About Us
The Environmental and Climate Action Education Network of Manitoba (ECAEN-MB) was founded in the summer of 2023, when a group of teachers in Winnipeg recognized the lack of professional development opportunities focused on Environmental and Climate Action Education. Since then, ECAEN-MB has organized a network of educators and experts who have created more than two dozen professional development opportunities for hundreds of Manitoba teachers throughout the school year and during the last three MTS PD Days. These sessions have ranged from engaging learners outdoors in the depths of winter, to navigating student emotions surrounding climate change, to developing Bike-Bus routes for schools, to learning from Indigenous knowledge keepers about growing food.
In Manitoba, teachers are seeking to deepen their understanding of what it means and how to teach for environmental relationality and climate action in their classrooms and communities—especially at a time when our planet’s systems are visibly breaking down. The need is particularly stark in light of recent research which ranks Manitoba last out of all Canadian provinces for teaching climate change education, contrasted with the majority of Canadian adults and youth believing that climate change education should be a high priority in Manitoba classrooms (Learning for Sustainable Futures, 2025; Re:Climate, 2025).
Research commissioned by the Government of Canada indicates that Manitoba will experience significant changes in weather patterns over the next 50 years, including extreme heat, severe storms, and fluctuations in precipitation. These changes will disrupt agriculture, damage critical infrastructure, and widen social inequalities (Sauchyn, Davidson, & Johnston, 2020). A 2023 ClimateWest study projected Manitoba will be the hardest-hit prairie province economically, with losses estimated at $3.4–$4.3 billion annually by 2080. Recent forest fires in 2025 burned over one million hectares — 13 times the 25-year average — forcing tens of thousands of evacuations, closing schools, cancelling sporting and cultural events, and confining students indoors for weeks due to hazardous air quality (NASA Earth Observatory, 2025).
If Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning is to fulfill its vision for every child to be “respected, successful and safe” and its mission of “supporting all children to reach their potential,” then environmental and climate action in education must play a central role (2025). Encouragingly, Manitoba’s K–12 curriculum already includes learning outcomes that provide a foundation for integrating climate action content and pedagogy (Burton, 2025). Furthermore, with the province announcing an upcoming framework on Climate Change Education and climate action, the demand for teacher professional development will only grow. ECAEN-MB recognizes this current and future need and the opportunity to support educators and the education system in the challenging task of engaging young people in Environmental and Climate Action Education. The question we hear most often from teachers interested in this work is, “How?”
ECAEN-MB is committed to equipping teachers with the tools, knowledge, inspiration, and collaborative networks needed to guide students toward hope, resilience, relationship, justice, and meaningful action in their communities.
In Manitoba, teachers are seeking to deepen their understanding of what it means and how to teach for environmental relationality and climate action in their classrooms and communities—especially at a time when our planet’s systems are visibly breaking down. The need is particularly stark in light of recent research which ranks Manitoba last out of all Canadian provinces for teaching climate change education, contrasted with the majority of Canadian adults and youth believing that climate change education should be a high priority in Manitoba classrooms (Learning for Sustainable Futures, 2025; Re:Climate, 2025).
Research commissioned by the Government of Canada indicates that Manitoba will experience significant changes in weather patterns over the next 50 years, including extreme heat, severe storms, and fluctuations in precipitation. These changes will disrupt agriculture, damage critical infrastructure, and widen social inequalities (Sauchyn, Davidson, & Johnston, 2020). A 2023 ClimateWest study projected Manitoba will be the hardest-hit prairie province economically, with losses estimated at $3.4–$4.3 billion annually by 2080. Recent forest fires in 2025 burned over one million hectares — 13 times the 25-year average — forcing tens of thousands of evacuations, closing schools, cancelling sporting and cultural events, and confining students indoors for weeks due to hazardous air quality (NASA Earth Observatory, 2025).
If Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning is to fulfill its vision for every child to be “respected, successful and safe” and its mission of “supporting all children to reach their potential,” then environmental and climate action in education must play a central role (2025). Encouragingly, Manitoba’s K–12 curriculum already includes learning outcomes that provide a foundation for integrating climate action content and pedagogy (Burton, 2025). Furthermore, with the province announcing an upcoming framework on Climate Change Education and climate action, the demand for teacher professional development will only grow. ECAEN-MB recognizes this current and future need and the opportunity to support educators and the education system in the challenging task of engaging young people in Environmental and Climate Action Education. The question we hear most often from teachers interested in this work is, “How?”
ECAEN-MB is committed to equipping teachers with the tools, knowledge, inspiration, and collaborative networks needed to guide students toward hope, resilience, relationship, justice, and meaningful action in their communities.
