CSO: mycelia gGmbH
Area: Education
Location: TRural regions across Germany (digital and local)

Type of project

“WirksamJetzt” aims to activate young people in rural areas who have so far been difficult to engage on climate topics. The project connects the learning platform “Klima Campus” with the social media channel “Studiohitzefrei” and addresses themes such as nature conservation, biodiversity, climate justice, consumption, and global interlinkages. Young people are reached through pop-culture climate communication and are encouraged to take local action through low-threshold challenges.

By linking pop-culture climate communication with structured learning opportunities and concrete low-threshold challenges, the project combines digital reach with practical entry points for local action in rural contexts. In doing so, it aims to create relatable pathways from understanding global interlinkages to visible, everyday action.

Target

The projects describes that many young people in rural areas are not reached by climate communication. Young people without prior engagement experience, and those with political alienation or scepticism, are to be approached through everyday relevance and practical links to daily life.

Science – Based

“WirksamJetzt” aims to translate scientific models into everyday language and to address young people from disengaged target groups. The fiche references the Talking-Hope study (2025), arguing that young people are not uninterested but feel not represented by climate communication; it highlights proximity, simple language, peer communication, and positive future narratives as key levers that the project intends to implement systematically

Gender

Gender-relevant perspectives on the climate crisis are to be systematically integrated into materials, including gender-specific impacts related to resource consumption, care work, or climate migration. The selection of positive examples (“Climate Heroes”) is planned to ensure diverse representation

Planned activities

• At least 500 young people in rural regions are activated for local climate action and connected through low-threshold peer structures. 
• Development of 10 micro-actions and integration of global references. 
• Development of starter kits; distribution via youth clubs, sports clubs, schools, and local initiatives. 
• At least 10,000 young people expand their knowledge of global climate interlinkages and strengthen their trust in scientific foundations through a social media campaign.

Action model

By combining social media storytelling with place-based learning, the project aims to make global processes understandable and connect them to young people’s everyday lives. Comment and reaction analyses are used to identify how young people interpret scientific model logics, where misunderstandings occur, and which formats strengthen trust in science. A “Reach–Join–Do–Learn–Trust” impact matrix structures ongoing evaluation and enables data-informed optimisation of science-based education. Local micro-actions (e.g., wildflower meadows, repair workshops, social media campaigns) are developed on the ground and linked digitally through peer-to-peer learning, storytelling, learning journeys, and Open Educational Resource.