“At Peace Learning Center, we think of peace as a series of concentric circles starting with self, others, and then rippling out to the community. If we are to truly have a peaceful community (both global and local), we must not only take fellow humans into account but also the environment and the creatures who share our environment with us.”
– Kristina Hulvershorn, founder of “be the change"
What is “be the change”?
“be the change” is an interactive exhibit located at Peace Learning Center that allows participants to grapple with both problems and solutions to issues facing our planet and the humans and animals we share it with. With 30 exhibits, be the change offers a hands-on way to learn about issues relating to sustainability, child labor, food justice, and more. Learn how a peaceful world is a sustainable world and how we all have the power to be the change!
Family-Friendly Exhibit
The family-friendly exhibits transform facts and figures about our world’s most pressing problems into playful, hands-on activities which help participants make connections between their everyday actions and the impact they have on our planet, animals, and other humans. In the true spirit of Mahatma Gandhi’s inspiration to “be the change you wish to see in the world,” the exhibits were created using repurposed, reused, and sustainable materials.
The exhibits cover a wide range of critical issues:
- “Someone Else’s Shoes” features stories and activities based on the lives of real people such as a migrant farmer worker, a person in poverty, and a child laborer. Participants are given the opportunity to read about each person’s daily life and then participate in a simulation designed to give them an even deeper understanding and appreciation for the challenges each person experiences
- “Material World” highlights resources used by a typical American family and compares their lifestyle to families in other parts of the world.
- The “Eco Home” is a repurposed doll house based activity which challenges participants to find evidence about how the family inside is living a sustainable lifestyle. Clues include a reusable water bottle, a clothing line in the yard, and recycling boxes.
“be the change” is a collaborative project between two local nonprofits: HEART and Peace Learning Center.