Water Explorer encourages students to take bold and powerful action to save our precious water through fun, interactive water saving activities.
The programme empowers children to learn about important issues, gain confidence in their ability to lead change and develop key life skills and get their friends, family and local communities doing the same.
92% of surveyed teachers said that Water Explorer had improved students’ confidence to act on environmental issues and improved life skills such as teamwork, problem solving, presentation skills and communication.
Here are some of their inspiring stories:
1) Polish Water Explorers from No 1 Lower Secondary School in Pionki, were out exploring their local river and noticed that a lot of old electronics had been dumped in the water. Concerned about the impact that this was having on the water quality, the Explorers decided to start a campaign to show their community how to correctly dispose of electronic waste.
They created leaflets, posters and even arranged a parade through the town, asking people to bring all their old electrical appliances to the school. They then arranged for a recycling company to come and collect everything. In total there were six tonnes of electricals to collect! The local municipality praised the school for their hard work, and now provide more bins for local people to recycle their electronics.
2) Here in the UK, students at Beaconhurst School in Scotland were concerned about the effects plastic pollution was having on the environment. These Water Explorers decided to get together and hold an event called ‘Our Plastic Legacy’. They invited local businesses, teachers, friends and families to attend the event which was led by pupils.
The students discussed the damage plastics have on our environment and explained how they travel into water sources, harming animals. In a powerful display, students showed all the plastic bottles that the school had used that year. To help resolve this issue, the team designed and sold their own reusable water bottles.
3) In Spain, a Water Explorer team empowered their community to have a say on the water issues that were affecting their community. They contacted their local council to create a “commission” where community members participated in a process of group decision making. The commission was made up of local politicians, engineers, representatives from the local schools and others, all sharing the Water Explorers’ passion and commitment for improving water use in the community. In the end, these inspiring young leaders were the catalysts for community wide restoration projects to improve a number of ponds and streams in the local area.
How can you get involved?
Water Explorer is a free, fully-resourced programme and you can sign up your team up in time for World Water Day (22nd March) at the Water Explorer website: www.waterexplorer.org
About the author
Luke Wynne
Luke Wynne is Head of Schools and Youth at Global Action Plan. Luke and his team at Global Action Plan created Water Explorer and oversee the delivery of the programme in over 3,700 schools across 12 countries.