Connecting the dots between community challenges and climate change
From July to November 2025, we hosted the Connect the Dots tour, featuring 12 community events across B.C. that brought people together around good food, great conversations, and a shared desire for connection and change.
Across Victoria, Nanaimo, Vancouver, Richmond, Delta, Burnaby, North Vancouver, Surrey, Mission, Penticton and Dawson Creek, we connected with hundreds of people who care deeply about their communities and seek change in them.
Connecting what dots?
Our goal with the series was to help folks literally “connect the dots” between climate and the many challenges we are facing today — healthcare, cost of living, corporate accountability and more. By bringing people together in casual and accessible spaces, we hoped to create an environment where people felt comfortable to share stories, ask questions and strengthen our power to protect what matters most — people and the planet.
Some of our conversations flowed around:
How extreme weather events are more common with climate change and how they impact our day-to-day lives
Health burdens of increased temperatures and wildfires
Fracking and LNG development destroying our climate targets, ecosystems and commitments to Indigenous Title and Rights
In one memorable conversation at one of our Vancouver events, we dove into how home insurance rates are rising due to extreme weather events and how for tenants and precariously housed folks, these events also have devastating consequences like inability to access or pay for proper heating or cooling. Across the housing spectrum, climate change is making life more expensive.
This discussion, among the many others, reminded us of the intersections between climate and other top-of-mind issues.
Solutions through conversations
Alongside the challenges, we wanted these events to spark hope and offer a chance to imagine a world beyond fossil fuels. Instead of the Tilbury LNG facility, for example, at our event in Delta participants suggested different uses for the site that they wanted to see in their community:
A gigantic dog park
A renewable energy farm
Sustainable social housing
Seniors co-op complex and recreation, health and shopping facilities
Nature reserve for birds
Community gardens and gardens for elementary and secondary students
An affordable childcare facility
These ideas were not only creative, they were grounded in the real needs and aspirations of community members.
We heard several comments as our events wrapped up about how the events had brought together groups they were not aware of or explored new topics. Many people exchanged contact information with one another, as folks expressed interest in continuing to stay connected with the people and work.
As one of our participants in our North Shore event put it, the one takeaway they had from the event was simply “hope for the future”.
Governments around us have been backsliding and walking away from climate action and policies that protect our well-being in the present and future. In times like these, community and connection are the most powerful tools we have. Making spaces for these special tools is necessary to building the power to make the change we want to see.
Our partners in crime
Frack Free BC is a broad-based alliance made up of allied organizations including NGOs, grassroots organizations, community groups, and individuals who are organizing their communities to raise awareness and apply pressure to the government to end fracking in B.C. Frack Free BC partnered on this series with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), a physician-directed non-profit with regional committees across Canada working to secure human health by protecting the planet. CAPE collaborates with national and international organizations to build power and support physicians and communities as they advocate for healthier environments and ecosystems.
Together, we were able to host more events and reach more communities. We also collaborated with other local groups — Nanaimo Climate Action Hub, Common Horizon Victoria and Vancouver, Better North Shore and many more — across the province to strengthen our network of local resilience and helped spark new connections that can continue long after the events themselves.
We’re grateful for all who joined us, shared their stories and their imaginations for a brighter world. Every conversation strengthened this movement and reminded us why this work matters.
While the Connect the Dots tour comes to a close, the movement doesn’t end here!
Get in touch with us below to find out about ways to stay involved.
