Join us for a two-part webinar series on Belonging and Climate Change, hosted by Astrid Arumae and Savroop Shergill of Communities Building Belonging and Climate Transitions at the Tamarack Institute.
Part 1: Building Belonging Through Climate Action & Community Resilience
Date: June 4, 2025 | 1:00-2:00 PM ET
Speakers: Sheila Murray & Lidia Ferreira
Part 2: Building Belonging as the Work That Reconnects
Date: June 25, 2025 | 1:00-2:00 PM ET
Speakers: Sonja Miokovic
Part 1: Building belonging through Climate action & community resilience
June 4, 2025 | 1:00-2:00 PM ET
In this webinar we will explore the role of social connection in local climate action and how this contributes to a sense of belonging and community resilience. We will discuss how the intersection of drivers of inequities such as climate change and unequal distribution of money, power and resources, and climate change vulnerability impact individual and community resilience and well-being, and why we must invest in place-based and community-led actions that center connection and belonging.
For this conversation, we welcome two fantastic guests from Community Resilience to Extreme Weather (CREW) who will talk about how their work in community emergency preparedness and climate action helps to build neighbour-to-neighbour connections and a sense of belonging for newcomers and low-income seniors in high-rise neighbourhoods of Greater Toronto Area.
Speakers
Sheila Murray, Filmmaker and Communications Specialist
Sheila Murray is a writer, documentary filmmaker, sound editor and communications specialist. Her 2009 – 2013 research, communications and outreach for the Omega Foundation’s community-based project, SmartSaver, contributed to reaching thousands of Toronto community workers and families and creating successful partnerships and networks.
Sheila has led the Toronto based organization, Community Resilience to Extreme Weather (CREW), since 2014.
She has a BAA in Journalism and MA in Immigration and Settlement Studies.
Lidia Ferreria, former Executive Director of FutureWatch Environment and Development Education Partners
Lidia is the former Executive Director of FutureWatch Environment and Development Education Partners, a leading organization in community based environmental and capacity building initiatives of the City of Toronto. Lidia trained in Argentina for seven years to become an architect and urban planner and came to Toronto from Paraguay in 1999. Since 2000, she has used her ability to engage with Toronto’s multicultural communities to form bridges with mainstream institutions. She has led projects related to urban naturalization, environmental protection, revitalization and community capacity building.
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Part 2: Building belonging as the work that reconnects
June 25, 2025 | 1:00-2:00 PM ET
Belonging is a fundamental human need to be in relationship: in relationship with others, with place and with nature. In return, place holds nature, it holds relationships, our local economies, places of work, our home and our lives - it is where we are tethered to the rest of the world. Belonging invites us to see us, our communities, the environment that surrounds us as interconnected and interdependent, a living and constantly changing system.
In the current times of metacrises , chaos and collapse, this webinar will explore the intersection of belonging, our relationship with nature and the emerging shifts and movements towards the work that reconnects us. This conversation is inspired by Weaving to Make Meaning: A System in Flux by our colleague Sonja Mikovic and The Work That Reconnects, developed by Joanna Macy and many others, which draws on the foundational teachings of Systems Thinking, Deep Ecology, Deep Time, Ancient and Enduring Spiritual Traditions, Transforming Our Relationship with Power and Undoing Oppression.
The Work That Reconnects helps people discover and experience their innate connections with each other and the self-healing powers of the web of life, transforming despair and overwhelm into inspired, collaborative action.
– Joanna Macy
Speakers
Sonja Miokovic (she/her). Consulting Director, Community Innovation. Tamarack Institute
Sonja Miokovic is the Consulting Director of the Tamarack Institute’s Community Innovation Area. She is a dynamic educator, social scientist, and innovator with over 16 years of experience in the sector. Having lived, worked, and played in over 80 countries, she has a broad spectrum of international experience that cuts across the public, private and civil society sectors. Sonja is a long-standing advocate for community-led innovation and development. Known for bringing larger-than-life initiatives into being, Sonja thrives on helping communities connect the dots in innovative ways to tackle persistent problems.
Kathryn Colby (she/her). Manager of Communities, Communities Ending Poverty. Tamarack Institute
Kathryn is honoured to support BC communities ending poverty at Tamarack. She holds a master's degree in Human Security and Peacebuilding, alongside 20+ years supporting marginalized communities, cross-sector partnership development and collective impact through a social work lens. She lives rurally on Tla’amin lands after nearly 2 decades in K'emk'emeláy (Vancouver) and understands that communities of all sizes hold the power to solve complex social issues, together.
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