“I wish to see youth everywhere rock big chanbges like their hero*ine peers. And everybody can make big contributions to make that happen.”
Eric introduces you to the fascinating youth leadership phenomenon in all its facets, with immediate options to get active with flying banners and gain local hero status within weeks. He also accompanies you through your adventures and helps you grow into the global Tribe of YL.
Eric's story
Eric has been around global positive news, education, youth leadership and sustainability solutions for over twenty years. He has wide ranging knowledge in these fields on what works to make real changes on lives and land, communities one loves and cares for, near and far.Â
But there is more than that.
Coming from a background of sports, fantasy roleplay, teaching and nature travel, Eric suddenly found himself at the side of a hardboiled adventurer and universal scholar of Lakota tradition who introduced him to heartcore sacred warrior values and set him on the path of living Lord Of the Rings for real.
An employment at the Universal World Exposition expo2000 with focus on sustainability meant living among world experts day and night, and led to the realization that “the solutions for everything exist. This needs to get to the people, into all schools.” Old gentlemen at the UN Pavillon agreed, smiled and shrugged “yes, but how?”
The answer lay on the table – a positive news journal featuring only solutions, changemakers, interviews giving an idea of what our cities and regions will look if we simply copy-paste available solutions. This – topped with immediate action options for readers to turn into users, direct access to hero*ines, fellow caring citizens, a focus on youth leadership, fun vibe, fit for use at school where 2 billion youth sit idle, bored with amply time to learn to #bemoreawesome has determined his mission ever since, #fulltimeforfuture.Â
Over 10 years of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, he has attracted 10% of the UN’s Online Volunteers from 70 countries to research, write and translate stories on young and adult changemakers with high impact solutions to 14 languages for YL and won several international awards.Â
His expertise is complemented with initiations to sacred traditions of five continents, the sacred feminine and Queendom of Nature. Â
This broad experience makes him a valuable counsellor and companion for young adults caring for people and planet to detach from inherited ills of earlier failing generations, embrace their heart’s truth, find their focus passion, and know what’s good to do right now for their personal development as a human being and as a changemaker.
His knowledge of good practices, YL platforms and partners enables him to pitch plenty of options for you to choose from so you can zoom into what you love doing best – since your group members will experience maximum learning and impact on causes, activities and goals that they love, find intriguing and rewarding.
He can guide you to find other allies in various fields fitting your purpose, and – most important – to help you, youth and their adult allies spark youth leadershipÂ
- using the wide scope of tools, methods and partners in the YL Tribe
- aligned with personal and professional lives
- on your focus causes and regions
like and with today’s badass changemakers in record-time.
TOPICS
youth leadership
education
positive media
living SDGs in Action
activate your school / city
superpowers of youth / of adults
key professionals for youth leadership and their superpowers
masculine + feminine harmony
sensuality, bodywork
sacred traditions and practices
Workshops, Trainings and long-term Coaching
As YL Master Coach, Eric is your best friend to wield everything you see in YL, activate yourself, your school, your city and get accompanied by him for follow-up activities. Seize your chance.
YL CRASH COURSE
Eric can guide you through the #bemoreawesome Crash Course. Find detail information on the YL Training + Certification page (top menu)
TEACHER TRAINING
Eric can train groups of teachers, adapted to your setting and goals
Find detail information on the YL Training + Certification page (top menu)
CERTIFICATION
Eric can certify as YL Coach, YL Project Partner, YL LearnSpace and sevengardens dialoger. Find detail information on the YL Training + Certification page (top menu)
LEARNSPACE
Eric can guide you through the process of planning, setting up and evolving a LearnSpace where youth can meet, learn, plan and realize projects – self-organized. It’s a needed and perfect win-win for schools, public libraries, community centres and other intersections with the public that seek to activate Able Active Caring Citizens, and especially youth. Find detail information on the YL LearnSpace page and Training + Certification page (top menu)
REALIZE YOUR IDEAS
Eric can help you go forward with your own projects and campaigns on all sorts of causes by adding youth leadership, learnspaces, positive change media culture, YL resources and relations
ACTIVATE YOUR CITY
Eric can (help you) guide an Activate Your City campaign with crash courses at several schools, forming student crews, uniting youth across schools, involving activated students in guiding crash courses at more schools, generating strong presence at schools, in media and public spaces with considerable impact on lives and land near and far. Find out more on the Action Programs page (top menu)
POSITIVE MEDIA CULTURE
Eric gives introductions in positive change media + music culture (cf. crash course phase 3) and can guide you through production with publication in YL Media (part of YL educational resources) as magazine, local issue, music, radio show, youtube show, photo essay and more in digital and print form
GRAND SDG CHALLENGE
Eric can help you start and evolve the Global SDG School / City / Company / Celebrity Challenge to live the SDGs in Action by taking tangible action on all 17 SDGs based on your students’ choices of 200+ actions pioneered by 50+ teen and adult hero*ines. Find out more on the SDG page (top menu)Â
PROJECT PARTNERSHIP
Eric can help you select, start and evolve a Project Partnership with a hero*ine leading a high impact initiative in a low income region. They already impact 1,000s of lives and you can help them achieve next milestones with FUNding and in-kind support, your own ideas, optional activities on both sides, and literally shape the future of an entire region, with multifaceted activities and lots of fun, video meetings included, optional travel. Read more here.
YOUTH EXCHANGE
Eric helps you plan and realize 1-way study and work visits to hero*ines or 2-way youth exchanges with hero*ines’ youth teamsÂ
RED BRIGADE TOUR
Eric helps you host the Red Brigade and use their presence to address street harassment, violence against children, girls and women in your regionÂ
PAN-EUROPEAN PARTNERSHIP
Eric helps you set up and evolve a multi-faceted West-East European partnership between schools to work together to protect and restore natural and cultural heritage, do youth-led eco-cultural tourism, social business, wildlife migration trails and your ideas
+ TIPS TO UNLOCK FUNDING
Eric gives you orientation on funding options for innovative, youth -led, impactful projects on ESD, SDGs and exchanges with option to partner with YL
PREPARATION
Preparation: Discover Youth Leadership. View how today’s teens change lives and land and how you can do the same.Â
- Get to know hero*ines in the online exhibit or in Crash Course Phase 1 or with posters / videos / music
- Browse YL’s Action Programs online or in the Brochure or in Crash Course Phase 2
- Browse Eric’s website
This way, you and Eric share essential knowledge, spirit, vision and you’ll have first ideas and burning question for what’s next for you.Â
ACTIONS
Excellent actions to take before our meeting are
- a group conversation on hero*ines, causes, actions you’ve met and what it means for your entire generation to grow up with it for their ten years at school
- find favorite causes, goals that inspire you, milestones to reach, form teamsÂ
- take High Impact Starter Actions (fundraise, Philanthro-Party, book, games, LEGO drive for a hero*ine; poster exhibit, guide crash course phase 1 for peers; etc. + vividly document on social and news media) for swift impact
Your commitment, creativity and impact make Eric’s day. Share your achievements and difficulties with him. They are part of the experience and help you do better next time and – no less important – they help you help other newbies have the best fun start, so you can grow the movement!
FOLLOW-UP
Take on bigger actions, grow team and reach, join YL Programs like Project Partnership, Global SDG School Challenge etc. – it’s up to you.
Connects great with
ZEYNEP KARABACZAK
Natural colors + cosmetics, dyeing garden builder, sevengardens, Germany
SIARAH
Adventuress of inner and outer Nature, Germany
ANDREA MENDEZ-BRANDAM
N+ Noticias Positivas Radio Magazine, Argentina