What is a Symposium?

Are you concerned about the environment and social justice?
Are you ready for a meaningful and life changing experience?
Do you want some support and tools to take action in this growing movement for change?

Then come and experience the Awaken The Dreamer – Be The Change Symposium!

What Is It?

Building on the foundations of the Pachamama Alliance's Awakening The Dreamer Initiative, the ATD-BTC Symposium is a thought-provoking, challenging, and deeply moving multimedia presentation that features the combined wisdom of such international luminaries as Julia Butterfly Hill, Paul Hawken, Brian Swimme, Maude Barlowe, Van Jones and Desmond Tutu. Through a powerful combination of rich audiovisual materials, cutting-edge information and guided personal reflection exercises, trained facilitators lead participants through an exploration of four critical questions about our relationship with the planet:

Where are we? – Examining the current social and environmental realities of the world;
How did we get here? – Identifying and addressing the root cause of our current imbalances;
What’s possible for the future? – Discovering new ways of relating to one another and the Earth in this emerging movement for change;
Where do we go from here? – Understanding the impact of our personal and collective actions, and, ultimately, how we can be the change we want to see in the world.

The Symposium concludes with an opportunity to transform your passion into action through a Be The Change Action Circle – a small group of dedicated individuals who convene regularly to explore social and environmental issues, share their collective wisdom and experience, and support and inspire one another in affecting change on both a personal and planetary scale.

At the Symposium, you will:

Understand the inaccurate assumptions of the industrial-growth society that has contributed to the current situation of species extinction, climate change, and economic instability.
Explore ways of shifting lifestyle habits, increasing community resilience and creating plans of action with a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the natural world.
Receive tools for community outreach, education and creating shared vision.
Become part of a rapidly growing, positive, inspirational, global movement for change

Why Participate?

We believe that, in order to address the critical concerns of our times, there is an urgent need for each of us to examine our values within like-minded communities of compassionate care and support. The symposium does just that – it has been designed from the ground-up to inspire, connect, inform, and supply you with the tools to ignite positive action wherever you choose to take it.

Bring a Symposium to You!

The ATD - BTC Symposium has received standing ovations in high schools and has transformed workplaces, neighbourhoods, and various faith centres throughout Canada. Here are some of the ways you can experience a Symposium:

Communities: Bring a Symposium to your local community centre and inspire your neighborhood to get active in the movement for change! This is a great way to connect with those who are ready to work together on personal change and community projects.

Workplaces: Do you want an informative and inspiring presentation to help you motivate your colleagues to create a sustainable workplace? This presentation is a great way to launch your ‘Green Team’, or to help get more employee engagement in the green initiatives you are already implementing.

Schools: Our presentation is an informative and inspiring assembly that activates students to join your school’s environmental and social justice clubs that can flourish with more student engagement. Successfully piloted at Lord Byng Secondary in October 2009, this presentation is now available for assemblies in 2010. We also invite teachers to augment class curriculum with the Action Guide as an experiential learning tool.

Faith Centers: Hosting a Symposium at your faith center provides your congregation with an informative and inspiring event of great relevance to our current state of affairs. This is also an excellent offering to attract participants from the neighbourhood, positioning your faith centre as a vital hub for the community.