WHALE EDUCATION
A new report describes the impact man is having on nature as a “MIND-BLOWING crisis”.
The Living Planet Report from the Worldwide Fund for Nature 2018 said the global populations of mammals, reptiles, birds and amphibians have fallen by 60% between 1970 and 2014.
The report also said "Earth is losing biodiversity at a rate seen only during mass extinctions."
Whale Song Educational Benefits
Whale Song will provide an exciting and educational perspective with an immersive and diverse range of learning and interactive teachings, both during the construction stage of the sculpture and as a finished work of art.
During the construction, we will house an education centre, where parents, teachers and pupils can visit, marvel at these magnificent creatures being manufactured for a world class sculpture, but also be informed of why it is important to understand what the sculpture ‘Whale Song’ stands for.
Starting with our school age children, we will be able to inspire the merits of conservation and preservation that will encourage eager participation in a multi-level program dealing with all the aspects that have contributed to the demise of many named species and our planet.
Awareness of our marine environment, the eco-system and food chain, the effect of shipping, mining, exploration and pollution which are all contributors to the deterioration of our fragile ocean.
The importance of marine conservation, fostering empathy
and encouraging exploration of their environment
The message of ‘The importance of marine conservation’ will carry on well past the construction stage, to the visitors centre at the finished sculpture where the message will be no different and the magnificent sculpture itself standing as a testament to the preservation of all species.
For children, their world is pretty small; home, school, the backyard, the playground.
At this stage, it is appropriate to foster empathy and encourage exploration of their environment.
As their world expands their concern and interests also expand. This is when it is appropriate to introduce larger-scale environmental issues and ways to take action, build up one’s belief that they can make a difference.
Building awareness through experience and interaction
Awareness through three dimensional displays, interactive programs, actual physical evolvement and tactile experience through ocean sanctuary’s and marine reserves, accompanied with a complex interactive web support system to keep the classroom, teacher and pupil involved and contributing.
Influencing the future stewards of our planet
Birds and ocean marine life are caught up in great riffs of flotsam and jetsam, oil spills and cast away fishing nets that destroy the fine balance of the food chain, and eventually end up washed up on our shorelines.
Plastics are a key issue along with deforestation, erosion and pollution.
Cell phones, pens, toothbrushes, buttons, shopping bags and shoes all contain plastic in some form. Plastic often seems unavoidable in our everyday lives, and it can have consequences reaching beyond what we see in our immediate area. Many plastic items being produced all over the world end up in our oceans and waterways, becoming marine debris.
Hundreds of thousands of tons of plastics are now floating in our oceans and on our shorelines.
More often we are reading sad stories of emaciated whales been washed up with a belly full of plastic, entanglement of birds and sea life and or loss of important habitat through oil spills.
Shipping, aircraft and motor vehicles not only deposit huge waste into the atmosphere, but ships also causes noise pollution disrupting the whales and other finned mammals communication channels.
Although marine debris and pollution is a complex, global issue, there are steps we can take to mitigate the problem, such as taking individual action and or influencing the knowledge of our children.
Dedicated to educating the children of New Zealand
and the World
Most relevant is stimulating the consciousness through education, which can halt plastic pollution at its source. Marine education provides children with awareness about the issues, knowledge of appropriate actions and the motivation and pro-active involvement that can make a difference.
We are excited to welcome the sculpture Whale Song, dedicated to educating children of New Zealand and the World about marine and environmental conservation to save our planet.
