Potential of ‘future workshop’ method for educating adolescents about climate change mitigation and adaptation: a case from Freistadt, Upper Austria

Figures & data

Figure 1. Overview of ‘KLAR! – Zukunftswerkstatt’ with its five FW phases, including content and objectives of each FW phase (the time specification is valid for two consecutive learning groups).

Figure 2. Upper-secondary school students and researchers collaborating in ‘KLAR! – Zukunftswerkstatt’ (Source: Energiebezirk Freistadt).

Table 1. Mitigation behaviors that could be realized by communities in the Muehlviertel region named by upper-secondary school students prior and after ‘KLAR! – Zukunftswerkstatt’ (N = number of responses).

Types of mitigation behavior	Absolute frequency of responses prior to FW (N = 75)	Absolute frequency of responses after FW (N = 96)	Differences in responses
Avoiding plastic	7	7	None
Using bicycle	7	12	+5
Using electric cars	8	4	–4
Car sharing	7	12	+5
Using public transportation	21	21	None
Buying regional products	5	10	+5
Vegetarian diet	10	15	+5
Afforestation	1	2	+1
Awareness raising about climate change	2	2	None
Saving electricity	4	3	–1
Using renewable energies	2	7	+5
Paying a carbon tax	0	1	+1
Reducing air travel	1	0	–1

Table 2. Adaptation behaviors that could be realized by communities in the Muehlviertel region named by upper-secondary school students prior and after 'KLAR! – Zukunftswerkstatt' (N = number of responses).

Types of adaptation behavior	Absolute frequency of responses prior to FW (N = 13)	Absolute frequency of responses after FW (N = 44)	Differences in responses
Reducing water consumption	7	10	+3
Optimizing irrigation in farming	0	5	+5
Crop specialization in farming	1	9	+8
Urban agriculture	0	3	+3
Rainwater harvesting	2	6	+4
Natural hazard management	1	2	+1
Sustainable forest management	0	4	+4
Improving housing insulation	1	1	None
Heat protection plan	1	1	None
Awareness raising about climate change	0	3	+3

Table 3. Overview of upper-secondary school students’ mini-projects in FW on mitigation and adaptation and their justifications for choosing their topic.

Group(s)	Topics addressed by students in mini-projects	Students’ justifications for choosing to work on their topic
1 & 3	Water use & irrigation	Water use and irrigation play a major role in the region, and drought periods negatively affect agricultural production and household consumption
2 & 10	Ice melt at the Poles	Global warming leads to melting ice and Arctic environmental changes, which are likely to have global consequences
4	Meat consumption and its impacts on the climate	Eating meat is non-ethical and unhealthy, as cattle farms emit CH4, which amplifies climate change, which again is leading to manifold impacts across the globe
5 & 7	Droughts and their consequences for forest and agricultural production	Climate change affects local precipitation patterns, leading to more frequent and more severe drought periods in the region, causing crop failures as well as forest pests
6	Skiing and climate change	Skiing plays a major role for economy in Austria, and climate change reduces snow safety
8	Economy, climate change and the environment	Climate-friendly businesses avoid environmental degradation
9	Climate change and biodiversity	Man-made climate change affects animals and their habitats
11	Climate change and precipitation changes	Global warming changes precipitation patterns and leads to extreme weather events like heavy rainfall and flooding
12	Heat waves	Climate change leads to heat waves in the region and young people are affected
13	Plastic consumption	Plastic products contribute to GHG emissions and micro-plastics pollute Earth’s oceans