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

Many children and young people are allowed to have a say when it comes to renovating their rooms. Choosing natural materials for this can make you proud. Building materials such as concrete, plaster, steel and aluminium have a high ecological footprint and generate a lot of greenhouse gases. Foam insulation materials are also subject to criticism. The negative consequences of conventional paints and adhesives are often unknown. These ultimately lead to toxic exhaust gases in waste incineration plants due to ineffective filters. Natural building materials and paints are significantly more expensive, although non-natural materials are often extremely expensive to dispose of. So it is the good feeling, the better smell and the healthier building biology that make us do the right thing here.

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.