Alexander-von-Humboldt-Schule Neumünster (2018)

Learning about the protection of the oceans in school

We are a group of students, going to the Alexander-von- Humboldt school, that is concerned about the topic “solutions for the protection of the world oceans”. Together with our attend scientist doctor Christine Bertram we are approaching to solve this problem.

This topic is due to various problems that regard our oceans, somewhat complicated. Therefore it is a topic that is commonly talked about and for which there are some solutions already. In addition to that, the problems of polluting the oceans are getting more attention in public as well. Still, we came to the conclusion that at some point the knowledge about oceans could be improved.

The most important issue out of all is the one concerning the waste of plastic. Apparently, plastic waste shouldn’t be played down, but the diversity or awareness about ocean issues is missing in the population. In addition to that, which, in our opinion, is the biggest problem, is that parts of the population are not willing to make changes.

People know about the problems, but don’t care enough to change their habits actively. With our approach to a solution, we want to motivate people.

However, it is hard to make adults change their daily routines they’re kept for years already. So we decided to start with the kids because at a young age they are still open to doing new things.

We did not learn anything about the protection of oceans in school. The only thing we learned is basic knowledge about the sea.

This is why we came up with the idea to create, with the help of a pre-school teacher, a comic.

This comic is supposed to make children want to learn about the protection of our oceans. The comic could also help teachers to organise their classes more interestingly. Eventually, it could be part of the future syllabus.

We are going to split the book into different problems, such as plastic, overfishing and oil.

Firstly the topic will be introduced in the form of a short story. Then we will talk about measures against those problems. Those measures should be easy to adapt into a day of a child so that they can follow them.

For the stories we decided to choose three characters: Ruby the seal, Merle the seagull and Willi the whale. Ruby is very intelligent and will be talking about the problems, while Merle and Willi will be experiencing those problems.

As an example: Willi can barely find any food and Ruby explains that the reason is overfishing.
Our book can obviously be improved and expanded if wished.

An idea would be tasks that could be given to the kids. Those could be researching or practical tasks such as collecting waste on campus.

We hope to touch children with the stories so that they start thinking about their habits.

As studies have shown the behaviour of children can also have a significant impact on their parents.

Our first sponsor for this project is “Future oceans”.

The team selected this topic

Solutions for sustaining the World’s Oceans (2018)

The ocean covers more than two-thirds of our planet’s surface. It is a vast ecosystem that regulates the global climate, provides humans with natural resources such as food, raw materials, and energy, and is essential for international trade as well as recreational and cultural activities. However, pressures resulting from overfishing, increasing resource extraction, various sources of pollution, and alterations to coastal zones and ecosystems constitute severe threats to ocean health and sustainability. In many cases, activities on land such as farming, construction, tourism, and waste discharge have negative impacts on coastal and marine environments with negative feedbacks on human well-being. Even though the knowledge and awareness of these threats and relationships are increasing, approaches to achieving a more sustainable utilisation of ocean resources and services are still rare. Sufficient governance mechanisms are often lacking or only partly or slowly implemented.

Team Alexander-von-Humboldt-Schule Neumünster

The Team

We are a group of students from the Alexander-von-Humboldt school in Neumünster, Schleswig Holstein. This year we participate in Young Economic Summit, and we have decided to keep busy with the current state of our oceans. We are very thankful that we are given the opportunity to present our opinion and our ideas. Maybe, through that, we can improve the world a little.