Eco friendly changes in youth lifestyles

Background Based on the mapping of the needs of YP in 2020 with whom we work, it emerged that YP did not have enough opportunities to participate and engage in green projects in their community, they need a change, they want to be actively involved in climate change mitigation, but they lack sufficient skills to be able to implement such eco-activities. The YP involved had a need to do more than the usual school education on eco-topics provides them - they decided on a set of nonformal local eco-activities, brought changes in the communities in which they activated other YP to spread the idea of sustainability and LOHAS together. Proposals for eco-activities to support biodiversity and mitigate climate change were gradually created. A group of young people named EMY TEAM - Engaged Ecofriendly Modern Youth was formed, which began to actively transform these proposals into real eco-initiatives in SK and PL. The TYI partnership created for the purpose of increasing EVVO and supporting eco-youth initiatives made it possible to fulfill these needs.Project activities contributed to the increase and development of YP people's competences in the field of environ-protection and spread information and educational activities for better enviro-literacy. Objectives The goal of the project was to learn young peole to think ecologically and live a sustainable lifestyle and implement their own BE IN BE ECO youth initiatives to mitigate the effects of climate change and support LOHAS.The international dimension of the project allowed YP to see eco-problems and their impacts in a broader global context, increased YP´s civic involvement in the protection of the environment and brought a positive social and ecological impact in the fight against climate change. The goals of the project, which were achieved, are the following: - involve young people from the rural region aged 13-25 and support their civic engagement in life protection. environment and LOHAS by participation in small youth eco-initiatives in community - involve rural youth in NFE in the area of enviro-protection by conducting regular eco-workshops on various topics - spread awareness in the field of EVVO and increase the environmental literacy of the general public through social networks using digital tools: animated videos, online spots, posters, eco-challenges, eco-games - to develop the digital literacy of YP through LTT - implement the BE IN BE ECO trade fair, NFE connected with eco-workshops to support LOHAS among target groups Implementation Project implemented activities between Slovakia and Poland by involving a wide group of young people in small ecological initiatives in the community. The participants organized a series of eco-workshops, online information and educational activities, informal education in the field of EVVO, which reached 150 participants from a range of young people and important adults from an underdeveloped region aged 13-25. BE IN BE ECO youth eco-initiatives supported civic involvement in the enviro-protection and LOHAS and brought positive social and ecological impact in the fight against climate change. Ecoworkshops were combined with NFE activities for the public. As part of the DigitalYou training, young people acquired digital competences in order to be able to carry out online environmental awarenness-raising activities, the output is created animated videos that draw attention to global ecological problems, through created animated videos and online eco-games, the quality of work with youth in the area EVVO. The project contributed to the fight against climate change and supported enviro-education, upbringing and awareness through regular activities in the community, the organization of eco-workshops, BE IN BE ECO ecofestival. Achievements Young people activated communities in which concrete youth eco-initiatives BE IN BE ECO were implemented, they brought direct positive impacts with concrete outputs: creation of educational boards, planting trees, creation of an eco-educational program about bees, plants, animals, creation of an insect house, swap, cleaning public spaces from waste and landfills, planting herb spirals, which young people used in ecological cooking. The implemented eco-initiatives involved other young people from rural areas in Slovakia and Poland in the enviro-protection. Project activities contributed to the increase and development of young people's competences in EVVO. They also held regular eco-workshops with NFE and creative activities (re-use, recycle and reduce). The output of information and educational activities of young people is a set of ecological challenges, created animated videos and online eco-games, which are still used in work with youth and in informal environmental education. The output of the project was the BE IN BE ECO Sustainability Market as a joint combined activity of the SK and PL team. These activities were linked with eco-educational activities and gamification to support environmental education for adults as well.