What is Ecolens?
Ecolens is a publicly accessible online platform where people can upload a photo or image and pair it with a short climate story. Together, these stories create a growing map of how climate change is affecting communities across British Columbia.
The platform aims to:
- Create a living archive of climate stories
- Support learning and empathy
- Highlight place-based individual and community experience
- Make space for reflection
- Strengthen community understanding across BC
Climate data tells us what’s changing. Stories help us understand what those changes mean to people.
Three Key Messages
1. Climate stories are valuable knowledge.
Lived experience complements scientific data and helps us better understand how climate change is affecting people and places.
2. Every community in BC has a climate story worth sharing.
We want local, place-based experiences from across the province, including rural, remote, and underrepresented communities.
3. Ecolens is about connection, learning, and action.
The platform helps communities learn from one another, supports empathy and reflection, and contributes to conversations about climate adaptation and resilience.
—
Jade Yehia is an Environmental Health and Knowledge Translation Scientist with the BC Centre for Disease Control.