
WE ARE AT THE SAME BOAT
Blue Infrastructure Conservation Program at Primary & Junior Secondary School V. Pauilínyho-Tótha 32, Senica, Slovakia
WHO ARE WE
Informal group of schools, sea scouts, volunteers, local initiatives and public agents in Slovakia, Slovenia and Czech republic with focus on building sustainable projects, strategies and partnerships to preserve, study and enjoy the biodiversity in our Oceans and Waters.
WHAT WE DO
TOAD TAXI ...we help amphibians migrate safely. As part of our innitiative of TOAD TAXI our toad patrols have saved more than 2000 toads, frogs and newts from certain death under the car wheels. They also collect data about the migrating species which help our young volunteers to better understand the ecosystem of wetlands.
BIRD ISLAND ... we inform the local community about necessity of nesting islands protection. Together with specialists from Záhorie Natural Reserve we take care of a NESTING ISLAND on Kunov river. After two years of care newinformation signs have been placed and many kilograms of waste have been collected. Every year we are allowed to enter the island on boats and help the birds by cutting down the overgrown vegetation. The river dam is our favourite water sports resort, In such a way we support responsible tourism.
CLEAN BANKS ... we pick up litter from rivers and lakes. Every year in Spring and Authum we run a campaign for BANK CLEAN-UP during which we regularly take care of Pieskovňa reservoir near Borský Mikuláš, nesting island on Kunov river dam and cleaner the toad taxi routes.
BLUE WATCH ...we monitor wildlife and wild birds. Our partnership with professional ornitologists taught us how to use the E-BIRD app for sharing data about observed bird species and their numbers.
LEARN AND TEACH ... we publish education tools for young environmentalists which help them learn about local biodiversity. Such is the case of a 32-bird-postcards series made by local enthusiastic bird-watcher and teacher Svetozár Štefeček or aTOAD TAXI board game.
KAMIKAZE STICKERS ...we protect birds from unseen glass panes. We protect vulnerable bird species who keep dying after hitting an unseen glass panes. The shape of our KAMIKAZEE STICKERS was designed in local Art School. We use and recycle pieces of thrown away sticking foil provided by our partner, GH Studio.
SEA SCOUT BASE ... we build infrastructure for our blue quests. Our BOAT HUT has formerly been an old unused garage and is a result of hundreds of hours of volunteer work with the kind help of the owner, Senica Recreational Services.
EXPEDITIONS ... we explore the blue ecosystems around us. Lot of our teachers, studens, sea scouts and volunteers like to spend their free time on water. The presence of SEA SCOUTS on our school is a proof of mutually enriching coexistence.
UPCYCLE WASTE WOOD ... we give new life to old materials. Apart from traditional recycling offer we have for three zears now organized a MAKE A WASTEWOOD PADDLE workshop for students and teachers at te end of winter holidays in our school workroom.
GLOBE OBSERVER ... we collect data and do long-term research. Our METEO-STATION provides us with needed material for the Globe Observer programme and together with annual amphibian migration statistics helps us to motivate young talents for their scientific carreer.
EXPERIMENT-BASED LEARNING... we study microplastics and look for new ways of fighting environmental issues. Our MEALWORM FARM with chemical marking of their experimental polypropylene diet won us second prize in National Biology Olympics.
STUDY HYDROSPHERE ... WATER is our main subject of interest. We use HYDROSPHERE PROTOCOL in practical outdoor water samplingactivities on on pH, optical qualities and presence of invertebrae.
FIGHT CLIMATIC CHANGE ... EARTH is our school grounds, we learn and plan how to keep it cooler. Our plan is to build a real HOBBIT HOUSE on our traffic training ground. So far we´ve got just a coupe of beehives and every year we organize a peer-to-peer learning day about Earth and Blue Issues.
VOLUNTEER INNITIATIVES ... FIRE keeps burning in our hearts
WE ARE AT THE SAME BOAT ... WIND is the main source of energy for our sailboats and inspiration for our sailing adventures. Our program WE ARE AT THE SAME BOAT is full of maritime features, including boat barells as the main prize for active class teams and our trips to the sea shore.