s a lot to take in. And when everything feels urgent, we have a tendency to look away.

The problem is, nature can’t afford for us to look away any longer. 

B.C. is extraordinary, and it needs our help.

Ask anyone what makes B.C. special, and the answer comes fast: the mountains, the ocean, the forests, the wildlife. 

These aspects of B.C.’s natural environment are what make unforgettable moments possible. 

Allison describes watching salmon return to the river, saying “it’s really hard to forget that amazing experience”. These kinds of experiences are worth protecting, for us and for future generations. 

Without taking meaningful environmental action, we will lose everything that makes nature in B.C. special. Over two-thirds of Pacific salmon populations in BC are in decline. Ocean pollution and microplastics are accumulating in the same waters we fish and swim in. The ecosystems that make this place extraordinary are shifting faster than most of us realize.

Salmon have already got it figured out.

If one species in B.C. understands collaboration better than anyone, it’s salmon.

In its simplest form, the salmon life cycle is this: hatch, migrate, spawn, die. Born in freshwater rivers, they make their way downstream through estuaries and out into the vast open ocean, spending years at sea before returning home. That journey plays a key role in bringing nutrients from the ocean back into rivers and the wider wildlife community. 

Salmon don’t make that journey alone. Research suggests that salmon in an upriver make decisions collectively, and they are more likely to get lost when they’re by themselves. They navigate better, make smarter decisions, and find their way home more successfully when they are together. 

“Salmon are a connector,” said Allison Colina. “They connect land to rivers to oceans. And because of their incredible migration, they force us to collaborate.”

This kind of collective behaviour is exactly what makes ecosystems resilient. Groups that move and make decisions together are stable, coordinated, and more capable of responding to change than any individual alone.

Collaboration is the strategy.

“It’s a people problem, not a salmon problem,” says Allison. 

In environmental conservation, when organizations pursue competing agendas or leave communities out of decision-making, ecosystems are left worse off. Nature is interconnected, and conservation efforts have to be too. 

That’s what became clear at our 1% for the Planet gathering. Three different organizations participated and agreed on one shared belief: the only way forward is together. 

The river needs the coast. The coast needs the land. The land needs its people. You can’t save one without the others.

“Building communities to protect and restore our ocean” is how Scott Bohachyk from Ocean Wise describes it. We need to move the conversation from the problem to the people building the solution. That starts with listening to the people who know these places best. Indigenous communities across B.C. have held knowledge of these ecosystems for thousands of years.

“We are involving the communities. We are all working together on the same boat. We’re collecting the data together. It’s meaningful work,” said Jason Emery.

This place is worth showing up for.

Start by noticing. Step outside, look around, and remember that this place is yours too. Not only to enjoy, but to care for.

When you look after nature, it will return the favour. Time outside reduces stress, clears your head, and strengthens the relationship to the world around you. 

“Start getting an understanding of this place-based ecosystem that provides so much value to all of us,” says Scott Bohachysyk. 

“If you give nature a chance, it’s really strong, and it comes back,” said Jason Emery. “We’ve seen some amazing bounce-backs in places where you would never have thought that would occur.”

Take action and learn about the ecosystems around you. Support the communities and organizations protecting them. And spread the word to the people around you. Change doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens when people feel connected enough to care and empowered enough to act.

Nature doesn’t work in silos. Neither should we.