Weaving Big Change: How Schools Could Change the World
Last year, Billie Turner worked with Big Change as a weaver. In this blog, Billie dives into the concept of weaving and imagines a world where education…
Blog
Reach out to us at info@big-change.org
We'd love to hear from you!
If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed or lost in climate action, this is for you. A safe and encouraging space to connect, collaborate, learn and share compassion with each other.
A Force of Nature Community Member
“One of the worst feelings is to want to do something about climate change, because it affects all and it will get worse, but you don’t have the resources, you don’t know where or whom to reach out to.”
70% of young people feel hopeless about the climate crisis and 90% say that tackling climate change is important to them. Yet, only 26% know how to contribute to solving it.
Force of Nature is a youth-led non-profit organisation that helps young people by building their confidence, developing skills, and understanding how to lead solutions to the climate crisis. Big Change has been supporting Force of Nature since 2023.
Meet Force of Nature
We’re a youth-led non-profit on a mission to mobilise mindsets for climate action. Our team has empowered thousands of young people to step up rather than shut down in the face of the climate crisis.
Our free programmes help young people feel like they belong in the climate movement. We do this through teaching about different ways they can take action and helping to find financial resources to make climate action sustainable.
Young People are the Future and Need to be Backed
Young people face huge barriers to taking meaningful, long-term action. From the cost of living crisis to fascism, there are many reasons why we feel disillusioned and powerless. Especially when we’re being told that we're the generation responsible for ‘addressing’ the state of the planet.
We think it’s important to acknowledge and accept our grief, anger, anxiety and despair about the climate crisis. Beyond building resilience, we know young people must be equipped with the knowledge and skills to be agents of change. We also believe it's fundamental that young people are resourced financially and socially to sustain action within their communities.
Now more than ever, young people are calling for more action-oriented learning on climate change to help them seek concrete solutions. From hands-on practical skills to making their own lives more climate-friendly. From developing entrepreneurship to learning how to voice their concerns, participate in decision-making processes and take civic action.
Responding to Our Community’s Needs
In response to young people wanting more action-based learning, we created our programmes in 2020. Our free programming, Becoming a Force of Nature is designed for our participants to explore the relationship between mental health and climate change while discovering new ways for them to engage in activism more sustainable and effectively.
"This program gave me the all-too-rare opportunity to sit back, and reflect in a meaningful way on what fuels my climate activism, and how I can continue my commitment based on my strengths." - A 2024 Becoming a Force of Nature Participant
Free Skills Training for Young People
After completing Becoming a Force of Nature, our community members are invited to delve deeper into their changemaker journey through our training pathways. We offer three trainings to help young people upskill in public speaking, advising decision-makers, and programme facilitation. We believe that these skills are gateways to taking climate action.
To date, we’ve delivered our programmes to over 1000 students in 52 countries. We have also been able to provide opportunities to our participants by training our facilitators to deliver workshops and programmes.
Fostering Community Within Climate Spaces
Outside of our programmes, our team has also seen the importance of community and connection, especially in a time of increasing polarisation, distractions and divisiveness. Our community is a core part of Force of Nature. With us having more than 860 young people across 108 different countries choosing to be a part of our community. With these numbers rapidly growing, we’re proud to provide a safe space for like-minded young people worldwide to connect and collaborate in efforts toward climate justice.
Within our online space we also host monthly events specifically designed for our community members like film screenings, fundraising workshops, networking events and career coaching.
So, here's the great news, applications for the spring cohort of our Becoming a Force of Nature programme have recently opened. The deadline to apply is 12th May 2025. So, if you're a young person wanting to take climate action from anywhere in the world, be sure to apply. Otherwise we encourage young people ages 16-35 to join our community, which is open all year round!
We can’t miss an opportunity to mention that so much of our work has been made possible by the support of Big Change. While statistically, less than 1% of climate grants go to youth-led climate initiatives, we’re grateful to Big Change for being such champions of our work and for believing in young people as leaders of change just as much as we do.