Ocean Awareness Contest for Young Artists

We invite middle and high school students from around the world in the 2016 Ocean Awareness Student Contest! The theme is Making Meaning out of Ocean Pollution, and it challenges you to research, explore, interpret, and say something meaningful about the connections between human activities and the health of our oceans.

This year, we challenge you to focus on ONE type of ocean pollution and “make meaning” of it through art, poetry, prose, or film. We would encourage you to connect it with your own life, your own local community, or something else that is personally meaningful to you, but what’s most important is to pick a topic that inspires and motivates you.

This is an interdisciplinary contest that weaves together ocean awareness, creativity, and advocacy. Advocacy means taking a stand for something you believe in. It requires problem-solving skills, assertiveness, and most of all, knowing when to call the world to action.

While learning from science, history, and personal experience will inform your entry, there is no “right” way to do meaningful advocacy. Use your creativity to make art, poetry, prose, or films that inspire and empower a new generation of ocean stewardship!

For details visit:  http://www.fromthebowseat.org/contest-2016.php

A Dragon Story With A Sea-ful Twist

 The Dragon Dreamer is a young adult science fiction adventure with dragons and a detailed undersea world that has inspired kids to learn more about the sea, says author, J.S. Burke who worked as a marine biologist for the Florida Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Marine Research.

Ms. Burke, who specialized in science research papers, admits that not everyone will read a science research paper, especially younger readers. So, she wrote The Dragon Dreamer as a young adult (ages 9 and up) science fiction adventure with a young dragon named Arak, and a detailed undersea world to help young people learn more about the sea.

Arak is a misfit dragon who gets lost in mind-trance, so he's called "Dreamer" and ridiculed.  

Determined to prove himself he leaves on a dangerous quest, is caught in a fierce sea-storm, and crashes. Badly wounded, he faces death. A fearless, undersea shape-shifter named Scree heals him, and an unexpected friendship begins.

Other science books for youngsters by Jenny S. Burke include, Crystal Colors, Fantasy Snowflake Activities, Crystal Geometry and Crystal Clouds.  To learn more about these books, visit http://www.jennysburke.com

The Dragon Dreamer can be found at:
Amazon US: bit.ly/TheDragonDreamer 
Amazon UK 
NOOK
KOBO

Students Create Videos About Plastic Pollution

A teacher friend of Neptune 911 for Kids sent us these links for student-made videos about plastics in the ocean.  We give these talented students a big, gold sea star for their work. 

Art from Plastic Bottle Caps Collected by Students

Plastic bottle caps often become food for the fish and birds.  That's a bad thing because plastic isn't meant to be food.  

The students at Carmel River School decided to put all those colorful plastic caps we find tossed on the street, or on the beach, to good use: Make a huge mural on an ugly wall inside the school yard.

Here are more ocean critters made from bottle caps that will become part of this mural at Carmel River School.

Youth Commits To Sea Turtle and Ocean Health

When Casey Sokolovic was 8-years-old, a field trip  to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center on Topsail Island, North Carolina, inspired the 3rd grader to make a difference.  

Now 15-years-old Casey Sokolovic has racked up a page of awards and recognitions (with her premier award coming this May--the 2014 Christopher Benchley Youth Award).  Her mission, is Love A Sea Turtle (L.A.S.T.), a project  that raises awareness of ocean conditions and an "educational outreach program and an outdoor environmental summer science camp that traces the path of fresh water to the coast," as noted on the Love a Sea Turtle website.

During this year's  MLK Day of Service, L.A.S.T. organized "..over 125 volunteers – 98 were Boys & Girls Club members! Together, we cleared and cleaned trails, removed invasive species, constructed a fossil pit, assembled fishing line recycling containers, and shared a Monday Meal," says Casey's blog.

Watch these baby sea turtles rush to the ocean

About sea turtles from Defenders of Wildlife

• Sea turtles are one of the Earth's most ancient creatures. 
• The seven species that can be found today have been around for 110  million years, since the time of the dinosaurs. 
• The sea turtle's shell, or "carapace" is streamlined for swimming through the water. Unlike other turtles, sea turtles cannot retract their legs and head into their shells. 
• Their color varies between yellow, greenish and black depending on the species.

A Call for Art & Poetry by California Kids

Do you live in California?
Are you a creative kid in kindergarten througn 12th grade?

If so, read, or have an adult help you enter this year's California Coastal  Art and Poetry Contest.

A Maze of Jellyfish
    Catherine Cui, 5th grade, Tustin
    Honorable Mention in 2013

WHO:	All California residents in kindergarten through 12th grades are invited to participate. There are five categories for awards in both art and poetry: K-1st, 2nd-3rd, 4th-6th, 7th-9th, and 10th-12th grade.
WHAT:	Entries must have a California coastal or California marine theme (e.g. no tropical or Arctic settings or species -- for help with California species, click here.) Poems and artwork must be student's original work. If using a photo model taken by someone else, image must be significantly altered to avoid plagiarism. Art should be no larger than 11 inches by 17 inches. Acceptable art media are paint, pencil, markers, ink, crayon, chalk or pastel (fixed), and collage. Three-dimensional pieces, computer printouts, photography, or photocopies are not eligible in this contest. All entries must include a completed contest Entry Form. Winners will be selected in each of five grade-level categories (K-1st, 2nd-3rd, 4th-6th, 7th-9th, and 10th-12th) in both art and poetry to receive a gift certificate for $100 to an art supply store (for winners in art) or book store (for winners in poetry). Winners and honorable mentions will receive tickets to Aquarium of the Pacific, courtesy of the Aquarium. Each winner's sponsoring teacher will receive a gift certificate for $50 for educational materials from Acorn Naturalists.
WHEN:	Entries must be postmarked by January 31, 2014.
HOW:	Review and complete the Guidelines and Entry Form and submit it with your art or poetry to: COASTAL ART AND POETRY CONTEST California Coastal Commission 45 Fremont Street, Suite 2000 San Francisco, CA 94105   Students may have their work featured in California Coastal Commission materials and webpages. Students may enter multiple pieces. Artwork will only be returned if it is submitted with adequate postage and an address label for reuse of your original packaging (preferred) or a self-addressed, stamped envelope of the correct size. Entries that do not include these items at the time of submittal can not be returned. Poetry will not be returned. Winners and honorable mentions may be retained by the Commission for approximately one year for public exhibit. For more information, or to request to have an entry form emailed, mailed, or faxed to you, contact the California Coastal Commission at 800-COAST-4U or coast4u@coastal.ca.gov.

•    2014 Entry Form and Guidelines in English

•    2014 Entry Form and Guidelines in Spanish
     (Poetry entries must be in English)

You can download the Contest Flyer as a PDF.
Teachers: Find free resources to help you teach about the coast and ocean.
Inspiration Brainstorming:
Below are just a few questions that might help encourage artwork or poetry. Entries need not be about anything in particular except the California coast or ocean. Create whatever our coast inspires you to create.

• Have you ever been to a California beach?
• What do you do at the beach?
• What do you see at the beach?
• What animals live on the coast or in the ocean off California?
• How are people connected to the ocean?
• What colors can you see at the beach?
• What sounds do you hear at the beach?
• What textures do you feel at the beach?
• Why do you love the beach or the ocean?
• What things may harm the California coast?
• What does the ocean make you think of?
• How does the ocean make you feel?
• How can we protect the ocean?
• Do you have a memory of being at the coast that was special/powerful/sad/comforting/mundane…?
• What would California/your life/your community be like without the ocean?
• What is California/your life/your community like because of the ocean?

CALIFORNIA SPECIES
If you depict specific species or habitats in your entry, they must be California species and habitats. (Of course, you are welcome to be more abstract in your work, and particular species need not be identifiable; but you are discouraged from submitting obviously non-California images such as clownfish, coconut palms, walruses, penguins, etc.) Below are some sites to educate you about the many native species of the California coast. If you know of another website to add to this list, please email us. These sites should be used for habitat and species information only. If using a photo model taken by someone else, the image must be significantly altered to avoid plagiarism.

• A Photographic Guide to Plants of Humboldt Bay Dunes and Wetlands
• Humboldt Bay Species Galleries
• Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary Encyclopedia
• Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Encyclopedia
• Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Photo Database
• Natural History of Elkhorn Slough
• Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Encyclopedia
• Tidepool Ecology and Common Organisms, Laguna Ocean Foundation
• Upper Newport Bay Project Plant Identification Guide
• San Diego Wetland Habitat Identification Cards from SeaWorld
• Monterey Bay Aquarium Online Field Guide (Be sure to check that the "Range" includes California)
• CalPhotos: Landscapes & Habitats
• Introduction to Marine Mammals, The Marine Mammal Center
• California Ocean and Coastal Photography Contest

Student Devoted to Cleaning Beach

By Abigail Burrus — Student at Teach Elementary Morro Bay

One day, my teacher told us to choose a community action project. I immediately knew what I wanted to do: a beach cleanup. I chose a beach cleanup because I knew trash can hurt many animals in the ocean. A floating plastic bag looks like a jellyfish to a dolphin. It might eat it, then choke and die. I planned to pick up trash from Morro Bay to Cayucos.

I found out, when researching, about a large pile of trash floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that is the size of Texas! I wanted to stop this junk pile from getting bigger.

So every weekend, I went to the beach to pick up trash. I picked up more than 20 pounds! I was proud, but I knew people, not caring about the consequences of their actions, would still litter and add to the trash heap in the Pacific.

I want more people to pick up trash than people who litter it. If every person picked up one piece of trash, imagine how clean the beaches would be! The animals of the ocean would be safe, and the Pacific trash heap wouldn’t expand. What a great day at the beach! 

Source:  San Luis Obispo Tribune

Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2013/02/15/2395147/pick-up-the-beach.html#storylink=cpy

Thank You, Oceans, For the Air

If there was no ocean, then what would happen to every other breath we take?

That's right, every other breath we take comes from the ocean.  It is why Neptune 911 wants to help people around the world better understand why it is important to keep our oceans healthy.