Kids' innovative ideas for cleaning microplastics

We dreamed big, in English and French, with ideas for cleaning the oceans of microplastics at the learn to move mountains workshop on 21st February @Soft-Space in Geneva.

From ‘Flamotrash’ to the ‘Clean-o-rator’, ‘Poisson Man’ to ‘The Water Walker’ and ‘Robot Fish’ to ‘Pent-o-Pus’, the ideas from the children at the learn to move mountains® workshop last week were phenomenal.

We took Sustainable Development Goal #14 as our inspiration, valuing each person’s imagination and creativity, as we played with ideas to solve the specific challenge of cleaning up microplastics.

There is an estimated 5.25 trillion pieces of microplastics – pieces of 5mm or less -  in our oceans and water systems. Explore this sustainability issue for yourself through the links below.

What the experts said
I shared the children’s ideas and prototype descriptions with Prof. Jonathan Rossiter, Professor of Robotics at Bristol University, whose team is doing innovative work on robots cleaning up oil pollutants in the oceans. See his TED talk.

“I am so impressed!  They have come up with some amazing ideas which are at the cutting edge of technology. 
They have hit upon some pressing questions…please congratulate the children for doing a great job.  Stretching the imagination and challenging conventional wisdom like this is what scientists and engineers do every day.  It's so enjoyable and that's how the next generation will be able to solve tough scientific challenges like this.”
 
I also shared the children’s work with Keith Tuffley, Founder of Neuw.com, sustainability advocate, polar explorer, Board Member of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and environmental entrepreneur.

“Wow these are fantastic. What great ideas - well thought through, inspiring, and exciting. And I love the videos with the explanations and presentations. The best ideas come from young people! Keep them flowing, so we can save our planet.”
 
All children have the capacity to be agents of change today
It always amazes and inspires me, seeing the enormous capacity of children and young people as they play in this ‘change-maker’ space, using design and innovation thinking to develop resilience, wellbeing and life-skills; and connecting to a sense of purpose and hope about using their creativity to make positive change happen.
 
Get in touch
We are just working on the dates of our next workshops in partnership with SoftWeb in Geneva. We also deliver on-site in your location, so get in touch to explore how we can work together with an email to elaine@flowinaction.org 

Sign up to the newsletter and follow us on Twitter @flowinaction or Instagram @flowinaction for updates, insights and inspirations.

#flowinaction #agentsofchange #resilience #grit #wellbeing #sdg3 #perma #innovation #entrepreneurs #children #changemakers #globalcitizens #bethechange
 
http://www.worldoceansday.org/
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html
https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2016/04/04/pesky-plastic-the-true-harm-of-microplastics-in-the-oceans/
https://www.barrierreef.org/
http://www.tropicalnorthqueensland.org.au/articles/ways-help-great-barrier-reef/