What Happens When Youth Workers Reimagine Climate Education?
Local Workshop in Leiden under ECHOES project
On November 5th, youth workers from across Leiden and surrounding regions gathered to explore one shared question: How do we help young people feel empowered, not overwhelmed, by the climate crisis?
The meeting was part of ECHOES, a collaborative Erasmus+ KA2 initiative focused on helping youth workers support young people in transforming climate anxiety into emotional resilience and meaningful action. The central focus of the day was the ECHOES Toolkit, a set of activities co-created by partner organizations across Europe.
Before diving into solutions, campaigns, or global data, young people often need a space to express how they feel.
Participants shared that conversations about climate change can easily slide into either hopelessness or argument. The ECHOES approach encourages youth workers to begin by acknowledging the emotional landscape.
“You can’t move people from fear to action without acknowledging the fear.”
This emotional grounding is not a detour from climate engagement, it is the foundation that allows it to become real and sustainable.
The Toolkit Gains Power When Local Context Shapes It
Although the ECHOES Toolkit is designed to be used internationally, its real impact becomes visible when activities are connected to the local environment. In Leiden, this meant connecting climate discussions to rising sea levels, neighborhood sustainability projects, and familiar spaces.
When climate issues are placed in local settings, they become something young people can influence.
Global understanding is valuable, but local relevance creates ownership.
Young People Are Not Only Participants, They Are Co-Creators
A key insight from the workshops was that young people do not simply want to be taught, they want to help build the learning experience.
Participants discussed methods for inviting youth to redesign activities, propose community actions, and adapt the Toolkit to suit their group.
When youth contribute to shaping the process, they experience themselves as capable decision-makers.
This shift from receiving to co-creating fosters confidence, creativity, and agency.
Small, Visible Actions Matter More Than Large, Abstract Goals
Climate discussions often focus on global outcomes that feel too enormous to influence. The workshop highlighted the power of small community actions, such as repair cafés, shared gardens, clothing swaps, and collaborative skill-building.
These actions create a sense of success, not just concern.
They show that climate engagement is not about saving the world alone, but about changing the world together, one step at a time.
Climate Work Thrives in Community Connection
One of the strongest messages from the workshop was that climate empowerment does not come from isolated individuals, but from relationships.
New collaborations formed among schools, cultural centers, youth spaces, and activists during the session.
Change does not begin in isolation, it begins in connection.
When youth workers support each other, the work becomes lighter, more joyful, and more sustainable.
Looking Forward
The Leiden workshop did not close with fixed conclusions. It closed with momentum. The next phase is ongoing experimentation, adaptation, and collaboration as the Toolkit continues to be used in real youth spaces.
A key question remains:
How can we continue creating environments where young people feel not just anxious about the future, but powerful in shaping it?
If we keep exploring that question together, the echoes of this work will continue to grow.
