Young people and the Global Goals

Why are young people important to the Goals? There are 1.8 billion people aged 10 – 24 in the world, the largest youth population in history. Young people can be a powerful in holding their governments accountable to their Global Goals promise by speaking publicly in their support for the Goals now, buying from businesses that are working to support the Goals (and challenging those that are not) and through their voting power in the near future. Young people can also use their education to take specific action in support of the Goals. They can invent, they can innovate and they can campaign for causes or to solve problems that they care about.

Choosing one Goal to support is a good way to start, and to take specific action. However, all the Goals are interlinked, so by supporting one Goal your actions will have positive impacts on other Goals. For example, promoting gender equality (Goal 5) in your school will help support a growing economy (Goal 8) and quality education for all (Goal 4).

Kirkwall's Last Straw

Class 6/7 at Glaitness School have been learning about sustainability and how what we consume affects the environment. After a hard look at our own global footprints and a reminder of how plastics affect the oceans they have decided to follow in the fantastic footsteps of Ullapool Primary School whose initiative 'Nae Straw At Aw' has resulted in Ullapool becoming the first single use plastic straw free village in Scotland. Class 6 have written to lots of hotels, bars and cafes to ask if they will end their use of single use plastic straws and offer a paper alternative,or no straw at all, to their customers. They have sent them a poster to display so that they can share their decision to take part in the initiative called  'Kirkwall's Last Straw' with their customers and they are hoping that the businesses will let them know they are taking part by leaving a comment on this post on the Pick Up Three Pieces Facebook page.
Hear the Radio Orkney interview with the children in this link at about 10:20.
https://www.mixcloud.com/radioorkney/around-orkney-friday-2nd-february-2018/

In their own school the children have decided time is up for juice cartons with straws attached, single use plastic water bottles, plastic cutlery and plates, and styrofoam cups. They are now hoping that they can convince other schools to take up the challenge and get rid of any remaining plastics and have written to Orkney Islands Council to see if they can help make it happen across all schools in the county.

Bagging the Bruck in The Falkland Islands

Our friend Mr Ross has shared a video of himself bagging the bruck in The Falkland Islands where he is teaching at the moment. It looks very much as if the litter there is the same stuff as we are picking up in Orkney, and there is plenty of it unfortunately.

We hope we can make a difference this year both by picking up and removing marine litter and encouraging everyone not to use disposable plastics.

Protecting our Water

As we approach this year's Bag the Bruck it is useful to remind ourselves of our role in the water cycle. This short animation helps us reflect on the choices we can make and the effects they can have.

Bagging the Bruck in 2016

This year's bruck bagging season has got off to a great start - Glaitness pupils have started cleaning up their local area. Groups of classes have been  litter picking at The Peedie Sea, Scapa beach and the local paths and areas around the school.

At The Peedie Sea

Team work at Scapa

42 bags!

Keep Scotland Beautiful Hero of the Month Award

This month children at glaitness School had a lovely surprise when the whole school was nominated and won the national Keep Scotland Beautiful 'Hero of the Month Award' for their Pick Up Three Pieces work. Just in time to give them a boost as they prepare for 'Bag the Bruck'!

The Mission Explore group who lead the Pick Up Three Pieces initiative with the award.

Pick Up Three PIeces began at Glaitness School and we have worked hard to keep it going and to try to get the whole Orkney community and visitors to Orkney involved. Our islands act like a net catching a lot of the litter that is in the oceans. Once a year we have a big clean up but this is no longer enough. With every tide and storm more rubbish gets dumped on our beaches. If everybody picked up a few pieces every time they go to the beach or shore  throughout the year we can make a difference. Even just picking up one piece might save an anilaml from eating it or getting tangled in it and drowning. The ocean is full of plastic which doesn't break down, it breaks up into tinier and tinier pieces which eventually end up in our food chain too.

Most litter in the sea comes from the land. We work hard to make sure liiter in our playground doeas not end up in the sea. We regularly use our litter pickers to pick up litter in our school grounds and around our local area.  We have put stickers on bins near our school to try to encourage everyone to join in. At some of the beaches there is a big bin with a sticker on it which asks people to Pick Up Three PIeces and gives them some facts about the problem of marine litter.

Orkney Islands Council helps us by emptying the bins, but the people who make it a success are all the people who pick up some pieces of litter. We think when they see us do it they will feel they can do it too and will get into good habits about how they look after their rubbish and how much disposable plastic they buy and how much rubbish they create and how they look after their own rubbish too. 

The children have said:

'When you are finished tidying up an area and you look round it and its clean you feel proud of yourself and happy with what you have done.'

'We feel like we are making a difference to animals' lives and the environment'

'Every time you pick up three pieces you are saving some birds or animals.'

Bag the Bruck 2015

This week all around Orkney community groups, schools and individuals are removing tons of litter from our beaches, shores and verges - most of which is plastic.

 Go litter warriors!

Shapinsay Bag the Bruck 2014

 

The children at Shapinsay School tackled the annual bruck bagging on the shores at Sandgarth beach.

 

Here are a few examples of what they found:

rope

netting

black plastic sheeting (baling wrap?)

broken creel

small drinks bottles

plastic lids

plastic toy digger

 

 

food containers

trainers

tyres

gloves

lighters

parts of pontoons

cartridge shells

electrical wire

fridge magnet

 

Awesome effort Litter Warriors!

 

Most of this bruck was made of plastic.

Some of it made specially for disposing of immediately after it was used!

 

A couple of days after the bruck bagging, the Pick Up Three Pieces team visited Shapinsay and the children had the chance to see some of Anne Bignall's pictures of underwater Orkney and the amazing creatures that live around our shores.

 

The children recognised a few of the items in the PU3P collection of marine litter from their Bag the Bruck expedition and found out that the cartridge shells probably come all the way from Canada. They also saw items that had come from Norway. They already knew that this litter poses a real problem of entanglement for marine animals and can be mistaken for food by birds and other creatures as it swirls around the North Atlantic.

 

These well informed litter warriors are making a difference by being active global citizens and taking responsibility for the environment around them.

Well done Shapinsay School!

Firth Bag the Bruck 2014

In the last week or two piles of bruck have been deposited beside our  beaches, shores and ditches all over Orkney. The bags are often picked up quite promptly so it is easy to underestimate just how much hard work has gone into Bagging the Bruck and the volume of litter that has been removed from the environment. Every pack of gloves and bags that is sent out is also followed up by a return form to let the organisers know how many bags were filled at each location. This does the job of letting the bin men know where to collect but also allows us to create a record of this year's efforts.

 

Individuals and community groups elect to clean specific beaches or stretches of shoreline or ditch, but a some of the picking is done by classes (or whole schools ) of children.

 

Some schools, like Firth, have shoreline right outside their school grounds!

Thank you to the children, staff and parents who join in and make Bag the Bruck so successful.

 

Well done litter warriors!

A guest post by Mary Harris - The children of North Walls School show they care for their beach.

 

Thanks to the Pick Up 3 Pieces campaign, we now have a large bin for beach rubbish installed at The Ayre, a causeway near Longhope. On both sides of this road are very special bays, delightful in many ways with some interesting flora, fauna and geology. On the south side a stretch of glorious sand attracts both local and visiting folk, be they walkers, paddlers, seal watchers, fishermen or just beach lovers and in a certain light the sea sparkles in exquisite turquoise hues. Occasionally we are lucky enough to see orcas or basking sharks enter the bay.  Across the road on the other side is the more sheltered North Bay, rich in various shell fish and marine life, it is important to many birds including ducks, divers and waders.

 

The  south bay known as Aith Hope opens out into the Pentland Firth and unfortunately some of the rubbish that drifts about in the open seas can find its way onto our lovely beach. Winter storms also bring in seaweed and much of the rubbish ends up tangled amongst this tide line. Some of this bruck travels a long way, for instance I have found lobster cage tags from Maine, USA and milk cartons from Norway. Dedicated Bag the Bruckers annually clean up as much rubbish as they can but the problem is constant.

 

Part of the PU3P campaign is to visit local schools and discuss with the children sea life, tides,  drifting patterns and  the issues and problems associated with marine litter, especially plastics, on our natural environment. The children of North Walls School recently had a visit from Lesley Mackay, founder of PU3P. Teachers and assistants then organised a trip to the beach for the children so they could put into context what they have discussed at school.

 

It was great to meet them on the shore and help them with the task in hand. Their enthusiasm and interest is a credit to their teachers and Lesley. They scurried about picking up stuff from the tiniest pieces of string to a welly boot, shotgun cartridges, rope, net, half a pair of spectacles, bottles and other plastic detritus. Two young girls sat in one place for a long time and sorted with utmost care through the seaweed picking out every piece of plastic they could see. While other pupils charged about more randomly picking up whatever caught their eye. I heard a teacher encouraging them by giving them a challenge like 'find six blue things' or 'three round things'. I thought this a great idea as too much choice confused the issue and rather than run about not knowing where to start they had a point of focus. I watched two small lads make a gallant effort to raise a large lump of old iron, that has laid half buried in the sand for decades.

In no time at all they had filled up their bags and it was back to the bin, some children dragging long lengths of rope.   Before dumping it all in the bin the booty was examined and the children rightfully praised for their outstanding effort. Co-incidentally it happened that it was bin day and the lorry turned up just at the right time. So they were able to watch the bin being hoisted up and the rubbish safely dumped inside the truck. I think for one or two children this was the icing on the cake!

So it is a step forward for our community to have this prominently placed bin with eye catching sticker. We hope it will stimulate future beach goers to follow the example our school children magnificently set and to pick up some rubbish and dispose of it in the bin.

 

Well done and thank you children, we are very proud of you all.

Marine Litter Machine

 

Lots of good ideas for how to get litter out of our oceans in this class competition!

Guest post by the Eday Ranger - Jenny Campbell

 

I moved to Orkney 18 months ago to take up the Eday Ranger position, of course I’d always been concerned about marine pollution and pollution in general but it wasn’t until I lived up here that I became quite so passionate (or should I say militant) about it.  I think it’s the sheer amount you see up here, every tide line on every beach is strewn with all kinds of plastic rubbish as the PU3P outreach to schools proves with their collection of plastic items collected from around Orkney.  Then discovering the fate of all these plastic items, to photo-degrade becoming smaller and smaller then being ingested by marine life.  That’s if birds and mammals haven’t become entangled or trapped in plastic items before they break down.  Obviously, we all know marine litter is not a good thing but I don’t think many people realise quite how dangerous it is so the PU3P campaign is a brilliant idea as it helps the physical state of the beaches but also makes people think about their plastic use and what happens to their rubbish when it’s thrown out – where’s out?  In terms of our planet, there is no out so we need a shift in thinking, as well being very good recyclers and re-users we also need to reduce the amount of plastic being manufactured, every new bit of plastic is just another bit that will never, ever disappear!

 

So it was time for Eday to get the PU3P treatment, after a visit to Glaitness Primary School with Lindsey from RSPB to watch Lesley in action and learn how to interpret to a younger audience and also borrow the collection of bruck to show the Eday children.  So first we had a chat about the marine environment, the fate of plastics and other rubbish, the sad stories associated with it but then to cheer us up again we talked about what we can do to help.  It seems such a daunting prospect but as we found out, if you do what you can, what more can anyone ask?  The more people that think this way, the bigger the movement will become.  We then had a go at identifying some of the marine litter PU3P had lent to us and the children loved it as we made it like a scavenger hunt with a tick list.  After all the items had been spotted we talked through a few of them explaining how they could endanger an animal or the effect it could have.  As usual, the Eday children were very interested and concerned so we had a wee chat about our Bag the Bruck activity that will be coming up and they decided we should spread the word of PU3P to everyone we know!

 

This was followed by a ‘Rubbish Evening’ at Eday Heritage Centre, there was an illustrated presentation, similar to what the children had in the morning although with a few more sad photos of seals entangled in rope, whales in ghost-nets and birds killed through entanglement just to get the point across as I reckon we all need reminded sometimes.  This was followed by an excellent talk by RSPB Enjoy Wild Orkney’s Anne Bignall on all the amazing things that can be seen just below the surface of Orkney waters.  There was a quick break to refill glasses and order dinner then we gathered again to watch Raymond Besant’s short film, ‘The Flying Dustbin’ which tells the story of how plastic pollution affects fulmars, in a graphic yet engaging way, again emphasising why we need to do something now.  It was getting late by the time we finished but there was still time for sausage, chips and Orkney Best.  This event attracted 35 adults in the evening and our entire school of six pupils took part in the morning, if everyone one of those people went to the beach once and picked up their three pieces we’d have 123 pieces less of litter on our beaches!  It all adds up so spread the word.

The next step for us is getting one of these fancy bins you’ll have seen popping up all over Orkney, partaking in Bag the Bruck in April and picking up 3 pieces all year long!

PU3P visit to Rousay

A few weeks ahead of Bag the Bruck, the children in Rousay are well aware of the litter that is in the ocean and the harm it can do.

 

 

They were surprised to find inhalers and toothbrushes, shoes and gloves, and lots of balloons in the bruck collected from the beach. How did it get there? Where did it come from?

 

 

Jim Toomey helped us think about how it got in the oceans in the first place and what we can do about it. If lots of us make these small changes we can make a big difference to the problem.

 

Gruellie Belkies Saving Sanday's Shores

PU3P and Anne Bignall from the RSPB's Enjoy Wild Orkney project, visited Sanday Community Centre and then Sanday School to give a talk and slideshow along with the Sanday Ranger, Rod Thorne. A good turnout for our evening talk gave us an indication of just how concerned and active the community are about looking after their amazing beaches. Anne showed us some of her vivid photos of the habitats and creatures she sees underwater convincing everyone that the thriving underwater ecosystems around our shores need to be protected just as much as the creatures we see above the water.

 

Rod shared some memorable images of beach finds and strandings as well as some unfortunate victims of entanglement which have been found on the shore.

 

We finished off with a look at the typical sort of litter which ends up on our shores and why it is worth removing it even if you can only pick up three pieces of it.

 

Next morning at the school we spoke again at assembly, and then to the Eco Group who had some good questions to ask about where the litter came from and ideas about how it might have got into the ocean

 

 Finally we spoke to the John Muir Award group who have already cleaned one beach and plan to visit one a week through the duration of their project. As well as recording and reporting ray and shark cases and dead birds, they are bagging and removing large amounts of litter at each location. This is a great time of year to do this, particularly this winter, after the consistent and violent winter storms which have dislodged and thrown up masses of litter previously in the water column and on the sea bed. We look forward to a guest post from the group later to hear how their inspiring example of outstanding active environmental responsibility has progressed.

'Scratching the Surface' - a guest post by Anne Bignall

If you glanced out to sea on a grey windy day in Orkney,  it would be easy to think that beneath the surface of the waves was pretty murky and inhospitable –  a place lacking in colour and perhaps rather sparse in life. This couldn’t be further from the truth!  Even at the shallowest depths, there are a wide variety of  vibrant, colourful and dynamic habitats supporting an astonishing array of animals.  Kelp forests, eelgrass meadows, rocky outcrops adorned with seaweeds and the sand or muddy sea bed itself make Orkney a fantastic place for life to flourish and our clear water makes it a great place for snorkelers or divers to experience what is there.

You get a hint of what might be living beneath the surface when things are washed up on the beach dead,  or by catching a glimpse of dolphins or whales breaking the surface of the water, seeing seals hauled out or even seeing seafood caught locally.  However, spending time in the water, enables you to experience this amazing ‘other world’ and to see marine animals living out their lives, responding to their surroundings and interacting with each other.  Once you’ve experienced this and made that connection it is impossible to ignore the catastrophic damage plastic litter is causing to the environment and the horrendous suffering it causes to sentient animals that rely on the ocean like seals, cetaceans and seabirds.

All the picture in the slideshow are taken around Orkney’s coast – most in water only a couple of metres deep.  If you are really inspired, why not try snorkelling yourself? For more information you can visit the Snorkel Orkney Facebook page where some of Orkney’s avid snorkelers post pictures and discuss marine life.
 

Peedie Sea gets its own logo!

 

 

Last year children at Glaitness realised that the swans and other birds at The Peedie Sea were in danger of being harmed by the litter that gathers there. In the recent stormy weather the litter from the surrounding area has been piling uparound the overwintering birds. A lot of it is plastic bags which are extremely dangerous to wildlife. 

The children who are now in P3 designed a new logo specially for the Peedie Sea which shows 3 swans eating rubbish which they have mistaken for food. This design cleverly combines the Glaitness School logo (the swan) with the message of picking up three pieces. Their logo is now on 2 newly established bins and their design has been put on a re-useable bag to help spread the message and to help provide an alternative to plastic bags. The bags are available from Glaitness School reception for £2.50 each. Why not 'pick one up' on your way to the shops, or drop into Shearer's or Bruce's Stores and get one there!

 

 

Firth are full of good ideas!

 

This week PU3P visited the Pupil Council at Firth School, which is situated in a fantastic location for marine education. The Pupil Council found out about some of the effects that marine litter has on animals that live in the ocean.

The we had a look at the collection of bruck which has been gathered on Orkney shores. The plastic film, wrap and carrier bags as well as single use bottles have been removed, leaving a surprising mix of items. Some of these may be local, some have been in the ocean for a long time and some have travelled all the way from Canada, probably swirling around in the North Atlantic gyre for a while before being flung out towards us.

 Everyone was aware of the masses of unecessary plastic packaging that there is for food in supermarkets and toy packaging, but some of the litter was surprising. Why were there inhalers and shot gun cartridges floating around in the sea? No wonder fulmars are called flying dustbins!

 

Lots of good questions meant that by the end of the session the Pupil Council had plenty of ideas about how to take action. They are ready to share what they have learned throughout the school and beyond, and spread the message, Pick Up Three for the Sea!

PU3P visits North Walls School, Hoy.

 

The PU3P collection of bruck has been out at North Walls School in Hoy this week and was closely examined by the children. They found the remains of balloons, toothbrushes, paintbrushes, dolls, forks and spoons as well as pieces of plastic that had floated across the North Atlantic from Canada. There may even have been some items from further away - we may never know where some of these things originated - but we do know that they end up here in the seas around Orkney and deposited, briefly, on our shores.

 

After watching the videos produced by The 5 Gyres Institute it was clear that the problem of plastics in the oceans is a worldwide one. With some expertise already in ocean currents, members of Class 2 understood just how far trash in the ocean can travel.

 

 They concluded that there are things we can do to help animals in the oceans and stop things getting worse. We can try to reduce the amount of plastic we buy and use, and we can use cotton or jute bags when we go shopping and keep re-using them.

 

How do you clean the ocean? You clean the shore!

 

The most popular video of the day was the one that reminded us of how amazing the ocean is.

  

                              

Peedie Sea litter warriors.

As the days get shorter and the weather cools the Peedie Sea again becomes busy with returning overwintering birds. The swans are arriving and ducks congregating - it is part of the seasonal change in Kirkwall. Once on the periphery of the town, The Peedie Sea is now surrounded by development and part of a busy thoroughfare - a main road and pedestrian paths between car parks with occasional food vans, supermarkets, school, campsite, playing fields, skatepark, a swimming pool and leisure centre, and housing. This means that the area is exposed to a lot of littering, much of it is single use bags and bottles, which spreads quickly in our windy weather.

The younger children at Glaitness School have taken responsibility for the area across the road from their school in a few different ways over the years by planting 'sticks' that are now young willow trees, and by creating interpretation boards for the new path.

They continue to do what they can in the windy playground to minimise the litter blown across to the Peedie Sea by having teams of volunteer litter pickers at break times and are now regularly making expeditions across the road to Pick Up Three Pieces, and working to get some bins established.

Here are a few of their responses to getting out and taking some action...

 

'I was surprised that there was so much rubbish but I was happy when we picked it all up.'

'I was happy when we were finished because we saved the animals from dying.'

'I am happy we picked up the litter because the plastic won't get stuck on the birds neck.'

'I enjoyed it because we are helping the environment. It was fun too because we got fresh air.'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evie start planning and Burray get picking!

 

Pick Up Three Pieces visited two schools this week. Children at Burray had participated in the big 4th barrier litter pick with The Hope Community School last term but were keen to find out more about what marine litter is, the dangers it poses and where it comes from.

 

 

 

We watched a video and had a good discussion about their own experiences of finding plastics on the beach. Living so close to the shore meant that they were experts in some of the man made bruck to be found there.

 

Over in Evie later that day the Eco Committee and the Pupil Committee gathered to find out more about marine litter. Again they were a knowledgable group and very interested to see the litter from their own beach, some of which had come from Canada and Norway, and other bits, like crisp packets, from closer to home - maybe even the school playground!

 

 

After investigating the range of types of plastics that get washed up on Orkney's shores from the PU3P collection of cleaned beach plastics, they were keen to do something about it.

 

Lets hope we meet up again at the beach soon, and put some of that energy and enthusiasm into action!

 

 

 

Back at Burray the next day, a break in the weather meant a very pleasant morning on the beach for the Burray litter warriors. We found lots of rope, long lengths and short bits, scraps of plastic, clothes peg, cotton bud stick, lolly stick, bits of old creel, strapping bands, and much, much more!

 

The final big pile of bruck was deposited in the 1100ltr PU3P bin at the 4th barrier - almost filling it.

Well done for saving wildlife from all that  life threatening litter!

These children will continue to take a keen interest in, and responsibility for, the environment around them, and are already planning a return beach cleaning visit.

 

Burray School say, 'Pick Up Three!'