ICCS @ Festival of Biodiversity and Ubin Day 2015: Calling for volunteers to spread the message of marine trash!

Festival of Biodiversity and Ubin Day are events held to celebrate Singapore’s native flora and fauna. By reaching out to members of the public, they aim to raise awareness of our diverse natural environment in Singapore. This year, ICCS will be having a booth at the both events, and we are calling out to passionate volunteers who wish to share about marine biodiversity, as well as spread the message of marine trash!

Adriane, ICCS’ Northwest Zone Captain shared about the curse of marine litter at last year’s Festival of Biodiversity with the help of his iPad props! Photo taken from: Otterman WordPress, 12 Jul 2014

This year, we will be focusing on 4 main aspects;

1. Marine Life in Singapore What are some examples of marine life in Singapore, and where can we find them?
2. The Threat of Marine Trash What are the main problems with marine trash? (e.g. Ingestion of plastics by marine life, entanglement of animals in discarded fishing nets and plastics, release of harmful chemicals into our natural environment)
3. What can we do about this? What are simple solutions, or small changes we can make in our daily lifestyles in the course of sustainability?
4. About ICCS and our coastal cleanups How you can go about joining us and what are our various social media platforms?

We will be having specimens of local marine life, posters, and interactive activities, and we are in need of passionate volunteers to contribute ideas, man the booth, and raise awareness on the impact of marine trash. There will be a workshop on the 20th of June that will familiarise you with the needed knowledge and skill-set to reach out to a larger audience.

If you would like to join us as a volunteer for:

• Ubin Day, check out this blog post for more information and sign up by the 27th of May.
• Festival of Biodiversity, sign up here by the 12th of June.

We look forward to meeting our education team!

“Marine Life and the Threat of Marine Trash” – ICCS talks for your organisation in Jun-Jul 2015!

ICCS conducts talks on local marine biodiversity and the dangers of marine trash for schools and corporate groups! If you would like your students or co-workers to learn more about these marine issues before your cleanup register with this form to arrange a talk in Jun-Jul 2015.

Please note that talks will no longer be available after 20 September 2015!

ICCS 2012 Manpower Captain Jocelyne Sze speaking to Queenstown Secondary School students for Earth Day.

What do we cover during our talks?

1) Local Marine Biodiversity
What exactly are “marine habitats” and what can we find in these environments? Despite major land reclamation works on our coastlines, Singapore still does have a substantial amount of marine life! This section will give a brief introduction into marine flora and fauna, and where they can be found on our island.

 

2) The Threat of Marine Trash
How “clean and green” are our beaches exactly? This section will offer insight into the plight of some beaches and mangroves in Singapore, and the dangers that trash in these environments pose to marine life, as well as to us.

  

3) What the ICCS data tells us
What can we deduce about marine trash through looking at data? What does our trash mainly comprise of and what is the significance of data collection during coastal cleanups?

4) What can we do?
How can we change our daily habits into more sustainable alternatives? This section will offer insight into small things individuals can do to play their part for the oceans.

For blog posts about talks by ICCS in the past, see this page.