On the last weekend in June we met for our first seminar live on site this year: The Messenger Weekend in the beautiful Odenwald region.
Our previous meetings, trainings and seminars in 2021 could only take place digitally; at the end of June we were finally able to meet again in person (with appropriate safety precautions and with some hygiene regulations). At our three-day Messenger Weekend in Ober-Ramstadt, everything revolved around the topics of climate protection, forests and moors.
Under the motto "Let's take action for climate protection - Anpacken für Wälder und Moore", we at IBG want to focus on nature as a CO2 storage in the coming year and also discuss and work on this topic in our workcamps, seminars and training courses. We have put the first ideas into concrete terms at the Messenger Weekend.
Our ideas for 2022
In smaller groups, we discussed workshops and inputs on the topic of climate protection in our camps, we thought about how to address new target groups, how to find new cooperation partners and how to make expertise on ecological topics such as climate protection, forests and peatlands accessible in our organisation.
In addition to these specific ideas, we discussed about the topics of climate psychology, sustainability communication and climate change anxiety. After the full workshop day on Saturday there was even time for a night hike - now an integral part of every IBG seminar or training. This time we has an expert on the subject of bats with a bat detector on board for our hike. So we could not only marvel at the nature of the Odenwald and hundreds of fireflies in the forest, but also use the detector to make audible the ultrasonic sounds of the bats that were hunting in the evening air above our heads.
Climate protection and international volunteering - how do they fit together?
Two big questions kept us busy in all our discussions: How can we become better ambassadors for international workcamps and sustainability and get more people excited about international engagement for a better world? And how do international travels for workcamps and the commitment to climate protection even fit together? We haven't answered these questions by a long way and are particularly excited about your ideas and opinions: What is particularly important to you on this topic? What should IBG do better? What projects are you missing? Write us your ideas and suggestions.
In this context, we would like to draw your attention to the IJAB's current survey on volunteering abroad and climate protection. You can give your opinion there until July 18th. With a little luck, you might even win an Interrail pass as a thank you for your next (more) sustainable trip through Europe.
More about sustainability at IBG
If you are interested in what IBG has done in the past few years in the field of climate protection and sustainability, take a look at our sustainability page.