Can We Make a Difference?

Phil Twyford came to visit us and Room 1 to share his kayaking experiences and photos with us. Below are some of the things we learnt.
~ Bryde's Whales live in the Waitemata Harbour and Hauraki Gulf.  They get hit by the ships coming into the wharves in the city centre. Some are badly scarred and others are killed.
~ Scientists can tell how clean water is by collecting some and studying the type and number of creatures living in it.
~ Mussels can clean the water by filtering it. Ngati-Whatua are trying to re-grow the mussel beds in the harbour to stop pollution spoiling it.
~ There is a plastic island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. We found out that there are places in the Pacific Ocean that have large collections of plastic rubbish too.
~ Near Pt Chev beach is Meola Reef. The sea grass there was dying because of pollution but a scientist has found that it is growing again - great job Auckland!

When Phil Twyford came to visit us he challenged us with these questions

Can we make a difference?

Are we smarter than in the past?

We are taking responsibility for the rubbish we see in the school, on the streets and especially near the drain closest to our houses because we know that this rubbish ends up in the streams, rivers and then goes into the sea.
We found some very worrying photos that show how bad pollution can be in the seas around the world and the damage it can do to animals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_debris

 "Marine debris on Hawaiian coast" by NOAA - http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/marinedebris101/photos_ecosys.html. File:Marine_debris_on_Hawaiian_coast.jpg

 "Albatross at Midway Atoll Refuge (8080507529)" by Chris Jordan File:Albatross_at_Midway_Atoll_Refuge_(8080507529).jpg

"Turtle entangled in marine debris (ghost net)" by Source of the image: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2429.htm. File:Turtle_entangled_in_marine_debris_(ghost_net).jpg