How old are you?

23 - I was born in May 1991.

Where do you live?

Right now I am in the last weeks of my year abroad, living currently in a swampy National Park in Estonia. Soon I'll be moving back to a small German town called Greifswald, located on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Though I was born and raised in Frankfurt (Main). 

What do you do (studies, work, etc)?

I study "Landscape Ecology & Nature Conservation – International". It is based on bio- and geosciences, supplemented by the fields of law, economics, ethics and land use. A mandatory year of studying and working abroad is included, too.

In my leisure time I usually do some sports, meet friends, do voluntary work, enjoy doing nothing at all with a good book or music, travel around and much more.

Which YEE Member Organisation do you belong to? What are its main activities?

FÖJ-AKTIV e.V.

It is an organization to support and develop the ecological voluntary service FÖJ in Germany for young people up to the age of 27.
The organization aims to help volunteers develop and carry out projects they do in their freetime, apart from their volunteer service. All the projects and activities we do together promote the ecological voluntary service itself as well as environmental-friendly and sustainable living. Our organization depends on active members who want to volunteer even more and thus gain even more experience in project work. Also FÖJ-AKTIV e.V. gives its members the opportunity to improve the voluntary service on a political level.

What do you enjoy most about being a YEE Board member and why did you choose to stay/return?

For me the most rewarding experience you have as a YEE Board Member is the work with such an amazing international team on environmental topics. It may not always be easy to work with people from a highly diverse background, but the resulting skills, knowledge and deep friendships are definitely worth it. Also I am grateful for having the opportunity to get to know so many different places and cultures.

It takes about one year to really get to know this kind of job. Having done this already leaves space for lots of tasks I am really excited about and can finally approach.
After my first mandate I had not only learned a lot but also developed myself quite much. Still I could sense there was way more to gain by returning to the Board and focusing on new challenges. Speaking of which, if you enjoy challenging yourself and explore your limits as much as I do, this is the place to be! Taking over responsibility is never easy, but in the case of YEE it is truly rewarding. And let's not forget how much there is to learn and to achieve if we join our forces and work together!

What is your main aim as a 2014 - 2015 Board member?

This year I'd like to focus on emphasising environmental aspects and to uphold the high quality of our publications. For me it will also be very important to implement many ideas from my last mandate, that could not be tackled back then. Such as building possibilities for non-Board members to really contribute to YEE's work besides the projects and to strengthen our connection with professionals who have once been members of our network and are still very motivated to help us.

Which environmental problem worries you the most?

What worries me the most? It is not a single one of those many, many problems. It is how people think and act. The lack of environmental awareness.
Thanks to science we have an abundance of prognoses about what is going to happen. We have plenty of knowledge about what we should and could do to prevent or at least delay huge environmental problems which will affect most of us and all future generations, especially the poor.
But still people don't get the point. Still they think about their own comfort first (and that their life standard is normal or even too low). Still economy goes first. Still people even fight nature conservation. And still you have to defend yourself when telling that you are trying to live as ecologically friendly as possible or you work as an ecologist. And, how sad is that, the list goes on.
People refuse to think about how they affect nature. Many times they don't even get the idea of doing so. Being a vegetarian brands you as a weird person. At school ecology often is, if mentioned at all, just a small and boring point. Children are not taught so many important things they should know.
To cut a long story short: What worries me the most is that the majority of our modern societies have lost any connection to nature, do not respect it, see nature and it's resources as given and never-ending and ignore scientific evidence.

What is your favorite place in nature?

I love forests and small clean streams, mountains as well as the sea, deserts, bogs and many more. I don't really have a favourite. But I enjoy especially places off the beaten track, places where I can discover nature in its huge variety and with a minimum of human influence. However, just give me a beautiful landscape and I am perfectly happy!

Workplan 2014-2015