Projects for climate & environmental protection | 7 ways to get involved

2. Become active in animal & insect protection

Insects and wildlife such as birds are an essential part of our ecosystem and therefore equally important in climate and environmental protection. The sealing of surfaces and the use of pesticides destroy the natural habitats of animals. In addition, livestock farming also causes some ecological problems.

You can actively work for the protection of insects and wild animals, but also for the improvement of conditions in animal husbandry. You can find various projects and ideas on vostel.de: from setting up insect hotels or bird feeders to distributing seed bombs with insect-friendly plants to getting involved with an animal protection organization.

3. Free nature from garbage with a cleanup

Garbage is a serious problem for our (urban) nature. It doesn’t just look unsightly floating in waterways or lying around wild in parks. It also endangers our groundwater. Because a single cigarette pollutes about 40-60 liters of groundwater. In addition, it is washed into the oceans by rivers or eaten by animals, which often die from it.

At a Cleanup, you have the opportunity to work together with other committed people to rid nature of this trash. This is not only a great joint activity directly in nature, but also actively contributes to environmental and climate protection.

On vostel.de you can find regular Cleanups in different cities in Germany that you can join. Of course you can also organize a Cleanup yourself – together with an organization on vostel.de or privately with friends. All you need are a few people, gloves, trash bags and grabbers. You can also easily incorporate mini cleanups into your everyday life, for example while walking or jogging (plogging).

4. Get involved in environmental education

Climate and environmental protection always require an awareness of the diversity and value of our natural world. This can be developed most effectively among school children – e.g. through school planting campaigns and lessons on environmental protection. If you feel like passing on this knowledge to the youngest generation, you can find and support many environmental education projects at vostel.de.

5. Get politically involved for climate & environmental protection

You want to get active beyond local projects? Then get involved at the political level for nature and climate protection.

Political engagement can start on a very small scale by signing a petition (e.g. via change.org) or by participating in a demonstration for more climate and environmental protection. If you want to go one step further, you can join an environmental organization and support their work directly: e.g. in public relations, with administrative tasks or with the implementation of (political) actions.

6. Donate money to environmental organizations

Financial support for environmental protection organizations and their projects is also an important form of commitment. Due to their experience, networking and specialization on certain topics, organizations often have great influence on a social and political level. Supporting them in their work through a donation is therefore an efficient and at the same time a little time-consuming way to get involved in climate and environmental protection.

7. Switch to green energy, mobility & nutrition

Another important way to help protect the climate and the environment is to use sustainable forms of mobility, energy and food. Switching to green electricity, setting up a balcony power plant, using public transport or a bicycle instead of a car, but also eating as much plant-based food as possible have a great impact on conserving resources and thus our environment.

Of course, there are many other ways to integrate more sustainability into your everyday life. You can find a comprehensive overview on utopia.de.