LED bulbs are now available for virtually all lamps, including those with pleasant warm light colours. You can certainly ensure that some lamps are LED. Simply check the bulbs to see if they are labelled LED. This also applies to schools.

Streaming means watching television and videos over the internet or playing computer games online. Streaming is now virtually unstoppable. It is convenient when all data is automatically backed up in the cloud and can be accessed from anywhere, and it is equally convenient when all programmes can be watched not only at a specific time, but also on demand. It can also be argued that computers no longer need such large hard drives and that CDs or Blu-rays no longer need to be produced. Ultimately, however, streaming around the world means considerable energy consumption, and the infrastructure for transmission masts takes up space and raw materials and probably also causes harmful radiation. One solution is therefore to give up some of the convenience and perhaps spend more time in nature instead of sitting in front of a screen. In detail, there is also the option of downloading something at home with fibre optics rather than on the go with older mobile networks.

Standby means that your computer, television or mobile phone is not completely switched off, but is merely “asleep” or still has a light on, and the devices can be easily switched on again with the remote control. Standby power consumption is often criticised and extrapolated. If a television consumes 5 watts in standby mode, for example, that amounts to 120 watt hours (Wh) per day, or approximately one-eighth of a kilowatt hour, which costs about 35 pence. Hardly anyone is going to get up from the sofa for 5 pence a day to press the switch on the television, or switch off the WiFi router at night, or shut down the computer. Or are they? And how many watt hours could be saved every day in all households? Would this consideration influence your actions?

Do you leave the lights on when you are no longer in the room? Modern lamps consume little electricity, but it is still worth not leaving them on unnecessarily, for example when we are not in the room for a long time.

This may only be relevant once you start earning your own money. Offsetting greenhouse gas emissions is highly controversial. Someone flies (CO2 in the upper atmosphere), drives a car (CO2) or hosts a barbecue (methane from burping and farting cows) and donates an amount for the associated greenhouse gas emissions to a service provider that promises greenhouse gas reduction/sequestration projects (e.g. through reforestation). Unfortunately, many providers prove to be bogus because they do not achieve the promised effect. Therefore, only reputable providers should be supported. Furthermore, offsetting should not be misunderstood as a free pass. It is therefore important to avoid emissions as far as possible and only offset the remainder (see also the section on donations). Children and young people usually have little money at their disposal. If money is not an issue or if you decide that your trips, school parties, etc. should be compensated, you can of course be very proud of yourselves for taking on more responsibility – for a better world.

Do you have a large (0), medium (1), small (2) or no (3) room of your own? The space we need to live in means the area that is sealed, the building materials that are required and the space that needs to be heated – and all this against the backdrop of social justice. When more people live in a household, they share rooms such as the kitchen, living room or bathroom. In fact, the per capita area is increasing continuously because more older people are living alone and longer in large houses and because there are more single households. Not everyone can renovate or move out, but those who take these steps can be proud of reducing their living space. Very few children and young people can now decide how big their rooms are. But those who have a small room or share it with siblings can be proud of it and collect the points.

Long, hot showers mean water and energy consumption and ultimately high costs. The further effects are even more impressive when considered in context – did you know that long showers can be responsible for refugees and the quality of life in Germany?http://www.imodeler.info/ro?key=Ceju1XNHCFZBJc2MpbAOl5Q

Let's be honest – do you walk around your flat in a T-shirt in winter too? Most living rooms and bedrooms are too warm in winter – we walk around in T-shirts instead of putting on thick slippers and jumpers. The potential energy savings here are considerable.

Intelligent ventilation means not too late and not too long. It is too late when we become tired from stale air, get headaches and the humidity becomes too high. It is too long when the air has already been exchanged and is cool, but we continue to ventilate and then the materials (walls, furniture) also cool down. Ultimately, heat means that things or air vibrate. When the air has been replaced but the objects and walls are still vibrating, the fresh air quickly warms up. If the walls also become cold, mould can form on them and we need expensive heating energy to get everything vibrating again. CO2 measuring devices help to ventilate at the right time and not for too long. However, these should not be useless gadgets, but perhaps used to practise one after the other in the rooms and also lent out. A nice game is to compete to see how good people's sense of timing is when it comes to ventilating at the right time and not for too long.

Being vegan means abstaining from fish, meat, milk, cheese, and other animal products. For many people, this is unthinkable, partly because of the taste and partly because they consider it unhealthy.

Unlike a vegan diet, a vegetarian diet can also include milk, cheese and eggs. Vegetarian days are healthy, mean less animal husbandry and thus less consumption of land and water. We Germans consume more than three times the amount of animal products that the EAT-Lancet Commission says would be healthy for us and the planet.

Parents usually do the shopping, but perhaps you can have a say in the matter or your parents will listen to you. Or you could buy something just for yourselves that may have been transported unnecessarily long distances. Food from the region, from the weekly market and from farm shops has not been transported far (there are exceptions, of course) and strengthens the local economy. However, there are also inefficient short transport routes when vehicles with small loads drive to the points of sale. E-mobility and cargo bikes can help here. Unfortunately, regional products are often played off against organic products: regional, sprayed food is not as good as regional organic food, and regional meat is not as good for the environment as not eating meat at all.

Organic is extremely important for biodiversity. We have the greatest species extinction since the extinction of the dinosaurs and the consequences are greater than those of climate change. Pesticides and mineral fertilizers endanger our future. In addition, soils from organic farming usually store more carbon and thus help against the climate catastrophe. The counter-argument is often that the yields in organic farming are lower than in industrial agriculture and therefore more forests have to be cut down. This is true, for example, with cereals that are not unrestrictedly healthy. But if we eat less meat, waste less food and eat more healthy legumes, we have plenty of additional space available and can feed the entire world organically and even plant a little more forest. Organic is more expensive. But on the one hand, many costs can be saved by less meat and on the other hand, it can be bought and cooked intelligently …. of course, it is also to be questioned whether there must be such a low livelihood at all - environmental policy is also social policy.

Which is better – organic apples from New Zealand or sprayed apples from the local area? Answer: neither. Organic food from the local area means less transport and is therefore even better than organic food that has been transported over long distances. Conversely, it is also not acceptable if the apple is sprayed simply because it is from the region, causing damage to the bees and waterways in the region.

Seasonal organic products in addition to regional organic products also have less energy expenditure for storage. In the respective months, other products are available seasonally, so that we can eat healthy and tasty all year round with little transport and storage effort with regard to a seasonal calendar.

Hardly anyone knows how important legumes are for saving the world. But you're probably familiar with chickpea crisps, falafel, hummus or even delicious lentil spread, right? Legumes are not only an alternative plant-based source of protein to animal products, but also extremely important for feeding the world. They bind nitrogen from the air in the soil and can achieve just as high yields in organic farming as in industrial agriculture. This means we need to cut down fewer forests. Legumes are also healthier than grains. In Sapiens, Harari describes how we could probably live much longer if we didn't eat so many grain products. Finally, legumes are important for bees and biodiversity. Lupins, for example, also grow in northern Germany and can be used as a meat substitute, in yoghurt, as a coffee substitute, in ice cream or even in pasta.

Fortunately, tap water has long been a trend. Schools have drinking fountains and pupils bring their own water bottles, and managers also bring their water bottles to workshops. Many children are not even accustomed to unhealthy sugary drinks. Tap water is more strictly controlled than bottled drinks and saves a lot of energy and packaging. Even in motorhomes or boats, or in places where the water smells of chlorine, we can save a lot of money, energy and packaging by using good filters that are changed regularly.

Do you sometimes throw food away? Or do your parents throw away food that you didn't eat in time? Food is wasted from the field to the factory and transport routes to the point where we, restaurants and supermarkets throw it away. Ultimately, this means that more land is needed for cultivation, which leads to deforestation and endangers biodiversity with pesticides and fertilisers. We can shop more selectively, avoid throwing away goods just because of their best-before date, save food in the household (e.g. freezing bananas or making long-life spreads and soups from leftover vegetables), saving specifically rescued food (e.g. goods that are too small or shriveled) and, in many places, donating leftover food, e.g. to food banks.

Not having your own car, although there would be a driver's license, means not only saving money, but also raw materials, parking space and a lot of energy. In addition to flexibility and necessity in rural areas, car ownership means above all status, distinction and attribution (the infamous "phallus substitute with roaring sound). Alternatives are the bicycle, public transport and car sharing. For young people, the renunciation also means solidarity with those who cannot afford mopeds - as difficult as it is. Most households have never calculated the actual costs of their car ownership - from the purchase to taxes and insurance to energy and wear https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/05/one-less-car-how-this-country-is-encouraging-green-mobility/

Local public transport and also long-distance transport by train and bus (in the case of bus, the road infrastructure is still required) means considerably less energy and resource requirements than individual transport with cars or motorcycles. Long-distance buses only perform so well because they are limited to well-used routes, while the train also runs at unfavorable times and has to connect remote places, which then leads to less than half-full trains.

Many children cannot really decide whether to fly or not. But perhaps you can have a say and discuss it? For most people, flying is a great experience, like visiting faraway places. Flying short distances should rightly lead to “flight shame” – some countries are planning to ban domestic flights altogether. The problem with flying is, on the one hand, that we cover a lot of kilometres, even if the energy requirement per kilometre and person is not that high. On the other hand, greenhouse gases are transported directly to the altitudes where they harm us. We should therefore only use aeroplanes for rare long-distance trips and then stay longer in those places. Many people, however, fly several times a year, sometimes within Europe – some even to sustainability conferences or simply to escape the harsh weather in the UK on a whim. Unfortunately, flying is even subsidised and is often cheaper than travelling by train or car.

Parent taxis is the name for parents who drive their children to school and to numerous other events by car. There are generally alternatives to school, not always to other activities (sports club, music school, ....). In front of the schools, these parent taxis are a real danger for the other children and annoying for the school buses. It is simply ruthless towards the other students. Parents should at least organize carpools for leisure events.

Many routes and times are not served by public transport. It is often worthwhile to drive in the car together with others. Even if the car is left at home and the times have to be adjusted, it can make us proud to do the right thing with a view to a better world. In addition to carpooling in the circle of acquaintances, there are also portals that organize carpooling - often also for longer trips.

We are used to the fact that everything is packed and we don't care much about the packaging. For some foods, the packaging is more expensive in the production than the content. Paying attention to the packaging sends a signal to manufacturers and retailers. Refills are an option as well. For food, there are so-called unpackaged shops or at least the possibility of using deposit containers (own step) or cotton bags brought along for loose vegetables and fruit. In basically all markets, we should have our own bags with us.

Consistently separating waste, including green waste, glass and paper, is not as self-evident as can be assumed. Many make little effort here and don't really know what belongs in which bin. But also special waste, such as batteries, incandescent lamps, electrical appliances, etc. must be disposed of properly.

Young people could also take pride in looking after the compost at home, producing soil and storing carbon in it. The minimum requirement is to use the compost bin provided by the waste disposal company. Anyone with a garden should make their own compost and see what can be put in it, from coffee filters and organic fruit and vegetable peelings to, of course, garden waste. Food scraps do not belong in the compost because of the risk of rats. However, there are other options here too. For example, bokashi with so-called effective microorganisms is one way to ferment the compost into acetic acid so that it can then be directly decomposed by compost worms. Plant charcoal and clay minerals can also be added to support the microorganisms (EM^2). Incidentally, biochar can also be produced quite practically using pyrolysis cookers from your own garden prunings – a nice alternative to barbecuing and a separate item on the list of possible steps. This type of compost then stores a lot of carbon (CO2) and moisture to combat dry summers and ensures high yields in the garden. In fact, many compost heaps tend to undergo physical decomposition and release a lot of CO2.

Canned drinks are truly awful! After buying unpackaged goods and drinking tap water, the best thing we can do is to buy our food in reusable containers. (Incidentally, there are also reusable shipping boxes for office supplies, as well as some regional delivery services). It is also important to ask whether the containers are transported empty throughout Germany, or whether North German beer is poured into empty Bavarian beer bottles and vice versa. The next question is how much energy it costs to clean the containers. Composite packaging or easily recyclable cans are the better alternative in some studies. In such studies, it is important to look closely at what is being compared. Ultimately, the aim is to close regional cycles. The next question is whether the containers should be made of glass or plastic – glass is recycled more often, while plastic is lighter and requires less energy to transport.

A lot of things are actually thrown away, even though others could still use them. It is more convenient for us not to repair them than to have a stall at the flea market or to have to send them off for little money. But the good feeling of doing the right thing is motivating.

Insect hotels or just old, higher tree stumps and dead wood on the ground, nesting boxes and, if useful, bat boxes are great ways to maximize biodiversity in your own environment.

In the past, it was considered controversial whether birds should be fed, or whether they forget to find food themselves and instead promote the concentration of many birds in one place diseases. Today it is clear that with our well-kept gardens, leaf vacuum cleaners and perfect combine harvesters, we leave too little for the birds and they have to be fed. Many argue that we should even feed them in the summer.

It is hard to believe that the future of our diet depends on the use of pesticides and their influence on insects that have to pollinate our plants. Many pollinators are threatened with extinction and in addition to the purchase of organic, we can offer these insects flowers on our areas. In fact, some plants are neither bee-nor bird-friendly. On the other hand, fruit trees and most vegetables are already great opportunities to promote bees, bumblebees, etc. At the flower meadows there are one- and multi-year-olds.

Do we harm the regional organic farmers if we now plant something in the garden ourselves? No, because hardly anyone will be able to take care of themselves. Rather, the main problem is the use of land. English lawns, ornamental plants, weed destruction, etc. harm the soil and biodiversity. Instead, nature-friendly crops are needed. It's a great feeling to grow something yourself, be it the smoothie grass on the windowsill or the tomatoes on the balcony. If you have little time for the garden, you should deal with permaculture and perennial plants.

There are basically three types of banks – low-cost online banks with great terms and conditions, local savings banks and cooperative banks or branches of major banks, and a few genuine eco-banks (GLS Bank, Triodos, etc.). The savings interest rates offered by eco-banks are quite decent, while the short-term interest rates and fees are less attractive. On the other hand, they do not finance all kinds of things without regard for ethical and ecological standards. Even local banks focus on maximum returns here. Green finance already plays a huge role globally. Investors pay attention to ethical standards and thus exert pressure on industry to adhere to standards or even become pioneers. Your first account as a young person is usually with a local bank. But these banks will only improve their offerings if more and more people choose genuine eco-banks.

Volunteering, whether it's with the fire brigade, a sports club or helping out in the neighbourhood, is hugely important for community spirit and society as a whole. As children and young people, you also have the opportunity to do things like go shopping for elderly people, read stories in retirement homes or get involved in youth groups run by nature conservation organisations. Not only does this make you proud for life, it also looks good on your CV later on!

We are seeing all over the world what happens when the successful leave large sections of society behind: radical movements gain support, climate catastrophe is denied, and hatred is stirred up against foreigners as well as against politicians. Some “ego trolls” deliberately exploit this fertile ground to push through their own interests, for example when conservative parties accuse progressive parties of being ideological, or when a car manufacturer boss opposes vaccination so that he does not have to close his factories, or when others rail against wind power and e-mobility and in favour of nuclear power without any expert knowledge. Dissatisfied citizens pick up on this as “troll lemmings”, feel a sense of belonging through their shared enemies, and rail against anything on social media that represents change towards sustainability. It is a battle for so-called memes and no longer, as in the past, solely for interpretive authority, especially since the experts agree on most issues. As uncomfortable as it may be, we should therefore counter this on social media and not dismiss it in frustration. In our own circles, we can also get together with others and talk about politics or how to shape our coexistence – even if many people don't want to talk about politics in private because, although they have an opinion, they don't feel they can back it up themselves. There is, for example, Open Society Day and certainly many other regional initiatives. Politicians can motivate people to join a party, attend public council meetings and take part in demonstrations. Attending Fridays for Future is an experience! Companies can take a stand! Ideology is not the opinion of others, but that which is not scientifically robust (i.e. more than a single study). https://www.know-why.net/model/Ch6pG92HeaVbtguDEvK11Iw

Vegan shoes and belts are no longer distinguishable from their leather variants. And who pays attention to the fact that the tanning processes do not allow heavy metals to enter the environment or that the leather is certified accordingly? We should be careful with some plastics, such as PVC with plasticizers, which are also not good for the environment.

Many furniture cannot stand being moved or even disassembled and reassembled. They are primarily cheap and the business model is that after a few years we want to buy new furniture. Looking at how valuable the furniture is and then being able to repair it takes us a whole lot further on the way to a better world. It is also amazing what good pieces there are on the used market.

Many devices from vacuum cleaners to cordless screwdrivers to TVs are amazingly inexpensive today. Relying on valuable devices that last a long time, or even buying used devices, helps to save raw materials and energy. Look for refurbished products.

Unfortunately, many devices can no longer be repaired at all, for example if the control unit breaks down from the washing machine and costs more than a new washing machine. And yet there are workshops that also repair mobile phones, washing machines, lawn mowers, etc. - and even if it is as expensive as a new device, it is the good feeling of having done something for a better world again.

Firecrackers and fireworks are a problem in every respect: for the animal world, the environment and the people who produce them. The ultrafine particles pollution is horrendous. And all this only because people (mostly men) hope for attention and admiration about this.

Returns have become a big problem - many returns are simply burned because the logistics are more expensive than the goods. Especially with clothing, we should research for detailed size specifications so that the clothing also fits. Simply ordering three sizes and of course sending two back is a waste of energy and resources. But other products would not have to be returned if we researched better beforehand whether they meet our expectations.

This does not refer to the skater track or the artificial turf sports field, but motorsport, skiing on artificially snowy slopes, kiting in bird protection areas, sailboats with biocides on the underwater ship, golfing with high use of water and pesticides, quad rides into nature, skydiving, etc. Of course, these hobbies are fun, which is why it is rewarded if we actively choose the more environmentally friendly alternatives here and thus achieve a rethink with others.