The Youth Leading Environmental Change Project: A Mixed-Method Longitudinal Study across Six Countries Manuel Riemer, 1 Courte Voorhees, 2 Livia Dittmer, 1 Susan Alisat, 1 Nahian Alam, 3 Radha Sayal, 4 Sayema Haque Bidisha, 5 Arun De Souza, 6 Jennifer Lynes, 7 Alexander Metternich, 8 Frank Mugagga, 9 and Petra Schweizer-Ries 10 1 Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada. 2 Frostburg State University, Frostburg, Maryland, USA. 3 University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada. 4 Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Canada. 5 Department of Economics, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 6 Department of Sociology, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India. 7 School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada. 8 Saarland University, Saarland, Germany. 9 Department of Geography, GeoInformatics and Climatic Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. 10 Bochum University of Applied Science, Bochum, Germany. Abstract Significant cultural transformations of the kinds that are needed to move our global society toward sustainability require youth to engage in en- vironmental actions. These actions are more than just updating one’s personal practice (e.g., recycling). They are ‘‘intentional and conscious civic behaviors that are focused on systemic causes of environmental problems and the promotion of environmental sustainability through collective efforts’’ (Alisat & Riemer, 2015, p. 14). The current study investigated the effectiveness of the Youth Leading Environmental Change (YLEC) program, which fostered such environmental actions in six participating countries. YLEC is an 11-unit evidence-based youth engagement workshop series, with a focus on environmental justice and on building action competence. The study employed a mixed-method longitudinal comparison group design with three follow-ups at 3, 6, and 12 months. Overall, 365 university students from Bangladesh, Canada, Germany, India, Uganda, and the United States participated in either the workshop or comparison group. Sixty-three of the workshop participants participated in semistructured qualitative interviews at the 3-month follow-up. The results suggest that most participants experienced a significant personal transformation both in regard to how they relate to environmental issues and how they perceive themselves as agents of change. Although there was an increase in environmental action in the month immediately following the workshop series, engagement seemed to revert close to baseline levels at the 12-month follow-up for many participants. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are dis- cussed. Key Words: Youth—Environmental action—Environmentalism— Youth engagement—Environmental activism. I used to think that it is always those bigger organizations, those bigger companies . Could be the ones to act, to act for the envi- ronment, but I have learned that even me personally, at my lower status, I can be an activist, I can create change. —Participant from Uganda (UGD17) Youth Civic Action for Transformative Change I n the face of worrisome human impacts on global climate (IPCC, 2014), there is hope that a global social movement could lead to a cultural transformation resulting in a society that has a more balanced and less exploitative relationship with nature. This 174 ECOPSYCHOLOGY SEPTEMBER 2016 DOI: 10.1089/eco.2016.0025