Penned By Intern Tapomagna
For a child, the sea can hold many memories: a place to swim, play, collect shells and watch the waves. But what happens when the child begins to wonder why there is plastic in the ocean?
This question lies at the heart of Sea Change, an environmental education programme developed by WasteLess, an Auroville-based organisation promoting awareness of waste and environmental issues. This programme has begun at Sharana through Sharana’s Seeds of Change initiative.
The collaboration between WasteLess and Sharana had been in the making for some time. Both organisations share the aim to help children understand their environment and take an active role in shaping and improving it. This collaboration is particularly meaningful for Sharana, as many of the families we work with depend on the sea for their livelihoods. To introduce the programme, the founders of Wasteless Mr. Ribhu Vohra and Ms. Chandrah Nusselein, assisted by Mr. Dinakar, conducted a workshop for the Sharana team, to familiarise the team with the programme through hands-on activities and its teaching methods.
Across five lessons, the children have explored how plastic travels through our waterways and how microplastics affect marine life. Through stories, experiments and games, children have explored how plastic reaches the ocean, how marine life ingests it, and how microplastics accumulate through the food chain. Each lesson builds on the previous one, making a distant problem into a daily responsibility.
Sea Change encourages children to look beyond the problem of plastic pollution and consider their role in addressing it. It begins with knowledge, helping children understand plastic pollution and how it affects the world around them. This shapes their attitude and encourages them to notice, question and care about their environment. With this comes agency: the confidence to make informed choices, share what they learn with their community and become active participants in creating change.
When curiosity leads to understanding, and understanding leads to action, even a small question can become the beginning of change. At our upcoming Sea Change Festival, children will share what they have learnt and inspire others to care for our oceans.
