Becca Richie ’20 is busy. She is both teaching English this year in Nîmes, France, and working at the social change organization, Beautiful Trouble.
Beautiful Trouble is an organization that helps social movements around the world implement effective, creative strategies to effect change using trainings and content, including several books and a strategy card deck.
Richie started as an intern last summer, supported by Haverford’s Center for Peace and Global Citizenship. During her internship, she coordinated the translation of their “movement toolkit” into French, Spanish, and Italian. Since then, she has become a part-time member of their staff.
“I’m really excited to be working with an international network of activists,” said Richie. “I’ve been inspired by the work people are doing around the world to combat over-consumption, corruption, carceral states, capitalism, waste, etc.”
Richie has been focusing on their Climate Clock project. Climate clocks are monuments that count down the time we have to address global emissions before irreversible damage has been done to our planet.
As the project’s global teams coordinator, Richie connects and supports teams or individuals around the world who want to install these monuments in their cities or use the clock as a tool to harness people’s power in their local climate justice initiative.
“The dream is to have synchronized clocks across the world that are the results of local initiatives, to heighten the impact of people power via coordinated global action,” she said.
She has used French languages skills she gained in the Bi-Co French program in these roles at Beautiful Trouble and as an English teacher in France. In addition to giving her the language skills she needs to succeed, she credits Haverford with orienting her towards this work pursuing change using creative action.
“At Haverford and throughout the process of my thesis, I definitely grew the creative, imaginative parts of my person that I want to keep growing,” said Richie. “Haverford students also played a large role in shaping my social, artistic, and political perspective. I am extremely grateful for the conversations I’ve had, for the groups sharing their work on social media, and the earnest dedication with which I’ve witnessed Haverford students work for justice.”
Richie hopes to continue supporting making change in her local community going forward. She hopes the rest of the Class of 2020 is able to do the same.
“If I could share a wish that I have for fellow members of my class, it’s to stay in community with one another, to branch together the communities we join after graduation, and to continue heightening one another’s impact,” she said.
“Where They’re Headed” is a blog series chronicling the post-collegiate plans of recent Haverford graduates.