Game over? Do not let climate change end the game!
The ‘Game on! Don’t let climate change end the game’ project is an initiative of a consortium of 10 partners from 8 Central and Eastern European countries to activate the global youth and react to the existential threat climate change represents for the future of humankind. The project has been made possible thanks to the co-financing of the Development Education and Awareness Raising (DEAR) mechanism.
The project consortium strongly believes in the energized, strong will of younger generations to push forth for the urgent systemic changes required to overcome the challenges posed by climate change. Thus, the project partners are striving to activate this energy all across the region and the globe through a ‘gamification’ approach to initially tackle three core areas: Biodiversity Conservation, Adaptation and Mitigation, and Climate Justice.
Therefore, we have started developing different products — from geocaching games and board games to museum exhibitions and theatre plays — to help raise awareness on the problems of and solutions to climate change, as well as to push forth a massive mobilization of people to demand and make the changes we need.
Background
Climate change is, undoubtedly, one of today's most serious global challenges, expected to have an increasingly negative impact for the younger generations in the coming decades. However, climate change does not only impact us, humankind, but all other species and ecosystems on the planet interacting with the various other ecosystem services — such as the provision of water, food, the regulation of pests and diseases, or the provision of medicines. These interlinkages, moreover, impact the mitigation and adaptation efforts and capacities, with the added problem of them still currently being insufficiently addressed (e.g. the carbon storage of wetlands or permafrost, the protective role of forests in heavy rainfall, agrobiodiversity for adaptation to changing climate). As a result of these interlinkages, climate change is one of the main reasons behind biodiversity loss and ecosystem decline, with the latter, in a negative circularity, ever becoming itself an aggravating factor behind climate change.
Goals & Objectives
Overall objective:
- The European youth takes more actions against climate change based on its increased understanding about its impacts on people’s lives and ecosystems, both in Europe and in the Global South.
Specific objectives:
- To raise the awareness of the youth of eight Member States — namely, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia — on climate change, its relation to ecosystems and their services, and these impacts on people’s lives.
- To engage the youth of these eight Member States in individual and collective changes, both on the national and the European levels, to address climate change in an ecosystemic approach.
Activities
- Overlayering of museum exhibitions
- Development of an International Geoquest challenge
- Production of improvisation theatre plays and stand-up comedy performances
- Production of educational materials
- Development of a boardgame
- Creating an e-Learning Platform on climate change
- Global South speakers' tour
- Involving Youth Ambassadors
- Working alongside journalists and social media influencers
- Carrying out fact-finding missions
- Greening concerts and festivals and production a handbook
- Organisation of wilderness camps
- Development of a mobile app for lifestyle changes
- Lobbying with EU and national decision makers
Types of services
- Education
- Awareness-raising
- Lobbying
- Gamification
- Advocacy
- Policy-making
