News:
February 10th
More amazing news! Peder has been invited by the European government (the European Commission) to attend the handoff of the global aquariums against plastic pollution coalition to the United Nations in Monaco, and has been asked to assist in developing forward-looking approaches to help aquariums better engage, educate and inspire the public to fight the plastic pollution global disaster.
He'll get to introduce our FateChanger app, which gives kids and teachers the tools to both learn about environmental issues and then spearhead development of progressive environmental policy.
Or as he likes to say....
It's not an app. It's a dragon.
We'll hit BETA in about a week or two. Stoked!
November 13th
We were just contacted by Austrian President Van der Bellen's office. He'd like to meet us at Austria's biggest aquarium, the Haus des Meeres, after our plastic pollution whale exhibition is installed there!
Sept 22 - news coming in from many sides
Kids Save Ocean has been shortlisted from over 1200 tech startups for the Swiss Hatch Colab Accelerator, which empowers entrepreneurs to build Impact Ventures that solve Humanity’s Grand Challenges and drive sustainable change. Our founder, Peder Hill, will go to Geneva early October to compete against 19 others for one of the 10 year-long spots.
Peder was contacted by Springer Nature, a big publisher who will create a new journal that will bring together environment, sustainability, experiential learning and ethics. He’s been invited to submit an article for the flagship first edition. Nuts.
Our work is featured in a recent article in the Original, a sustainability magazine.
Oh, and we just got a wonderful letter from the President of Spain, translated into German by the Spanish Consulate - we'll add pictures soon. So much to do.
And in a recent book by the same journalist, Susanne Wolf.
Sept 2nd
We're falling behind with our updates, so we've made this gallery. In the past weeks we've heard from the Queen, the Croatian Minister of Environment and the Prime Minister of New Zealand (such a sweet letter). Also Japan's Climate Minister, Slovakian President Andrej Kisha, the Czech and Dutch governments, and the Pope. Also from the President of Tobago (no picture yet). Justin Trudeau! And the Governor of Puerto Rico, who wanted to start a local chapter of Kids Save Ocean before he was...um...kicked out office. Bummer.
May. 7th
Getting a bit behind with updates...we received letters from the leaders of 4 countries in the last weeks. And this sweet letter today from Sir David Attenborough. What an honour that he supports our work. Click to enlarge.
April. 12th
We received two letters today, one from the King of the Netherlands and this very sweet one from Prince Albert of Monaco. Click to enlarge.
April. 6th
Our exhibition at the Austrian
Academy of Sciences has been covered in Profil Magazine. Click to enlarge.
April. 5th
Deeply honored for our work to be part of the Art of Sustainability exhibition organised for the International Sustainability Symposium at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
March. 5th
The Austrian Academy of Sciences sent up a mock-up image of what the children's whale might look like during the exhibition, which will be held mid-April through May.
Jan. 20th: The Austrian Academy of Sciences has confirmed our whale exhibition.
The exhibition will run a month starting in April, coinciding with a sustainability conference that will likely be attended by Ban Ki-moon.
Dec. 4th: We've been contacted by photographer and filmmaker York Hovest (who created National Geographic's best seller 100 Years in Tibet)
I had a meeting with him in Munich, and he'll probably include our project in his "Ocean Heroes" documentary film!
https://yorkhovest.com/projekt-ozeane/
Nov. 30th: Call from head of the Vienna Board of Education (Stadtschulrat)
The head of the Stadtschulrat in Vienna personally called the principal of our school in recognition of the importance and success of our project.
Nov. 27th: We got a letter from the Austrian government!
In response to a letter written by our school's principal, the office of Sebastian Kurz, Chancellor of Austria, responded with a 2 page letter thanking and commending us on our "Last Whale" project and expressing how important the issue of plastic pollution is to their policies. They asked the principal to notify the Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism. Here's the letter if you'd like to read it.
Nov. 14th: Today we received a letter from Queen Elisabeth!
She thanked us for our letter and idea to present her the Children's Clean Ocean Declaration, though it wasn't possible to set up a meeting between the kids and her. You can read her letter here.
Nov. 13th: The kids and I received two letters today, one from Angela Merkel's office, the other from the British Prime Minister May's. Really.
The beginning of the first letter read (translated from German): "Chancellor Angela Merkel has requested that I thank you and the children of Gymnasium Draschestrasse fro your engangement for environmental and ocean protection." It then went on in 2 pages to give an overview of Germany's policy strategy about plastic pollution. Read her letter.
The 2nd letter, from 10 Downing Street, invited the kids to come and discuss England's plastic ocean pollution policy with Neil Hornby, the English Director of Marine and Fisheries for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Read the letter.
Nov. 11th: New exhibition scheduled!
Our "Last Whale" exhibition, including our whale sculpture, will very likely be placed in the Austrian Academy of Sciences to coincide with their scientific conference on sustainability. Ban Ki-moon may very well attend! The exhibition will probably run a month.
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/austrian-academy-of-sciences/
Oct. 27th, 2018: SDG Knowledge Hub Publication
We're extremely proud that two students who were key players at the Children's Clean Ocean Summit were requested to write an article on the International Institute for Sustainable Development's SDG Knowledge Hub! Read it here. They did a fantastic job.
Oct. 4th, 2018: Today I got a message from the office of Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen
They were very impressed with the Kids Save Ocean Children's Clean Ocean Summit and would meet with us early next year. The kids will deliver him the Children's Clean Ocean Declaration and discuss with him Austria's approach to plastic pollution.
Sept. 24th, 2018: A new article about our project has come out, this time in the world of scuba. Thank you Scubaverse for shining a light on kids' determination to protect our oceans!
www.scubaverse.com/the-childrens-clean-ocean-summit/
Sept. 17th, 2018: A primary school in England that Skyped with us during the Children's Clean Ocean Summit has put out a sweet report:
Save the Sea: Ban Single-use Plastics
Sept. 4th, 2018: Based on our project, our school has been highlighted in the Sierra Club Magazine's "Cool Schools - Best of the Rest"
August 31st, 2018: Ocean Plastics Lab Update
We just received an update about the Ocean Plastics Lab, which was in Ottawa, Canada, and features Fatechanger even though it's not finished. They write: "Thanks to your great work, the Ocean Plastics Lab was able to attract about 14,800 visitors in two weeks. We also had the pleasure to welcome high-level visitors including Catherine McKenna (Minister of Environment & Climate Change), H.E. Sabine Sparwasser (German Ambassador), H.E. Peteris Ustubs (EU Ambassador), Franziska Hagedorn (Deputy Head of Mission for Germany) and, last but certainly not least, Dr. Stephen Lucas (Dep. Minister in Environment and Climate Change Canada)." The exhibition goes next to Berlin.
August 24th, 2018: Founder Peder Hill has been nominated by legendary educator Esther "Woj" Wojcick both as a Moonshot Teacher and for the up and coming Moonshot Prize competition!
August 12th, 2018: Peder Hill has been nominated for the prestigious Global Teacher Prize!
June 22nd, 2018: The Children's Clean Ocean Summit was held at the United Nations in Vienna.
It was amazing.
Titled "The Last Whale" after our humpback whale sculpture and in recognition of what will happen if we don't change, it was run entirely by kids and was an extraordinarily powerful day full of hope and the promise of a world engaged by a whole new set of imaginative, intelligent, forward-looking voices. Just what we so desperately need. Images are in our image gallery. Video coming soon.
Press coverage
Sierra Magazine - Cool Schools - Best of the Rest (English):
Student article on International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) - SDG Knowledge Hub (English):
Natural Resources Defense Council - Action Figure (English):
www.nrdc.org/stories/landlocked-vienna-humpback-spreads-powerful-message
Scubaverse (English) www.scubaverse.com/the-childrens-clean-ocean-summit/
The United Nations Information Service about the Summit (English): http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/en/events/2018/kids-save-ocean.html
The United Nations Information Service about the Summit (German):
http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/de/events/2018/kids-save-ocean.html
The Azula organization (English): www.azula.com/kids-save-ocean-2564464181.html
Open Mind Publications (English): www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/working-towards-the-end-of-plastic/
Open Mind Publications (Spanish): https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/ciencia/medio-ambiente/hacia-el-fin-del-plastico/
LifeGate (Italian): www.lifegate.it/persone/stile-di-vita/childrens-clean-ocean-summit-vienna-conferenza-bambini
LifeGate (English): https://www.lifegate.com/people/news/childrens-clean-ocean-summit-vienna-united-nations
Minimal Waste (German): https://minimalwaste.de/blog/kids-save-ocean-diese-kinder-wollen-den-ozean-retten/
The Costa Rica News (English): https://thecostaricanews.com/the-war-against-plastics-2/
Go Green (English/others): http://www.go-green.ae/green-column.php?aid=1129
Hong Kong (Mandarin): http://startupbeat.hkej.com/?p=60049
Hong Kong (English): http://www.ejinsight.com/20180629-let-s-go-plastic-free-to-save-the-ocean/
Hong Kong (English): http://harbourtimes.com/2018/08/03/eliminating-plastic-waste/
The Try for Good Network (English): http://tryforgood.com/kids-save-ocean
Eturbo News (English): www.eturbonews.com/232167/kids-initiate-worlds-first-childrens-clean-ocean-summit
World News/Travel Wire News (English): https://travelwirenews.com/kids-initiate-worlds-first-childrens-clean-ocean-summit-1080839/
Opinia Publica (Romanian): www.opiniapublica.info/onu-gazduieste-prima-conferinta-organizata-de-copii-tema-intalnirii-va-fi-curatarea-oceanelor-de-plastic
Article in kid's section of Die Zeit - the German version of the New York Times
The Oceans Plastics Labs Overview and Partners (French): https://oceanplasticslab.net/fr/les-partenaires/
The Oceans Plastics Labs Overview and Partners (English):
https://oceanplasticslab.net/partners/
ABOUT OCEAN PLASTICS LAB
The Ocean Plastics Lab is an international traveling exhibition about science: It showcases the contribution of science to understand and tackle the problem of plastics in the ocean.
December 23rd
Fantastic news! We've been selected by the biggest Hack4Impact group as the recipient of a custom-built technology. They will contribute an entire team of developers, including 1000 developer hours to build it for us. We're incredibly thankful for this collaborative opportunity to create new pathways to empowering youth, and anyone else for that matter, to build scalable high-impact sustainability projects.
A Sustainability Project Accelerator
We will create an online app platform that helps kids (and anybody else) both understand sustainability issues and build real-life solutions - ones that can be used as best-practice models by other students in other schools around the world.
The platform will be gamified, incorporating an engine of the world's most powerful solution-building approaches (human-centered design and Silicon Valley business strategies) to empower young people to help protect our planet and its future.
