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I’ve been thinking about that quotation. I would like to think both are true. We have inherited the earth from our parents. In a physical sense being flesh blood and bones, and their constituent elements we owe a debt of gratitude to all our ancestors, parents, grandparents going back the generations. Indeed we owe a debt of gratitude to this lovely planet of ours for sustaining us. As for borrowing it from our children, it is true human life passes by in the blink of an eye. And thinking about the forecast for global population growth I consider myself fortunate that as the biodiversity crisis worsens and we go further into the mass extinction, to have borrowed such a precious biosphere to call home and take my duty of care to conserve and enrich it very seriously.
Assignment 1
I am involved in a local sustainability group concerned with climate action and coastal resilience. With this group I recently took part in a lawpro workshop exploring the connection between upland rivers and coastal flooding. I’d like the children to start thinking about catchments in the greater picture of the water cycle.
River to Sea story for where they live where the pick the rivulets and streams in their local environment and plot their course on a map to the sea. It might be possible to walk one of them as being an island theyre very short. They could look at the different habitats and see how they change from source to sea.
This learning could be extended to tie in with LAWPRO and and how bogs and peat and other conditions slow down water flow from precipitation in upland areas reducing the threat of flooding in lowlands. It would also tie in with the sustainable development goals of 13 climate action and 11 sustainable communities.
Assignment 2
Short term:
· Read the electricity meter weekly and look at ways of reducing the meter on a weekly basis and give rewards to the children on weeks where the weekly rate is reduced.
· Reduce water in toilet cisterns by moving the float accordingly.
· Signs on sinks reminding everyone to reduce water use.
Long term
· Water butt for rainwater capture
· LED lighting
· Solar panels
I really like the idea of the children researching brain foods and finding out more about the foods in general that are beneficial for healthy minds and well-oiled brains. It might be good to place those pictures on a visual food pyramid so the children can see where they are located regarding foods that they should eat regularly or rarely. Nice one Michelle!
Seafood is a very good source of nutrition. It can provide protein, vitamins, minerals and omega-3 oils that support healthy growth as well as brain development. By learning about seafood, its place on the food pyramid and food produced by aquaculture means children can understand why fish and other seafoods can be a healthy addition to their diets. At the same time, for me it is important to teach seafood and seafood consumption in a way that is responsible and teaches respect for the marine environment and its ecosystems and the creatures in it.
I teach the middle grades in my school and I hope to teach the salmon life cycle, both in the wild and how farmed salmon’s life cycle is different, I would also like them to know about the freshwater pearl mussel and how their lifecycles are completely dependant on healthy salmon stock returning to their breeding grounds annually. The pearl mussel is a criticaly endangered annex 2 species in Irish rivers.
The ocean has a huge role in providing food and I would like them to learn about fish farming and sustainability issues such as overfishing. Most of all I think its important that children understand where their food comes from and the food-chains that they are participants in. This approach builds an attitude of critical thinking as well as care for the environment and respect for differing dietary choices.
Hi Serena I thought the Quizzes were very good too and a helpful way to refresh knowlede and evaluate what the children have learned.
Since the school where I teach is close to a Salmon farm we’ve got a local STEM context to explore aquaculture. Our SSE areas for focus are literacy and wellbeing.
STEM education and learning about aquaculture can support our SSE through:
1. Wellbeing
Outdoor and Place Based Learning: It might be possible to visit the fish farm or failing that observe it from the shore with somebody from Marine Harvest or perhaps and ARC education guide.
Sense of Identity: As the children come to appreciate the fish farm through classroom learning, this reinforces pride in their community and sense of belonging.
2. Literacy
Oral Language: children could have opportunity to interview family, neighbours and friends who work on the fish farm and talk about the industry from their perspective. A debate might be another option.
Reading: Research and fact finding from online sources and perhaps information brochures from Marine Harvest and BIM.
Writing: Writing reports on the fish farm or the life cycle of a salmon, procedural writing on maybe a day in the life of a fish farm worker or persuasive writing about the pros and cons of aquaculture.
Having looked at the ARC online lessons and particularly Sustainable Irish Seafood I thought the information given was very helpful, the pace is slow enough for the middle grades that I teach, but the format is dynamic enough to be interesting. However when I’m teaching this topic I would like to give the children more information on the sustainability of aquaculture particularly fish-farming from other sources that highlight issues such as overfishing of sprat for fish food and nutrient pollution from fish waste and uneaten food rather than just the input from BIM and ARC.
Aquaculture can be really beneficial to local economies and communities, you’re right about that Sylvia. As well as boosting the economy in isolated areas where populations are dwindling, when located well aquaculture enterprises can mitigate coastal erosion by buffering the effects of strong tides in storm season. Oyster beds are very good in this regard as are the kelp forests further out to sea.
In Co Mayo where I live there are over 50 licences covering more than 30 production sites for aquaculture in the county. As well as salmon; mussels, oysters, seaweed, scallops, abalone and lobster are farmed. Recent BIM figures show that less than 150 people are employed as either full-time or part-time workers and the industry is worth about €19 million annually.
With the collapse of the fleet-fishing industry in Irish waters, while the numbers employed are nothing compared to the amounts of people employed by Pharma companies in the county, the numbers employed are important in places like Achill and Clare Island. Unfortunately like the big multinational companies in Westport and Castlebar, MOWI, a Norwegian company owns the farm in Clare Island and so the profits do not support the local economy but are returned to the parent company in Norway.
Hi Natasha, The school where I teach is close to a fishfarm and the children are very aware of the benefit of the fish farm to the local economy as well as their own families in some cases; and its potential to offer employment all year round rather than the seasonal employment tourism offers. i agree with your point that the material in this course can inform young minds and help them understand thir options and make good career choices based of the a broadend understanding.
Social Licence is concerned with community acceptance and the trust that the local people put in an organisation like a salmon farm or local people investing in oyster beds or mussel rafts as a means of making a living. Since the collapse of the local fishing industry in Ireland, people who wish to continue their maritime heritage are faced with very few options for making a living, aquaculture is one of them. In the case of fish-farms which are contentious because of pollution and damage to native fish stocks through lice, disease, contamination and escaped fish interfering with the genetic of native salmon, it is important that there is local buy-in.
The children in the school where I teach are aware of the local fish-farm and as future stakeholders deserve to have clear unbiased information about it. The cages are part of the local landscape. They need to be able to balance different perspectives on the industry and make their own minds up about its value in terms of its economic value, sustainability and local culture.
