An Interview with E.C.C.O.

E.C.C.O., or Environmental Climate Change Organization, is a youth-founded and run activism group based in Kjipuktuk, supporting many movements including climate justice, gender equality, and mental health. The organization was founded by a small group of students in 2019, hoping to make a difference in our local community. We started as a small, tight-knit group and eventually expanded to include over 20 students at our peak membership.

Our most impactful project has been our annual holiday care package project funded by the Gordon Stirrett Grant. In addition, we have also hosted annual suicide prevention and awareness campaigns, local garbage cleanup, and fundraisers for various charity organizations such as the Make Lemonade Project, Hope Cottage, the Red Cross, and many more.

E.C.C.O. has changed a lot over the course of our six years. Even though we started as a small group, as we added members rather rapidly, the focus of activism within the group began to shift away from what we wanted to achieve. Eventually, the group became reduced again to the core few members, allowing us to work as a more tight-knit, focused collective to positively impact our community. In addition, the scope of our activism has evolved from strictly environmental-based to a more all-encompassing approach, focusing on various social justice and environmental movements. 

Environmental and social justice issues have always gone hand in hand. The intersectionality of the two became apparent when we began to delve further into issues such as the current housing crisis and the sociopolitical state of our world. We learned about environmental racism: the disproportionate exposure of marginalized groups to environmental hazards, which has fueled our pursuit of global change.

The Gordon Stirrett Grant gave us the opportunity to expand the scope of our project beyond what we could have ever imagined, furthering our local and global reach. The grants were in support of our Holiday Care Packages project, an endeavour in which we donated supply boxes full of essential items to local women’s and children’s shelters. Without the help of Gordon Stirrett, we would never have been able to donate nearly $5000 worth of care packages over the past three years. 

For us, the most rewarding part of this experience has been how much we have learned about the various initiatives and movements of the past six years. Through our research for our social media posts, we have broadened our horizons as activists and individuals. We have learned about local initiatives such as the Girls’ and Women’s Empowerment and Development Organization, the Bryony House, and many, many more, but it has also made us more aware of global issues such as the unsustainable and wasteful actions of the palm oil and floral industries. 

Activism will always be an integral part of our lives. As we move into a different stage of our lives, we are looking forward to empowering further environmental and social justice activism at our prospective universities and continuing to grow as advocates for climate justice and stewards of the planet.