'Ocean Voices'

In Week 6, three students, Cooper Mackie, Darcy Busbridge and Matt Davies, attended an ‘Ocean Voices’ conference at Ballina high school.  Here they were given the opportunity to engage with 10 mentors who all had a passion for the marine environment and a wealth of knowledge and experience in advocating for change for issues such as plastic pollution and waste management.

The students engaged in discussions with these mentors, including a member from the Ballina Shire Council, a professor at Southern Cross University, a journalist, a filmmaker, the CEO of ‘The Seabin,’ the CEO of the ‘Good Cup’ and the program manager for the Australian Marine Conservation Society, as well as with other like-minded students from local high schools.

The goal of ‘Ocean Voices’ is to provide an avenue for young people to recognise the issues that face the marine environment and to come up with solutions that can be implemented in our everyday lives.  Through these discussions Cooper, Darcy and Matt were inspired to raise awareness about the importance of reducing the use of plastic for the protection of the marine environment and to put simple strategies into action like not buying single use plastic (such as water bottles, small chip packets, chocolate wrappers), recycling and ensuring food waste is disposed of in the correct bins.

Ballina High School also has an amazing aquaculture facility so the boys were able to have a tour of this as well.

Mrs Katie John
Science Teacher