8th June World Oceans Day

'The ocean covers over 70% of the planet. It is our life source, supporting humanity’s sustenance and that of every other organism on earth.

The ocean produces at least 50% of the planet’s oxygen, it is home to most of earth’s biodiversity, and is the main source of protein for more than a billion people around the world. Not to mention, the ocean is key to our economy with an estimated 40 million people being employed by ocean-based industries by 2030. 

Oceans absorb about 30% of carbon dioxide produced by humans, buffering the impacts of global warming.

Even though there are all of these benefits, the ocean is now in need of support.

With 90% of big fish populations depleted, and 50% of coral reefs destroyed, we are taking more from the ocean than can be replenished. We need to work together to create a new balance with the ocean that no longer depletes its bounty but instead restores its vibrancy and brings it new life.'

These are the opening paragraphs at the United Nations World Oceans Day site.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society is holding a Giving Day to help ensure we are all aware of what is happening to our oceans. 

'Our oceans face more threats today than at any time in the past. The health of Australia’s oceans lies in our hands, in our actions and in our decisions.'

It is hard to miss this fact when you peruse the number of picture books that have been published in recent years about oceans and garbage, oceans and pollution such as oil spills, and about oceans as  ecosystems.

Unlike Mountain Day or River Day, other international days highlighted by the UN, this day covers so much more and it is hard to choose what to focus on. At the age that my students are at, they worry most about the animals that live in the sea and the beaches because that is what they experience regularly. 

Some students in Year 2  get very preoccupied with the difference between an ocean and a sea. This probably occurs because Australia is an island and when they are leaning about its geography they notice the number of oceans and seas listed on the map...Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, Arctic Sea, Arafura Sea, Timor Sea, Tasman Sea, Coral Sea! Australia does certainly need to be concerned about the oceans and seas around it.

Many of the picture books my students read originate in Britain or America so they read about other oceans and seas as well. When they read Caryl Hart and Beth Woollvin's Meet the Oceans, a fun, colourful, rhyming book which allows for a submarine expedition through the oceans. This picture book makes an ideal introduction to the importance of caring for the ocean. Then once you have initiated a discussion you can almost pick up any ocean book to share.

Here's some more recent ones from the school library.

Over and Under the Waves  (2022) by Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal

A Turtle's View of the Ocean Blue  (2021)  by Catherine Barr and Brendan Kearney

Earth's Incredible Oceans  (2021) by Jess French and Claire McElfatrick

Save the Seas (2022) by Liz Gogerly and Sr Sanchez

The Big Book of Blue (2018) by Yuval Zommer (not new, but amazing)

Do You Love Oceans? (2023) by Matt Robertson

I Love You, Blue by Barroux

Ocean! Waves For All by Stacy McAnulty and David Litchfield

For primary school students the series Protecting the Oceans  (2021) by Natalie Hyde would be a good starting place.

For more books see lists on Pinterest UN-SDG 14 Life Below Water; Under the Sea.

13th January Rubber Ducky Day

In my last entry I mentioned rubber duckies and on the third of January I wrote about plastic straws in the ocean and on the 13th January it is Rubber Ducky Day. This apparently is the rubber ducky from Sesame Street's birthday and strictly speaking it has nothing to do with an accident at sea in January 1992, however this event is far more significant than a bath toy's birthday.

I have written about this day before but more has been published since then and the true story it is based on needs to be shared so that we become aware of just what is in and what happens on our oceans.

All three of the books below came about because on January 10th 1992  a storm at sea in the Pacific Ocean set in motion one of the largest and most unusual studies into global ocean currents. A freighter traveling from Hong Kong to America was caught up in a storm, which tipped the vessel enough for  several shipping containers to be dumped into the waters, one of which contained a consignment of 28,000 bath toys, many of which were yellow plastic ducks.

The Friendly Floatees, as they were called, first began to wash up on the Alaskan coast towards the end of 1992, approximately 3,200 kilometres from their point of origin. A year went by and a further 400 followed suit traveling to the eastern coast of the Gulf of Alaska. Each reported toy  was entered into an Ocean Surface Currents Simulation (OSCAR), a computer model created by oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer and his colleague James Ingraham. The model combines data on air pressure and the speed and direction of weather systems to map the path of ocean current indicators, such as the seafaring rubber ducks. By 2007 ducks had turned up in South America, England and Australia.

To learn more about this watch:

• The Epic Journey of the Plastic Ducks

• Ducks Overboard by Christiane Dorion

And/or read:

There are adult books by Donovan  Hohn and Curtis Ebbesmeyer about this event, but these three books inspired by this event are for children.

 

• 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle

• Ducky  by Eve Bunting and David Wisniewski

• Ducks Overboard! by Markus Motum

If you don't have these books or if you are just looking for others to extend this idea, try:

• Flotsam by David Wiesner

• The Mess That We Made by Michelle Lord and Julia Blattman

• Tracking Trash by Loree Griffin Burns

• The Global Ocean  by Rochelle Strauss and Natasha Donovan

What did the duck that came to Australia say about its journey?

3rd July Plastic Bag Free Day

There has been so much talk about going without plastic bags that even the five year olds I teach can tell you why we should. We live near the water, so these children spend a lot of time at the beach, on boats and in the water. They know about the damage they cause in the ocean especially to turtles, but it is always a topic that needs revisiting, so when I saw this new book at the bookshop I purchased it for the library. Someone Swallowed Stanley by animal behaviourist and wildlife expert Sarah Roberts reiterates this important message about turtles and plastic bags and it has a child as the wildlife hero. It also has fun illustrations by Hannah Peck who seems to have enjoyed giving all the sea animals anthropomorphic mannerisms. If you are looking for other books about plastic bags see this earlier entry in my blog.