In a four-years-long project, it is not easy to decide what worked best and what created the most impact, discussion, or debate. However, in the EU 1.5° Lifestyles project we have a potential contender: the climate puzzle, a series board game that project team adapted specifically for the project based on an already existing version created by project partner D-mat.
In the project, the Climate Puzzle was first and foremost intended to be used for research purposes in the first round of our citizen as well as stakeholder thinking labs. With citizens, it was a tool used to bring the concept and process of carbon footprint reduction closer to everyday life, and, importantly, learn about the acceptance of the 50 low-carbon lifestyle options (by clicking on the links, you can read about the Citizen Thinking Labs, our related press release or check a peer-reviewed paper on the process and outcomes). With expert stakeholders, we used the climate puzzle to see how they think an average citizen in each of the five case countries could reduce their carbon footprint, and then also discuss issues surrounding acceptance and how it could be improved (by clicking on the links, you can ready about the Stakeholder Thinking Labs, or check our relevant methods brief).
At these planned and research-focused thinking labs, the Climate Puzzle proved highly useful as well as educational and attractive. Building on this success, sensing a general interest in the game as well as receiving requests from various parties, project partners organised more than 30 Climate Puzzle workshops across several countries. These involved very diverse audiences and types of host organisations or events, including:
- science day and researchers’ night events in Germany, Hungary, Latvia and Spain,
- green festivals in Germany and Latvia,
- a youth camp in Hungary,
- a farmers' market in Spain,
- university courses or events for students in Hungary,
- primary and secondary school classes or events in Germany and Spain,
- training and awareness raising workshops for businesses and corporations in Hungary and Latvia,
- an internal training workshop for an NGO active in the field of sustainable lifestyles.
We are certain that the "carrier" of the Climate Puzzle will not end with the project, so in case of interest, please contact the project partners.
For further inspiration, please check our earlier news on the use of Climate Puzzle, for example:
- Participation in the Researchers' Night in Latvia and Hungary
- The climate puzzle at the Potsdam Environment Festival 2024
- UDC Team Continues to Empower Citizens of A Coruña
- RIFS Team engages primary school students in Potsdam, Germany
- Climate Puzzle Workshop and presentation of project results at a summer camp in Hungary
Edina Vadovics, GreenDependent Institute