Sea it my way

Five has been taking a PTA sponsored class after school in Marine Biology.

I am delighted that this has been offered as an extra curricular activity, not only because it means I get to pick her up at 1.30 instead of 12.15 once per week (although that is a distinct bonus), but because she is passionate about the ocean, saving the planet (bless) and extremely interested in all sea creatures. We can barely tear her away from the beach or the aquarium and she will spend hours poring over books about orcas, crabs, jellyfish etc. Most of her classmates are similarly obsessed. Part of that may be due to living in a seaside town but this is a self-selecting group;  they opted to take marine biology because they are interested in the subject.

So, it was somewhat to my consternation to find, when I collected her after the first week, that the ‘craft’ that they came home with was a small plastic ziploc baggie filled with water and some sort of plastic or silicon beads.
I questioned Five as to what they were and received an excited but garbled explanation typical of a Kindergartner. I did not really understand the relevance to the ocean and clearly neither did she. I found it somewhat odd that she was bringing me a disposable plastic bag full of colourful man-made beads.  Her fascination with it lasted about ten minutes and then about an hour after we got home the bag sprung a leak and I only just managed to stop her flushing the beads down the toilet. I didn’t think that they really belonged in the sea any more than I thought they belonged in Marine Biology for Kindergartners so I put them in the trash where they went off to make the city dump a more colourful place.

This week the lesson was about jellyfish. I know this because when I collected her she proudly showed me a jellyfish she had made from clear plastic sheeting with long, trailing curly plastic tentacles. My heart sank when I saw it. The irony was gobsmacking.

Wasn’t the teacher aware of the huge impact plastic had on the sea? What were these kids doing with all that junk? And why did they keep getting disposable plastic crap?

I found it hard to smile and congratulate Five on her work and I couldn’t speak to the teacher because she was busy with the next class.

I wrote later to the PTA to ask if my comments and concerns could be passed on:

Dear —,

Our daughter, Five, is a Kindergartner, currently taking Marine Biology (which she loves). We are delighted that the PTA offers the wonderful extra-curricular classes that it does and are so glad and happy to be able to not only take advantage of them but to support them as well in any way that we can.

However there is something we would like to bring to your attention as it has concerned us and we wonder if it can be discussed with the teacher?

We noted, to our dismay, that today’s project was to make a craft – a jellyfish – from various types of plastic.

This is somewhat ironic given the role that plastic is playing in the destruction of our oceans and marine life today:

Here are some facts (source: National Geographic)

As much as 10 percent of the 260 million tons of plastic produced annually ends up in the oceans.

267 marine species are affected by plastic garbage—animals are known to swallow plastic bags, which resemble jellyfish in mid-ocean

We’d be more than happy to try to help think of alternative, more ocean-friendly crafts that the children could enjoy, and we would really appreciate this being addressed.

All of our childrens’ futures depend on it

Regards

Mothership

I received a response from the Marine Biology teacher. My thoughts are in blue. I did not share these with her.

Very interesting!! I guess they did not hear the part of the class where we discuss the problem of plastic being mistaken for sea jellies and the importance of making sure plastic NEVER ends up in the ocean if we can prevent it.

No they didn’t. they were too busy pretending their sea jellies were kites and arguing over whose tentacles were longer.

I also explained how important it is to pick up any plastic or trash for that matter and put it in recycling or trash.  Plastic looks so similar to real sea jellies- and we use it in our craft because if that.

So, the reason for using plastic is BECAUSE it looks like a jellyfish.  Just as long as this particular piece of jellyfish looking piece of plastic doesn’t end up in the sea (if we can prevent it).  No mixed messages there.  And it’s fine to make something that you will throw away an hour later.
YOU DID NOT THINK THIS THROUGH!!!!!

Our sea jelly tentacles come from reusing skateboard wheels which came from art from scrap. I certainly am NO advocate of plastic normally!!

Except for the first class where you used a disposable plastic baggie full of plastic beads and water which probably got flushed down the toilet by most parents and ended up .. in the sea. And the bag in landfill. If we’re lucky. And it’s still disposable. And it’s still PLASTIC.
YOU DID NOT THINK THIS THROUGH!!!!!

Outside of teaching the after school classes I work for (a company that takes people to a local island nature sanctuary) and have made a thousand+ trips to the islands and have picked up hundreds of balloons. I am completely against anything that is not biodegradable or toxic in the ocean or in the environment and am a firm advocate of disposing these type materials in a way that will not harm the environment.

Oh? You’re completely against anything that is not biodegradable in the ocean or the environment? Plastic is not biodegradable. It is toxic in the ocean and even if it is disposed of correctly it will either go to landfill, or , if viably collectible and recyclable, it will still use greenhouse gases to do so . This is not ‘unharmful’ to the environment and it is CERTAINLY not necessary for a bunch of five year olds to learn about  marine life.
YOU DID NOT THINK THIS THROUGH!!!!! How many more exclamation marks can I fit in this line??!!!!

In conclusion to all of this, the bottom line is,  in NO WAY should our marine biology plastic sea jelly craft end up in the ocean!!

NO WAY should you make a plastic sea jelly or plastic any kind of craft IMHO

Thanks for passing on the email. I hope I don’t seem too defensive, – um yes – but as a fellow ES and Biology graduate, I try to convey in my teachings the power and impact we humans have on all living things.

As regards teaching the little ones about the ocean and plastic: FAIL.
You certainly had a powerful impact on me, though. I’m GALVANISED!

Stimulating an appreciation for nature is my goal in every aspect of my work in the classroom and in the field.

Then why are you using non-natural materials to do so?  We live by the beach and you work on the ocean in your other job. I DON’T GET IT!!

I appreciate your concern and am open to any other alternative ideas we could do for the sea jelly craft.

Thank you!

___

After thoroughly enjoying spluttering with outrage and feeling self-righteous, I wrote this letter instead.

Dear —

Thank you for your swift response to our concerns. We appreciate you outlining your perspective and position and are happy to hear that we are on the same page regarding plastic, the ocean, nature and the environment.

However we still think that there is a significant danger of young children missing the point that plastics are dangerous and toxic to the ocean if on the one hand we are telling them that information, but on the other hand they are being given crafts that are made of plastic.

They will not make an environmental connection between a partially recycled plastic craft and the sea whatever we say to them.  They will just think that it’s fine to make something out of plastic because it’s fun for them, then throw it away a scant few hours later.

A disposable culture that we foster in them.

If we are lucky these crafts will not end up in the ocean, but in landfill instead.

I’m not sure we can say that about the beads in the water in the plastic baggie from the first week’s craft – most parents will have just flushed them down the toilet by dinnertime.

I have no doubt that you work extremely hard at your teaching and have very important things to pass on to the children. ?Five loves your class as do all her schoolmates and we are grateful to have you at school.

We would be more than happy to try to come up with alternatives for crafts for the children.  It is not clear to us how much time in each class is given over to making a craft, whether it needs specifically to be representative of the creature you are teaching about that day, what your budget is for the craft and how much involvement you would like or would be appropriate, but we would very much like to help in any way that we can to ensure that you can bring your craft materials in line with your core values.

For instance, how could we help you design crafts using only natural, non-toxic, biodegradable materials, or found objects from the sea/beach?

We would welcome an open and continuing dialogue and appreciate working with you on this.

Kind regards

Mothership

I concede that I may be a two-faced bitch, but at least both of them are trying to save the ocean, right?