Driving Question:
Is it possible for younger people to make a difference in the health of our oceans?
Is it possible for younger people to make a difference in the health of our oceans?
"We know that when we protect our oceans we’re protecting our future."
— President Bill Clinton
Mission Statement
Humans are beginning to mess with the most powerful thing on Earth, the ocean. 80% of ocean pollution comes from land, oceans are becoming more and more acidic, overfishing is destroying the fish population. The Earth has lost half of its animal species in the past 40 years. At this point in time, we are not doing enough to keep our oceans healthy, which could have catastrophic effects on the whole planet. Some adults are trying to solve this problem, and have been successful in helping the oceans. But, do younger people care enough to help the oceans? Do they care enough to make the world enough to leave the world a better place for the next generation? The goal of our group is to raise awareness of the factors impacting oceans and to help Brookwood students see what they can do to help make our ocean healthier.
Local Project
Our local project is a commemoration of National Oceans Day . Following our local project, we hope that Brookwood school will think differently about the issue of Cleaner Oceans because they will have learned about the factors affecting oceans. During our local project, we hope to:
- Talk to the seventh grade (or just one of the classes) about ocean health and about the Island School
- Talk to upper school about ocean health
- Have everyone wear blue for oceans day
- Raise awareness of local sea-life through a Ocean/Fish-themed Lunch
Ocean Facts: From the New York Times Article "Ocean Life Faces Mass Extinction"
- The number of coral reefs across the world has decreased by 40%.
- Most ocean damage is coming from a major loss of habitat, such as coral reefs.
- The oceans are becoming warmer and more acidic causing fish to move to new habitats, and some fish have nowhere to go, causing to them to become extinct.
- In 20 years, most fish people eat will be from fish farms. These genetically modified fish can escape and cause problems in the ecosystem by outcompeting native fish for food sources and habitats.
- Fishing such as trawling has transformed the ocean floor. Over 20 million square miles of ocean floor have been trawled and has caused part of the Continental shelf to crumble.
- Humans are decimating the numbers of marine animals that rely on land and rivers, for example seabirds and turtles numbers have dropped consistently from hazards on land.
- Underwater mining has the potential to wreck ecosystems around the world. Over 460,00 square feet of the sea floor has already been contacted for it and could pollute the deep ocean.
- In order to stop ocean species from disappearing from our world, we must reduce green house emissions.
- There is still time to save the oceans, but time is running out.
— President Bill Clinton
Mission Statement
Humans are beginning to mess with the most powerful thing on Earth, the ocean. 80% of ocean pollution comes from land, oceans are becoming more and more acidic, overfishing is destroying the fish population. The Earth has lost half of its animal species in the past 40 years. At this point in time, we are not doing enough to keep our oceans healthy, which could have catastrophic effects on the whole planet. Some adults are trying to solve this problem, and have been successful in helping the oceans. But, do younger people care enough to help the oceans? Do they care enough to make the world enough to leave the world a better place for the next generation? The goal of our group is to raise awareness of the factors impacting oceans and to help Brookwood students see what they can do to help make our ocean healthier.
Local Project
Our local project is a commemoration of National Oceans Day . Following our local project, we hope that Brookwood school will think differently about the issue of Cleaner Oceans because they will have learned about the factors affecting oceans. During our local project, we hope to:
- Talk to the seventh grade (or just one of the classes) about ocean health and about the Island School
- Talk to upper school about ocean health
- Have everyone wear blue for oceans day
- Raise awareness of local sea-life through a Ocean/Fish-themed Lunch
Ocean Facts: From the New York Times Article "Ocean Life Faces Mass Extinction"
- The number of coral reefs across the world has decreased by 40%.
- Most ocean damage is coming from a major loss of habitat, such as coral reefs.
- The oceans are becoming warmer and more acidic causing fish to move to new habitats, and some fish have nowhere to go, causing to them to become extinct.
- In 20 years, most fish people eat will be from fish farms. These genetically modified fish can escape and cause problems in the ecosystem by outcompeting native fish for food sources and habitats.
- Fishing such as trawling has transformed the ocean floor. Over 20 million square miles of ocean floor have been trawled and has caused part of the Continental shelf to crumble.
- Humans are decimating the numbers of marine animals that rely on land and rivers, for example seabirds and turtles numbers have dropped consistently from hazards on land.
- Underwater mining has the potential to wreck ecosystems around the world. Over 460,00 square feet of the sea floor has already been contacted for it and could pollute the deep ocean.
- In order to stop ocean species from disappearing from our world, we must reduce green house emissions.
- There is still time to save the oceans, but time is running out.
Conversation with the Island School
On 4-17-15, we had the amazing chance to Skype with an intern from the Island School, named Alanna. During our 30 minute conversation, we discussed sustainability, and the problems facing the ocean today. Due to how she is in the front lines of this issue, she was able to provide us with loads of valuable information about the ocean's. We discussed the problems facing coral reefs around the world, along with discussing other issues such as run off from land. She also had some wise words about how to be more conservative with our water like they are. At the Island School they need to be careful with their water, but at Brookwood we have plenty of water, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't use it responsibly. Some ways to do that include taking shorter showers, and perhaps using reusable water bottles more. Overall, we gained a wealth of knowledge from Alanna, helping us become more informed in the plight the ocean is in today.
On 4-17-15, we had the amazing chance to Skype with an intern from the Island School, named Alanna. During our 30 minute conversation, we discussed sustainability, and the problems facing the ocean today. Due to how she is in the front lines of this issue, she was able to provide us with loads of valuable information about the ocean's. We discussed the problems facing coral reefs around the world, along with discussing other issues such as run off from land. She also had some wise words about how to be more conservative with our water like they are. At the Island School they need to be careful with their water, but at Brookwood we have plenty of water, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't use it responsibly. Some ways to do that include taking shorter showers, and perhaps using reusable water bottles more. Overall, we gained a wealth of knowledge from Alanna, helping us become more informed in the plight the ocean is in today.
Here is a video of our skype call with Alanna. It was an amazing conversation that gave us lots of insight into the problems the ocean is facing today.