Four years and over 200 Young Climate Ambassadors from eight countries trained and committed to help tackle the climate crisis. Four years and over 60 wilderness camps — with over 1000 participants from 9 countries — organised to show the interlinkages between ecosystem decline and climate change. Four years and over 350 teachers trained in gamified non-formal environment education and more than 1200 users making use of our e-learning platform. Yes, four years of plenty: a mobile app, climate comedy shows, museums intervened with new layers of climate related information, a board game, festivals greened, and more. So much more.

The Game On! project came to an end in October’s end, and shortly before, organised its Final Conference in Brussels, Belgium, to carry out a final exchange of what has been done and, most importantly, of what is still to be done. And can be done so. With enthusiasm. With energy. With gamification. With the youth.

On 19-20 September, The Novotel Brussels City Centre hotel welcomed over 70 participants for the “Climate Change: Game Over or Game On?” Final Conference. Young Climate Ambassadors, Members of the European Parliament, representatives of youth led projects, journalists and project partners gathered and participated in sessions developed and led by the project’s youth activists, to policy discussions on youth policies and climate justice within the EU borders and beyond, and more.

Action and Reaction

Care to understand how resource consumption and the come-and-goes of development between the Global South and Global North nations work out? The Terra Futura board game — developed by Czech partner Na Mysli and presented by Young Ambassadors Denisa Binderová & Lucie Uxová — focuses on teaching how, as we extract resources and convert them to finalised products, we can affect other players — in the board and in the globe — with our actions — and greed.

Ever wondered how the voice of the youth can make a change in the Conference of the Parties? Bulgarian Young Ambassadors Svetlana Vylkova & Mario Shimbov explored this reality alongside an approach involving the improv theatre approach.

On the other hand, a constant way to communicate the power of eco-consciousness can be easily activated through podcasting, just as Young Ambassadors Juraj Lubik, from Slovakia, and Kateřina Mazancová, from the Czech Republic, showed in their workshop aiming to cover the process from idea to impact.

The sessions were numerous, yes, and the lessons learned from them even more so. They included, among others, how wilderness camps can help in the mission to change and learn, how bird ringing camps can be used for both climate research and awareness raising, ways to approach and tackle degrowth, or how museum exhibitions can be intervened in a playful manner through escape rooms, to name only a few of the experiences shared during the conference and the project.

The Game Must Go On!

Now, just like with the conference, Game On! also comes to an end. Within its 4-year sprint, partners, young activists, journalists, politicians, teachers, and the general population have been exposed — through novel, interactive ways — to up-to-date information on climate change, biodiversity conservation and climate action; to the hurdles we face and, above all else, to what we can do to confront them.

And despite the project has now come to an end, Game On! and its partners reject the notion that our mission to save the planet is over.

It is still on. We can overcome its challenges. We must. We shall.

Are you in? If ‘yes’, then #GameOn!