About

We are an emotions-centered community engagement organization focused on bridging the gaps between arts, culture and climate action.

We believe in mobilising collective climate knowledge in a hopeful and compassionate way.

sword fern emerged in 2022 after a conversation between friends. Our core team is based in Vancouver and Montréal.

Our core team

Our mission

To establish a baseline of climate knowledge and a baseline of our own selves (in boundaries, empathy, compassion, justice, and emotional literacy) in order to address wicked problems.

To give people the capacity to do things themselves and self-organize.

To help people talk about climate change in a hopeful way.

The values that guide our work

Being engaged: we love what we’re doing

We feel passionate about our work. And if not, how can we get back in there? If we’re not inspired by this work, we need to re-evaluate. If we don’t feel capable, we shouldn’t do something. Are we taking on too much? Are we being asked too much? Are we asking for help?

Community: we share and cooperate generously

We recognize our position in a global interconnected web of relationships. We are active in a community of climate education, we avoid silos, and we participate in information and knowledge sharing. Whatever we do should feel cooperative and collective. We share what we’ve learned, and opportunities that come our way.

Balance: we give ourselves permission to step away

We allow ourselves time to process and think. We gives ourselves time to exhale and inhale, and time for living. We recognize the capitalist pressures to spread ourselves thin, so we make rest a priority. We avoid burnout. This shouldn’t feel like an office but rather a passionate purpose.

Boldness in vulnerability: we allow for mistakes

We encourage failure and use it as a learning opportunity. We must fail to grow, and if we’re not failing we’re not moving the dial and still keeping ourselves sheltered. We need to challenge big hegemonic systems that need to be challenged, and that requires vulnerability. We need to move forward and act, not just pop in and educate. Vulnerability involves risk and uncertainty, and making mistakes and failing is a part of that.

Patience through abundance: we are compassionate

We are doing this for the first time. We are also going to experience people who are doing work for the first time, so we need to allow us and them space to grow and the time to do it well. We are not in a rush to get things done or be right, we are intentionally coming from an abundance of time in order to do things right. 

Joy and hope: we make space for vulnerability

Joy and hope are the emotions that will drive our messaging, our personal motivation, and all that we do. Joy is rarely accomplished without hardship, vulnerability, and struggle. Hope is necessary to drive action.