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“Save the Ocean!” Ocean education activist Tharaka Sriram gives lecture on Ocean proection and environmental challenges

“What can you do for our planet and for marine protection?”

Tharaka Sriram, a German native and activist for the marine world, youth and diversity spoke to 160 students at the Carl-Zeiss school in Berlin about challenges and the necessity for marine protections areas around the world.

Inside the United Nations Agenda2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, clean water (SDG 6) and biodiversity below the sea (SDG 14) are amongst those developmental responsibilities for the planetary society.

Tharaka had visited numerous mpa’s (marine protection areas) around the world. As a diver she collected first hand experiences in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean. Only 3% of the total ocean territory are a nature preservation or marine protection area! Plastic garbage, industrial waste, climate change and global warming but also overfishing and the hunt for whales and sharks (finning!) give a wide spectrum of threats to life in our oceans.

Climate Action (SDG 13) should have the highest priority in politics!! “What if politicians are not fit to change the world?” was one of the questions in the discussion following Tharakas presentation. It is up to the Young Voices for Sustainable Development to give impulses for change, to get on the nerves of politicians to demand changes in politics and to go on the streets to claim their future!

 

All students, the Young Voices for Sustainable Development, who attended the presentation wrote down their environmental messages at the board and called for non smoking, reduction of trash, less flesh and fish on their plates, more vegetarianism and a different consumer behavior alltogether.

It is time to start all of this now!

Thank you Tharaka Sriram for your valuable input . We wish you much strength and courage on your journey and mission to protect our oceans and educate us about the necessary changes presented with your initiative Ocean Education.

(Inside this last photo: Tharaka Sriram, Melanie Drewes (volunteer at Explority) and Explority founder and managing Director Wolfgang J. Fischer full of impressions after the presentation at Carl-Zeiss School.) Photo credits: Melanie Drewes, Wolfgang J. Fischer, Mr. Schäfer from Carl Zeiss School

 

 

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#14 Life under Water – The Queen of the Elbe River and The Meadowy Countrysides

The biosphere reserve Middle Elbe is home to the Elbe people and namesake of our project Nawa & Bubo in Mittelelbien. The important floodplain areas along the river Elbe form a unique eco-system and at the same time, as natural abundance areas, they also ensure the safety of the people living along the Elbe. This ecological flood protection is also an acknowledgment of the need to grant the Elbe its natural, expanded habitat that rivers should enjoy due to their meandering activity.

Alluvial forests are therefore characterized by the flow characteristics of the rivers. Tree species such as the ash, black elm, black and silver stalk poplar or the pedunculate oak map the floodplain forests on domestic rivers such as the Elbe.

But the wetlands along with the floodplains also create habitats for rare, endangered species such as the beaver or the otter. The abundant areas make up the nutrient-rich floodplain soils. The growing meadow vegetation forms the basis for many animal species and ensures biodiversity along the rivers. Brood-birds such as the nightingale find suitable nesting sites and sufficient food, species-rich insects such as butterflies and wild bees find their nectar in blooming wild plants.

Many frogs also find ideal living conditions and with them also the storks and sea eagles. The natural appearance of alluvial forests is also the inspiration for many stories, legends and fairy tales. The water mermaids of the Elbe queen can freely unfold in this human-untouched habitat. But when man discovers and sells them, the floodplains are threatened in their existence.

With the natural fairy tale Die Elbekönigin, the children of the 6th grade from the Hegel Gymnasium Magdeburg, the YOUNG VOICES for SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, are campaigning for more environmental awareness and, in particular, to the protection of the Elbe ecosystem and the endangered species such as the beaver or the Otter. For more information on the environmental program Nawa & Bubo powered by Explority click here.

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#6 Clean water – Wasser wertvoller als Gold

At the Natura2000 location “Haus der Flüsse” (House of rivers) in Havelberg (Sachsen-Anhalt / Germany) schoolkids of the “Brüder Grimm” school in Calvörde participated in Explority’s SDG and environmental project Nawa & Bubo in Mittelelbien and learned about the importance of clean water both as  eco system and living environment as well as elixir of life on planet Earth.

Especially  the meadowy countrysides display a beautiful eco system for rare and endangered species like Otter ad the Beaver.  With the return of the salmon to the Elbe river, new positive results of a better water quality are shown.

Clean water is important for the health of humans, animals and plants

Clean Water is important for biodiversity and life below water

 

“Clean Water is a human right, it is a children right!”

To raise awareness for the importance of clean water, the kids from the Brother Grimm school produced a new version of the Bohemian fairytale “Salz, wertvoller als Gold”  as a photo story and audioplay to underscore the meaning of clean water for our Planet and for ourselves.  Let us stop producing waste which contaminates rivers and oceans and stop using dangerous pesticides, which pollute our ground water.

If you would like to get to know more about our environmental project Nawa & Bubo please follow the link here

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#6 Clean Water in Germany and Uganda – the Film

Young Voices from the Ringelnatz School in Berlin, Germany and the Rainbow House of Hope in Kampala, Uganda exchange on the importance of clean water and access to water and the question of how to reduce water usage.

Access to Water is a human right, which needs to be protected!

Join us!

 

 

This project was supported by

on behalf of

and

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#4 #6 Serious gaming for the SDG’s – digital and analog

YOUNG VOICES today come from class 5a of Ringelnatz school in Berlin where the kids had a unique opportunity when they got to play a serious game in their computer room as well as replaying it in their class room in an analog way!

Babu and Mirembe is a digital, intercultural learning game, which introduces life realities from kids in Kampala, Uganda and their challenges to go to school. In Uganda, a child is only eligible to go to school, if it can afford to buy a school uniform! Goal of this game is to help a Ugandan child to sell water in an urban environment in order to earn money to be able to buy a school uniform and thus being able to go to school!

You, as the player, can speed up the process, if you know the answers to quiz questions along the way, collecting bonus points which help to buy the uniform earlier.

The game reflects on the problems for natives to have access to clean water (SDG #6) as well as the challenge of gaining access to quality education only by buying a school uniform which overburdens families with low or no income, excluding their children from access to education (SDG #4)

Babu and Mirembe was developed during a project by Radijojo e.V. with 5th graders in Berlin Germany with the support of the visiting director of the Rainbow House of Hope in Kampala, Uganda, who gave valuable insights in the daily lives and challenges of children in the capitol of the subsaharan country.

The next day the same students who played Babu and Mirembe on a desktop now developed a way to recreate the game scenario in their own classroom, in an analog way!

First, the students drew a plan of how to set up a game city in their own classroom. Then organizing streets, buildings and game activity stations…

…such as the water station, where the player buys water which he sells to other people (represented by students) in the city. Money to buy school uniforms could also be earned at a… 

… construction site. Child labour is unfortunately still common in many African countries. Here the students at Ringelnatz school had to stack ten chairs and thus  learned, how heavy physical labour can be…

At a quiz station, the students had to answer water related question (SDG #6). With the (“selfmade”) money earned…

…the students could finally spend their Ugandan Schillings to buy a uniform at the school uniform shop

The analog version of the game added an even more dramatic, immediate and intense level to the game experience. The students felt the pressure and the spirit of achieving the goal. The students reaction was highly positive referring to the engaging methodology and the intercultural context of their global learning experience.

To play a German version of the game yourself follow this link

The project was supported by

on behalf of

and

Special thanks to the students from class 5a, the principal as well as the class teacher of the Ringelnatz Schule in Berlin, Germany.

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#6: CLEAN WATER: Traces of water at Ringelnatz school in Berlin

 

Hello! We are the kids from the class 5a at the Ringelnatz school in Berlin. We are learning about the sustainable development goals and especially goal 6: the importance of clean water. We were asking ourselves about where to find water at our school, so we took a little photo tour at our school. Check out what we found!

 

in cooperation with

 

supported by

 

 

On behalf of