Creating trash art, learning more about basic survival on a solar-powered paddle board, taking pictures while trying out the board and planting tomatoes and herbs were some of the exciting things Year 7 students from Warwick Academy did when members of the Plastic Tides organisation came to the school on Tuesday, June 17 to teach the young people more about how plastics can harm life in the ocean.

As the students went around in their groups, the team of four explorers Gordon Middleton, Christian Shaw, Celine Jennison and Julian Rodriguez demonstrated a range of equipment they use on their paddleboards, including a waterproof radio and underwater camera, a seawater pump/desalinator, solar panels and battery and flares. A radio embedded in a vest that allowed them to communicate with each other underwater also captured the students’ interest. The students also had the opportunity to try out the boards themselves in the school pool and have their pictures taken with team members.

At another station, youngsters learned more about permaculture and foraging for food like sea purslane, bay grapes, cherries and prickly pear. Some also planted seedlings of herbs and vegetables in the school garden so that they might become more comfortable with the idea of growing their own food.

Finally, the students used pieces of plastic picked up from local beaches to create sculptures. When completed, the sculptures centred prominently in the students’ photographs.

The morning concluded with the students writing a letter to the Minister of the Environment, Jeanne Atherden, asking her to raise awareness of the problem of plastics through Government-sponsored television broadcasts, consider banning paper and plastic grocery bags, or provide reusable bags for a small cost, change the plastic material used in packaging and encourage residents to reduce the amount of plastic that is shipped into the island.

“When the people from Plastic Tides came [to the school], it was really fun,” noted 11-year-old Jalisa Caines, “because we were learning about trash and picking it up and saving the environment, but playing games and learning at the same time.”

Classmate Chance Anthony agreed. “I felt like I learned a lot of new things. I did not know that plastic was one of the worst things in the ocean. I thought it was only ocean acidification and global warming, but I did not think plastic was so harmful to our environment.”

The morning’s activities also impressed Holly Wakely, who stated, “I want to be a vet when I grow up, and the Plastic Tides group made me understand how my future career could be ruined because of plastic.”

According to their website, www.plastictides.org, the team “[has paddled] around the island of Bermuda for ten days on standup paddle boards, exposing the rampant plastic pollution that threatens the island and the unique and fragile ecosystem in the Sargasso Sea.” Their visit to the school was part of their outreach initiative.