Discover the Atlantic and the North Sea, meet passionate people, learn about the ocean and it threats, explore new solutions!
Irish Ocean Literacy Network Members from the island of Ireland are delighted to participate in the first-ever Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea Ocean Literacy Festival. Join us online as we bring you talks, drawing classes, music pieces, youth advocates stories, and films. An outline of our day’s events can be seen below and check out the full festival program of events here .
9.00 am Take an Ocean Breathe with Easkey Britton
Dr. Easkey Britton is a world renowned surfer, marine social scientist and writer. Her work explores the relationship between people and the sea, using her passion for the ocean to create social change and connection across cultures. She pioneered women’s big wave surfing in Ireland and introduced the sport of surfing to women in Iran. Join Easkey as she takes and ‘Ocean Breathe’, one of the activities from her new book ’50 Things to do by the Sea’
10.30 Sea How to Draw with the Explorers Education Programme
Learn how to draw a SCUBA diver and imagine discovering lots of animals, caves and shipwrecks while diving under the sea. Follow John as he draws a cartoon of a SCUBA diver and all of the equipment a diver needs to discover what lies under the ocean. We also love to see your work! Please share your drawings with us on social media #SEAHowToDraw
View at https://vimeo.com/437802424
John also provides lots of fun ideas for drawings at: facebook.com/BlackJohntheBogusPirate
See www.explorers.ie for more fun marine-themed lesson plans and activities. The Explorers Education Programme is funded and supported by the Marine Institute.
12.00 Celebrate the Ocean with the Galway Ukers
Join the Galway Ukers at the launch of ‘ Pigfish’ and ‘Ocean Love’ two beautiful Ukulele songs written and created for European Maritime Day 2021.
Connecting the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, these first productions, were recorded during lockdown in Ireland,
These songs speak of the threats to our ocean and the connections that our ocean provides between us. The songs are introduced by Maria Vittoria Marra, from the Galway Ukers. For more information follow the Galway Ukers at https://www.facebook.com/GalwayUkers.
1.30 Ocean Plastics Project
Join students from West Cork, working on the Oceans Plastic Project CLG with founder Rory Jackson. Students will take us on a journey of their local beaches, as they share their project findings, and are looking into ways to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic waste from their local shores.
3.00 Dive under the waves with the Explorers Education Programme and Old Cork Waterworks
Join Shazia Waheed, Explorers Education Officer from the Old Cork Waterworks in Cork City, as she heads under the waves to explorers life along our shore.
Check out lots more seashore activities in our Wild about Wildlife on the Seashore series on www.explorers.ie
The Explorers Education Programme is funded and supported by the Marine Institute, Ireland.
4.30 Seashore species and Ocean Literacy:
The Discover Primary Science and Maths (DPSM) programme at Science Foundation Ireland teamed up with Galway Atlantaquaria to explore seashore species, sustainability, and ocean conservation.
‘Ocean Literacy’ simply means understanding how the oceans influence us, as humans, and how we impact the oceans. Oceans cover two thirds of the planet and contain over 200,000 unique marine species with more yet to be discovered. Each of these species are important within their own habitats and have special adaptations to survive.
Oceans provide us with oxygen (produced by phytoplankton and algae) to breathe, they absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, and they contain many habitats such as coral reefs, mangroves, mudflats, and rocky shores. We use oceans to transport goods, generate renewable energy and to source food.
In this DPSM STEM Series episode, Anna introduces us to some of the common species found on Irish shorelines, Padraic looks at sustainable seafood and the team offer some helpful tips on how you can protect the oceans.
6.00 Join Vincent Hyland, Environmental and Multimedia Artist as he dives under the waves at night.
Diving at night in Ireland’s inshore waters is both exhilarating and creepy. Imagine being surrounded in the deep dark with nothing to keep you company other than the sound of your exhaled air bubbles as they make for the surface. As you wander through the night underwater, the beam of your torchlight attracts many creatures. Meet the John Dory, the Compass Jellyfish, sleeping Wrasse, swimming crabs that use modified claws to swim away from danger and the amazing little Cuttlefish, a master of camouflage that buries itself in the sand and uses its tentacles to scoop sand to further bury itself. See https://www.vincenthylandartist.com/ for the full coastal collection, including the Wild Derrynane Seashore Nature Walk and Virtual Tour.
7.30 How to bring the Ocean into your classroom
Join Dave Wall, from Explore your shore!, Sibeal Regan, from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group and Cushla Dromgool Regan from the Marine Institute’s Explorers Education Programme as they talk to us about bringing the Ocean into your classroom.
Explore your shore!
Ireland has 3,171 km of coastline and yet we have relatively few records of intertidal and coastal marine species. We lack a strong tradition of the public recording intertidal species. Explore Your Shore is a Citizen Science project funded by the Environmental Protection Agency focused on increasing our knowledge of the distribution of our intertidal species, exploring their potential as bio-indicators of water quality and climate change, and highlighting actions we can all take to tackle water pollution and climate change. For more information see https://exploreyourshore.ie
The Explorers Education Programme
The Marine Institute’s Explorers Education Programme engages with primary schools, teachers, children and the education network, creating marine leaders and ocean champions in Ireland.
The Programme provides engaging activities, resources, and support for teachers, children, and the education network, delivering ocean literacy to primary schools. It inspires children and educators to become marine leaders and ocean champions by promoting our marine and maritime identity and heritage, as well as making informed and responsible decisions regarding the ocean and its resources. For more infomation see http://www.explorers.ie
The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group
The IWDG was foudned in 1990 to establish an All-Ireland sighting and stranding scheme and to campaign for the declaration of Irish territorial waters as a whale and dolphin sanctuary.
It is through Education and Outreach that we can raise awareness of our marine environment and the Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises that inhabit them. If we can ignite a passion within the greater community for our oceans and their inhabitants, then there is great hope that they will prosper into the future. For more information see http://www.iwdg.ie
Green-Schools Global Citizenship Marine Environment
Green-Schools is Irelands leading environmental management and award programme for schools. The eight theme on the Green-Schools programme is Global Citizenship Marine Environment. This theme is all about recognising the importance of the marine environment, the threats it faces and how we can protect it. There are a number of essential actions that schools must complete to earn the Green flag for this theme. Schools must must carry out a Marine Litter Awareness Survey, investigate the sources of marine litter and carry out a #2minutebeachclean. The Global Citizenship Marine Environment theme is kindly supported by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
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