It was fantastic. It ran for 2 days from April 15-16. It was the first ever (but not the last). We had a booth there and we got to talk to great people for about 8 hours each day. We had 4 volunteers staffing the booth, Thanks! Amy, Brett, Greg, Phil. Next time we have a booth at a fair, you will want to come, hang out and have fun with us. And Welcome to our 8 new members who joined us because of the climate fair. We’re looking forward to more engagement, learning and action in 2023.

For those of you who did not have the opportunity to attend, here are some reflections from our volunteers.

Greg shared: “It was a great venue with exceptionally good organization and communication from Chilliwack Rotary. Chilliwack Rotary’s Robyn Curtis is the chair of their climate committee and she worked tirelessly to invite a wide variety of organizations, businesses, and experts to display, give talks and engage together. I found the experience tiring because of the long hours standing, but also invigorating because I was surrounded by people who want to give their time and energy to make the world a better place for others. Truly it was a great experience and I’m looking forward to participating next year. I loved connecting with people. I talked so much I almost lost my voice. There were dozens of valuable conversations where people really wanted to learn more and better understand how they can take action to fight climate change. It was time well spent.”

Phil shared: “What I learned from the Fair is that there are people in Chilliwack who are concerned about the environment. My favourite conversation was with an older guy probably over 60 who said he was reading Greta Thunberg’s book and he said he was doing many things in his personal life to combat climate change. I think our members will enjoy participating in an event like this because it gives them a chance to educate people about climate change and what they can do to fight against it.”

Amy shared: “I appreciated participating in the event because it was encouraging to meet others doing related work with similar passions and much more expertise. Sometimes it can feel like you’re all alone, or that not enough is being done, or that only certain types of people will care about these issues. But at this event, it seemed like all kinds of people were walking through the booths or listening to the presentations or standing behind booths. I hope the event grows so it can have an even greater impact on our communities and change makers.
It’s the first time a Climate Fair has been organized in the Valley, so it will take some time to build up, but it will also take people supporting, sharing, contributing, and strongly inviting our decision-makers to attend and learn from. Robyn from the Chilliwack Rotary has done an incredible job putting this together, but she will need community support to keep it going to the point that its reputation is defined enough to have sway in the long run.
I think it would be cool to prepare and offer a presentation about some of the work and resources offered by the FV Climate Action Team in order to share our strategy of change, the ways folks can get involved in their municipality, and basically share a good cohesive chunk of the resources you had prepared at the table.

I think it was a promising first start and I’m looking forward to what comes next.”

I echo what Amy said. After some rest and recovery I’m also looking forward to what comes next! This Chilliwack Climate Fair is the first climate fair in the Fraser Valley and it really helped our volunteer group (Fraser Valley Climate Action) to meet some of our goals including; educating individuals and businesses about climate change, encouraging individuals to take action to advocate for the fight against climate change, and being able to carefully listen and hear about the individuals and organizations who are already engaged and willing to take action to fight climate change in the Fraser Valley.

Rotary! Thank you. for the opportunity to attend.
Greg for Fraser Valley Climate Action.