Project Title: Mission Blue

Description:

1. Inspire

What inspired us to come up with Mission Blue?

• After watching Mission Blue, we realised that a lot of sea creatures are dying because of pollution (Anna Lok- 3 Ja)

• After listening to Dr Sylvia Earle in ‘Mission Blue, we realised that algae produces 60% of our oxygen. If we do not stop polluting our oceans, we will be quickening our very end.  (Keshwini - 5 Am)

• Seeing a turtle injured at Marina Reservoir, we saw how harmful trash can be and how it impacts our marine life. ( Xu Lexin- 3 Ja)

• After learning about a turtle that could not lay its eggs on our beach because of the litter, we felt inspired to tackle waterway pollution. ( Teo Jonathan- 4 Am)

2. Learn and decide

What is a possible project that we could contribute towards?

• We would want to participate in a project that allows us to inform and alert the people in our community of our experiences and how our everyday trash is affecting our planet.  (All members)

• We would like to contribute towards a project that allows us to help clean-up our waterways and beaches clean. This way, we might be able to prevent some animals from getting harmed by the pollutants in the water. (All members)

What is the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) that our project is targeting? Why?

• Our project is targeting UN SDG Goal 14- conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources. (All members)

• By targeting this SDG Goal, we can help in our small ways to ensure that the water flowing into our oceans is clean and that marine life are not harmed by the pollutants in the water. This way, marine life can sustain itself over the next few years. (Keshwini-5 Am)

• By cleaning up our oceans, seas and waterways, we can help to ensure that our marine life stays unharmed. (Xu Lexin 3 ja & Teo Jonathan 4 Am)

• By cleaning up our waterways and beaches, we are slowly helping the marine life below the water and if all of us do this, the oceans will be very clean.   (Anna Lok 3 Ja)

3.  Do / Share

 What have we done to help out with waterway pollution in Singapore?

• The Beach Clean-up held on 12 October 2019, Saturday, really impacted us. Our clean-up started with a short introduction of our organiser, Ms Faith, and what we would be doing. We each got a pail and a pair of tongs. We combed the beach and collected the trash that we spotted. Some of the trash that we collected was very peculiar, including marshmallows and a very small toy pony. Most of our trash included Styrofoam and cigarettes. In the end, along with some others, we collected 920 cigarettes, 170 straws and 38kg of waste. (Keshwini-5 Am)

• This year, we went to clean up Marina Reservoir first, followed by East Coast Park.  When we arrived t Marina Reservoir, we thought that it would be clean but the reservoir was not as clean as what we imagined. Even though my friends and I picked up several pieces of trash, there was still trash in the water. Since it was dangerous for us to go into the water, we could only pick the trash from the bank of the river and that still left trash in the water. After the clean-up, we were all tired but delighted as we helped to clean up the reservoir. (Xu Lexin 3Ja)

• We really enjoyed myself because the beach was not really that dirty and we hardly picked up any plastic bottles. During the waterway clean-up at Marina Reservoir, we picked up 6 kilograms of trash. It was mostly plastic. We have realised that it is important to keep our waterways clean if not we might be quickening the marine life’s and our very end.   (Anna Lok 3 Ja)

• Once we got to Marina Reservoir, we watched a short video and the guide there explained what we were going to do. When he finished, we each wore a pair of gloves and headed out to begin the clean-up. We picked up plastic bags, candy wrappers and some other litter. In the end, we picked up 6kg of litter! Feeling satisfied, we then took the bus back to school. (Teo Jonathan 4 Am)

The challenges that we faced.

• Firstly, picking up pieces of Styrofoam pieces and cigarettes was challenging as they kept flying off. Secondly, some of the trash was dangerous too. Some examples of these dangerous materials would be wooden planks with rusty nails, or sharp pins attached to bottle caps. Finally, the process took 4 hours so we were all exhausted but very satisfied with our efforts. (Keshwini 5 Am)

• When we were at East Coast Park, we went to pick up trash near the beach. There were many pieces of Styrofoam and we had to pick them up but when we attempted to do so, it flew away as it was very small. (Anna Lok 3 Ja)

• Our Akelas/Teachers were spread apart so we could not find them easily when we needed help or advice. (Xu Lexin 3 Ja)

• We had the fear of falling into the water because we were more often than not leaning close to the water to retrieve the trash.            (Jonathan 4Am)

 Our advice.

• Stop littering! This will lessen the hard work of the cleaners.  All of us must join clean-ups.  This will enable more people to be morally conscious and responsible for their actions.   (Jonathan 4Am)

• Others can be mindful about the need to keep our waterways clean.  They will then know that there is precious life below water.  (Anna Lok 3 Ja)

• Humans dump their waste into the oceans – plastic, Styrofoam etc.  You name it, the ocean has it.  These materials poison our marine life.    Make small changes to your daily routine like bringing your own cutlery to reduce our reliance on plastic and Styrofoam!    (Keshwini 5 Am)

• People should take care of the environment and reduce trash.  They should also bin their trash.  Moreover, people should also recycle, reuse and reduce.  If we play our part the marine environment will be sustainable over the years. (Xu Lexin 3 Ja)