The first part of our project was to create a documentary to show students in our school the severity of the effects of plastic pollution on our oceans. The documentary demonstrated how plastic pollution harms the Atlantic Ocean and also how plastic effects local industries in the Northeast such as fishing and marine science. For the film conducted interviews with fisherman at local Boston area piers and marine science experts including professors at Northeastern, Harvard, MIT, and Boston University, as well as scientists at the New England Aquarium and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The documentary was shown to students in science classes and was accompanied by discussion panel with the 2019 UNESCO team members.

 

The next part of the project was a weeklong advisory awareness campaign. On Monday, Thursday, and Friday advisories, we asked advisory teachers to record the number of non-reusable plastic water bottles and reusable water bottles that students in their advisory had and share this data with us through a survey. Every non-reusable water bottle counted as a “negative point” and every reusable water bottle counted as a “positive point”. On Tuesday, all advisories took a survey that tested their knowledge about plastic pollution in the ocean. Every advisory earned one “positive point” per each correctly answered question. At the end of the week, the advisory with the most points won an ocean related prize. The purpose of this campaign challenge was to engage our school community in becoming educated about the harms of plastic and get students to reflect about their own plastic usage habits.

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To conclude, we hung posters during the holiday season to give students gift ideas that are make of plastics that have been removed from the ocean.