Animating climate issues
12th January 2008
This week students
from Ridgeway Community School are working with experts from
Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) and the National Marine Aquarium
(NMA) to mastermind and produce an informative animation on a major
climate issue, know as ocean acidification - the other
CO2 problem.
In 2008 the Plymouth school won the European Schools Film Contest
against participants from Spain, France, Italy, Greece,
Netherlands, Poland and Sweden with an animation explaining climate
change and its impacts. Dr Carol Turley, senior scientist at PML
and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) which shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore in 2007, was
so impressed with the animation that she commissioned the school,
with funding from the European Project on OCean Acidification
(EPOCA), to produce a short film on ocean acidification.
On Wednesday 7th January Dr Turley gave a lecture to 200
students, including those who will work on the film, with their Art
teacher Mrs Karen Findlay. Next week the students will be able to
work with PhD students from PML as they research the topic, create
a storyboard, film and edit the animation using the audio-visual
facilities at the University College Marjon. The finished animation
will then be used as a tool to communicate this important issue to
international governments and policymakers as well as being
broadcast at major climate change conferences and available on the
internet for all to view.
Dr Turley commented: “This year is a major year for the new
climate negotiations and this little film could play a big role in
bringing this important issue to the attention of international
policymakers.”
“The issue of ocean acidification is a tremendous argument for
reducing our CO2 emissions as it is a direct consequence
of burning fossil fuels. This is because the oceans take up the
CO2 emitted to the atmosphere, making the oceans more
acidic, which in turn will affect the health and sustainability of
our oceans and the wonders that they provide Mankind. Essentially
we believe that this message, coming from the younger generation,
in their own words and expressed through their own creativity may
have a great impact on policymakers.”