By implementing this project, we wanted to cultivate the environmental and digital skills of people over 65, reducing their mistrust of environmental issues and increasing their empowerment to participate and organise intergenerational activities in the local community. More detailed, the project aspired to (i) increase seniors and adult educators’ digital and environmental competences and awareness levels, (ii) empower seniors to be trained to organize their own educational activities and become “SEAnior Ambassadors” of their community, (iii) engage seniors in a virtual competition throughout an interactive and user-friendly game and (iv) reduce ageist attitudes, prejudices and stereotypes through education and intergenerational activities.
Older generations often don’t believe in climate change and other environmental problems or may experience fatigue, limiting their capacity to engage in new initiatives. At the same time, older generations appear hesitant to support environmental issues and to participate in relative actions. They have also been mostly absent from environmental education programmes, given the available literature and relative projects. However, engaging in environmental volunteerism is quite beneficial for adults over 65, as it supports their physical and mental health, promotes pro-environment behaviour, builds social connections, and strengthens their self-esteem. Field experience from previous relevant initiatives by the project partners, confirmed these findings. Furthermore, as environmental issues have nowadays become mainstream and play a decisive role to our survival, it has become evident that both adult educators in social organisations and their students need to upgrade their knowledge and their skills on environmental issues. Lifelong learning and intergenerational solidarity are essential tools to counteract misinformation, build trust in scientific data, and foster engagement across generations to address environmental challenges.