Reaching out today for a better tomorrow
Wellington International Students gain new insights into their role within the local marine environment
Year 8 students at Wellington International School have been studying the variety of ecosystems in the local area with an emphasis on their management and the connections between society’s behavior, attitudes and decisions and the impact they have on the ecosystems.
However students around the world are having difficulty connecting with the environment and linking their own personal daily actions and decisions to the impacts they often observe around them. Students have become disconnected with the environment. Despite knowing a lot of information from Animal Planet, various documentaries about Earth issues such as global Warming and a genuine increase in caring for the environment, they rarely get involved to the extent that they see themselves as a part of the environment.
As a result we decided to organize a day at the Jumerah Open Water Beach with Tawasul.
This was an important trip for the students not only for their academic study, but for their outlook on the future. The trip had several aims:
1. To become aware of their impact on different species and the local marine environment through their personal decisions and activity (both positive and negative)
2. To identify environmental impacts on coral reefs and learn to appreciate the role coral ecosystems have with links to biodiversity and productive activity (ecological and economical) and
3. Acquire practical survey skills closely linked with the aims of the other activities.
Students rotated around six stations and included:
A Turtle AWARE programme, Hosted by David from BAA Aquarium. The life cycle of sea turtles in our local waters. Our impact as Dubai Residents on this life cycle; the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Program and what to do if you find a turtle washed up on the beach http://www.jumeirah.com/en/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Ma...
For more information on this programme goto: http://www.jumeirah.com/en/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Ma...
A Shark AWARE programme with Rima Jabado: Local Sharks in our Environment; “What is the life cycle of a shark and what is their role in the ecosystem?”, “What is our impact on the world’s shark population?” and “How can we take action to protect the Shark?”
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/InNews/uae2009.html
Beach cleanup and analysis: students collected and analysed trash found on the beach. This information is then reported to the International PADI Project AWARE programme
http://www.projectaware.org/
Eco Impact Survey: Students asked the local community their opinions on local environmental marine issues as well as their energy use and carbon footprint. Students took a closer look at Bio-Diversity and the impact of all living things on each other, our direct impact on our environment and asked the question “Can we change the future of our planet by changing our outlook on life?”
Discover Scuba: Having never had the experience of breathing underwater, students were invited to “see” a new world below the waves. Here they discovered the fun of diving as well as exploring the creatures of the beach and rock environment, however they also saw the about of litter accumulating under the surface and amongst the rocks.
Many students were surprised at the impact their own decisions can have on the local and global environment. Impacts on different species such as sharks and turtles can occur from development, litter, tourism, the fishing industry and waste management of urban areas. Dubai has dramatically changed the coastline and the environment over the previous decade. Students are part of the community that makes decisions and contributes to the variety of problems. However it was their daily decisions that surprised them the most and can have the biggest impact; “Do I use tin foil, plastic wrap or a paper bag to put my sandwich in?”. These seemingly small decisions can dramatically affect marine life.
For many students it was a real change in their perspective of the world… a paradigm shift in their thinking.
That we are actually a part of nature and are not separated from it; "...even if we only live in a villa and go to school and to the shopping malls we have a dramatic effect on other places. The local environment may look clean on the surface, but a closer look reveals much – our decisions affect more than we see. Impacts can travel too! Sewerage, algae blooms and rubish all dift around with the ocean currents and effects are determined by the specific conditions in ech place. People in one place may make decisions which affect people in other places around the world, this can be through a consious decision or an unintentional effect of another desision.
The students absolutely enjoyed the trip and I’m pleased to say that the majority of them were able to reconnect with nature and became enthused about the welfare of their environment. They will also be creating a book to be published and made available to the public about their impact on the environment and ways of protecting it. As a result of the successful day many students have suggested further activities planned for next year with Tawasul.
Thank you and a big well done to all involved: David, Rima, Ernst, Dawn, Okkie, Elena, Voya, Jerry, Chris and Ricky
Craig Ballinger
Teacher of Geography and
Environmental Systems and Societies IB
Wellington International School
cballinger@wisdubai.sch.ae
However students around the world are having difficulty connecting with the environment and linking their own personal daily actions and decisions to the impacts they often observe around them. Students have become disconnected with the environment. Despite knowing a lot of information from Animal Planet, various documentaries about Earth issues such as global Warming and a genuine increase in caring for the environment, they rarely get involved to the extent that they see themselves as a part of the environment.
As a result we decided to organize a day at the Jumerah Open Water Beach with Tawasul.
This was an important trip for the students not only for their academic study, but for their outlook on the future. The trip had several aims:
1. To become aware of their impact on different species and the local marine environment through their personal decisions and activity (both positive and negative)
2. To identify environmental impacts on coral reefs and learn to appreciate the role coral ecosystems have with links to biodiversity and productive activity (ecological and economical) and
3. Acquire practical survey skills closely linked with the aims of the other activities.
Students rotated around six stations and included:
A Turtle AWARE programme, Hosted by David from BAA Aquarium. The life cycle of sea turtles in our local waters. Our impact as Dubai Residents on this life cycle; the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Program and what to do if you find a turtle washed up on the beach http://www.jumeirah.com/en/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Ma...
For more information on this programme goto: http://www.jumeirah.com/en/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Ma...
A Shark AWARE programme with Rima Jabado: Local Sharks in our Environment; “What is the life cycle of a shark and what is their role in the ecosystem?”, “What is our impact on the world’s shark population?” and “How can we take action to protect the Shark?”
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/InNews/uae2009.html
Beach cleanup and analysis: students collected and analysed trash found on the beach. This information is then reported to the International PADI Project AWARE programme
http://www.projectaware.org/
Eco Impact Survey: Students asked the local community their opinions on local environmental marine issues as well as their energy use and carbon footprint. Students took a closer look at Bio-Diversity and the impact of all living things on each other, our direct impact on our environment and asked the question “Can we change the future of our planet by changing our outlook on life?”
Discover Scuba: Having never had the experience of breathing underwater, students were invited to “see” a new world below the waves. Here they discovered the fun of diving as well as exploring the creatures of the beach and rock environment, however they also saw the about of litter accumulating under the surface and amongst the rocks.
Many students were surprised at the impact their own decisions can have on the local and global environment. Impacts on different species such as sharks and turtles can occur from development, litter, tourism, the fishing industry and waste management of urban areas. Dubai has dramatically changed the coastline and the environment over the previous decade. Students are part of the community that makes decisions and contributes to the variety of problems. However it was their daily decisions that surprised them the most and can have the biggest impact; “Do I use tin foil, plastic wrap or a paper bag to put my sandwich in?”. These seemingly small decisions can dramatically affect marine life.
For many students it was a real change in their perspective of the world… a paradigm shift in their thinking.
That we are actually a part of nature and are not separated from it; "...even if we only live in a villa and go to school and to the shopping malls we have a dramatic effect on other places. The local environment may look clean on the surface, but a closer look reveals much – our decisions affect more than we see. Impacts can travel too! Sewerage, algae blooms and rubish all dift around with the ocean currents and effects are determined by the specific conditions in ech place. People in one place may make decisions which affect people in other places around the world, this can be through a consious decision or an unintentional effect of another desision.
The students absolutely enjoyed the trip and I’m pleased to say that the majority of them were able to reconnect with nature and became enthused about the welfare of their environment. They will also be creating a book to be published and made available to the public about their impact on the environment and ways of protecting it. As a result of the successful day many students have suggested further activities planned for next year with Tawasul.
Thank you and a big well done to all involved: David, Rima, Ernst, Dawn, Okkie, Elena, Voya, Jerry, Chris and Ricky
Craig Ballinger
Teacher of Geography and
Environmental Systems and Societies IB
Wellington International School
cballinger@wisdubai.sch.ae
Comment
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Comment by Andrey Grygorishin on December 8, 2009 at 4:54pm -
I did not go on a trip.
But i heard people telling that it was amazing trip.
Thank you tawasul for organizing this trip, if you will do one more i will surely go.
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Comment by kyle on December 5, 2009 at 3:14pm -
The picture of somebody holding the sea urchin is one of my favourites of this trip. The reason for this is because I never realised that you could physically hold and touch a sea urchin without it injecting you with one of the spikes. This is an amazing picture and wish I could have been there to experience it for myself.
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Comment by kyle on December 5, 2009 at 2:40pm
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from my past on the beaches and around the sea i have learnt that when snorkeling and scuba diving, you must be quiet and not try to desturb the fish and sea life around you.I learnt that a clean environment is a happy environment and that humans have a huge impact on the sea life and ocean environment.in my veiw, the diving and swiming, discovering the sea life and wonders baneath the ocean and realising the role humans play in destroying the beauty under the sea. different coloured fish,coral, ocean creepy crawlers must have been a wonder to behold. Cleaning up a beach will always be a constant problem and as a team,for a monment in time our year 8's were able to clean up a beach.the environmental condition is severely impact by people not worrying about the life and things that surround them.on beaches, signs shoulb put up telling them that if they litter they will be fined, dustbins should be placed at strategic points, propper and consatant policing should be there and perhaps if money aloud cameras should be placed on beaches recording anhy offenders and thier registration numbers.my dream would be to go out and learn about dolphins and how they adapt to their evironment and different sea waters around the world.I would strongly consider a constant clean up of our beaches and run a campaign to keeps others aware of the impact that we could or should have on the beaches.
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Comment by matthew gibbons on December 4, 2009 at 11:48am
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i had such a brilliant time on the trip and learnt so much. my favourite activities were when we all did the beach clean up from that i learnt the beach may look clean but it probally isnt we found an unbelievable amount of cigarette butts and tissues and all round alot of rubbish my next favourite was when we learnt about sharks and how indangerd they are it is so sad to hear that people would even do that to a creature and the number of sharks killed every year stands at 100,000,000.....disgusting
they dont even use the whole body they just use the fin because the sharks body is high in levels of mecury. they dont even eat the fin they just use it because they believe in china that it has so spiratal quelities....what is the point??????
in the beach clean up we were all told to go out and collect litter and i thought this is wierd the beach looks clean enough but as soon as our team looked in a small area to find rubbish we found close to 50 cigarette butts in one little area
on the next tawasul trip i would like to cover the turtles alittle more because there one of my less knowledged animals so i would definatly like to learn more about them.
thank you tawasul for a wonderful day
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Comment by Irdeena Hasnul Ismar on December 4, 2009 at 11:47am
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This trip was awesome! The 3 things I learnt from the day was: Scuba diving, sharks and turtles. my favorite part was the scuba diving because i get to see all those beautiful sea creatures under water. I enjoyed listening about the Shark aware programme with Rima. I learnt alot about them like their life cycle, the population, what types of shark and how we can protect the shark.
The beach cleanup we had to collect and analyse the trash found in the beach. Even though the beach looks clear and beautiful there's alot of trash in it especially cigarettes. this made me realise how important saving the environment.
I had so much fun! :)
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Comment by Neha Syed on December 2, 2009 at 6:31pm -
Dear Mr Ballinger ,
First of all I would like to thank you for such a wonderful trip ! It was a great experience and I really enjoyed myself.
My favorite activity was Scuba Diving , it was just amazing ! I was a bit scared at first but than I really loved it. The feeling of being able to breath under-water was incredible. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any fish while Scuba Diving , but I did see plenty of sea urchins which were beautiful.
I learnt many things on the trip , 3 of them were:
1. How to Scuba Dive.
2. The impact humans have on the environment and what we can do to save our planet (how we can reduce our carbon footprint).
3. A lot of cool information on turtles and sharks.
I would also like to thank everyone who put this trip together for us ! Thank you so much Tawasul ! :)
Neha,
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Comment by Chloe Rattray on November 26, 2009 at 2:23pm
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I loved this trip, it was a really good experience and gave me a different insight of our planet. My favourite part was going scuba diving!!! It was amazing!!! I also enjoyed listening to Ernst's stories, they were interesting and inspiring. During this trip I learnt more about the impact humans have on the environment, and what we can do to reduce our carbon footprint. If humans keep consuming the same amount of energy we do now, then in the future we'll need between 5 and 10 Earths. This made me realise how important saving energy and helping the environment is. We also learnt how long different materials take to decompose, and how it is so important not to litter.
I had such an awesome day! Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Comment by Megha Bijali on November 25, 2009 at 9:46am -
The trip was really awsome and a fun way of getting aware of the environment! The highlight of the trip would probably be Scuba Diving, something I always wanted to do!!!!!!!!!!! I was really scared to do it but because of my friends who kept forcing me to do it, I decided to give it a try! it was a great experience and I am looking forward to participate in trips like this again!! I also enjoyed listenig to the past experiences of Mr Earnest!!!!!!!!!!!!!Thanx to mr ballinger for giving us such a great opportunity!!!!!!!
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Comment by Rohan Gandhi on November 25, 2009 at 9:43am -
This trip was probably the best trip ever! I mean we went scuba diving - I have always wanted to go scuba diving. I also learnt a lot about the turtles and carbon footprint. We did 5 activities: eco impact survey, scuba diving, beach clean up, "what we can do to help the environment" talk and learn to comunicate underwater/when scuba diving. I would like to thank the geography department and the tawasul instructors as this trip would not be possible without them! Thanks!
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Comment by Alex Smeros Xynias on November 25, 2009 at 9:42am
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THE DAY WAS AWESOME!!!!!
is funny how this is the shortest comment
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