The chancellor and the activist

During a live TV debate with German Chancellor Angela Merkel late last year, 23-year-old environmental activist Lisa Storcks nervously clutched the microphone and asked her country's leader when Germany would phase out coal in order to meet its carbon reduction targets.

Merkel's response surprised her: "We'll find ways to achieve our goal of reducing our carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2020. I promise you that."

And with that, Storcks was catapulted into the media spotlight. The fresh-faced student demanding accountability from the seasoned chancellor struck a chord with many in the studio and still more beyond.

Looking back a year later, Storcks said, "It was absolutely crazy that she just promised me that the German government would reach this goal."

It wasn't a promise kept.

Storcks says it was "disappointing" when, just a few months later, Germany abandoned the goal. But not surprising. "I think a lot of people knew during the debate that it would be hard to reach those goals but it matters to me that we at least try to achieve the targets rather than abandoning them," she told DW.

Read more: Germany awarded 'shameful' negative climate prize at COP24

Practicing what she preaches

Just as she would like to see Germany commit to more than just headline targets, Storcks' climate activism is much more enduring than her 15 minutes of TV fame.

Storcks has lived and breathed environmental issues since, aged 12, she gave up meat and began attending environmental protests — habits she has maintained into adulthood.

To this day, Storcks doesn't drive and has never been on an airplane.

A masters' student in economic policy consulting at the Ruhr-University Bochum and head of the campaign team for WWF Germany's youth wing, Storcks is also actively involved with Greenpeace and started a coal divestment campaign at her university.

Read more: Can we consume less without wrecking the economy?

But she believes the best hope for climate protection is in building bridges between environmental activism and "real world" economics, and is a leader of her university's chapter of the German Network for Plural Economic Development.

Bridging economics and activism

The organization promotes interdisciplinary exchanges of ideas to find new ways of thinking about and practicing economics. For Storcks, the goal is an economic system that works within our planetary boundaries, particularly when it comes to energy production. 

"My role is difficult because I don't belong only to the environmental side or the economic side of the debate," she admitted.

But being part of both camps, she says, helps develop the mutual understanding and trust she believes is essential to make the climate action we need politically and practically possible.

Read more: Can Europe go carbon neutral by 2050?

In her studies, she's opted to focus on the energy sector, because she believes this is the field in which she can have the biggest impact.

"I think if you are involved in environmental or climate protection you have to go into the positions that are influential or where you can make decisions," she said.

Storcks says short-term thinking by politicians more focused on immediate economic gains than building a sustainable system is one of the biggest hurdles to effective policy.

A responsibility to act

She is also very aware of her privileged position in one of the world's richest countries, where the consequences of our unsustainable economics are not always visible because they play out in developing countries. 

"It's our privilege and responsibility in developed countries to do something about the mess we've caused because we are living good lives at the cost of poorer countries that will ultimately feel the effects of climate change far more than us," she said.

Read more: Climate risk: Insuring against the inevitable

Between organizing demonstrations, writing petitions and engaging with young people and politicians, online and at public rallies, Storcks somehow manages to get her masters' coursework done, too.

But she says it isn't hard to find the time for activism: "It doesn't feel like work, it's more like a hobby for me to raise awareness for people to practice sustainability in their daily lives."

That her generation's future depends on a stable climate is more a source of motivation than fear. "We will be massively affected by it, so we should open our mouths and speak out against it," Storcks said.