At the end of July, on a calm Monday morning, the Bonnie Lass vessel departed from Port de Sóller, for five days, on a unique marine expedition.
Aboard the vessel were six young students from IES Porreres and IES Damià Huguet, aged 15 to 16, and ready for the adventure of a lifetime. Accompanying the young sailors were three professionals from Save the Med Foundation, who were there to mentor the students and conduct marine science activities during their time at sea. Skipper Pete Lucas and Christine from Bonnie Lass charters expertly and safely navigated the vessel as it cruised out of the harbour along the epic Tramuntana coastline.
The Changemakers expedition, organized by Save the Med with the collaboration of Fundación Jesus Serra, departs every year, with students who have presented ideas to help reduce and prevent single-use plastics. The teams on-board this year have been selected as part of the Top 5 projects of the year and invited on a series of expeditions and excursions as a reward for their dedication to the environment. Earlier in July, other four Changemakers students joined the team for a day-long excursion aboard the solar-powered vessel Stenella, which was offered for the day by the organization Trueworld.
Some of the ideas include: a clothes-swap initiative to address the problem of fast-fashion, a web page and campaign to reduce waste in cafes and restaurants, and a standardized point system to label plastic in food packaging. The students focused their ideas on the following three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Refuse. This means their projects prevent the creation of plastic waste, before it becomes a problem.
LEARNING THE ROPES ON A MARINE EXPEDITION
As soon as they step on-board, the kids instantly become part of the crew. They are taught how the expedition functions, and participate in everyday tasks such as cleaning, navigating, techniques in marine biology and how to identify different wildlife. Students become citizen-scientists and take part in data collection, studying human impacts on the marine environment.
On the third day, they learnt about the unique and varied ecological habitats in Sa Dragonera and got to experience it for themselves during a snorkel expedition, spotting groupers, wrasse, and sea bass, as well as invertebrates, algae and Posidonia. On the next to last day, the crew had a lucky sighting of a pod of bottlenose dolphins, as they explored the stunning Cala Tuent. During the evenings, the vessel anchors in calm bays, and students help with the cooking before tucking in for an early night sleeping under the stars.
PLASTIC POLLUTION
Part of the experience was also to learn about the harmful impact humans can have on the environment and how we can reduce it. One of the crew members spotted a small island of floating trash along the coastline – the crew jumped into action and with the help of everyone on-board, the plastic was retrieved, categorized, and analysed by the experts on-board. The crew also conducted manta trawls, where samples of microplastics are taken from the water for analysis on-board.
On the last day, a special guest joined the team: Tupa Rangel from Save the Med’s Plastic Free Balearics Program. She engaged the students in an in-depth debate on today’s throwaway culture and consumption models. They reflected on solutions to reduce and prevent waste generation through real community action, avoiding traps such as greenwashing and focusing on what it really means to be responsible consumers.
For more information about the Changemakers Project and to see the ideas and initiatives created by students, visit www.changemakersatsea.org
