In the sweaty evening of summer, there was a sudden commotion in the bustling Kenting Street, and tourists couldn't help staring at a person: one after another, "foreigners" were parading in plastic bags, with a sign in the center of the plastic bag: Rethink.
Covered with colorful plastic bags, Daniel's appearance immediately attracted attention and caused the public to think about the garbage problem. Provided by Huang Zhiyang
Daniel, a striking foreigner, is the co-founder of RE-THINK, a reflective environmental association in Taiwan Province Province. Daniel was designed as an activity prop by his good friend and co-founder Huang Zhiyang. As soon as the "garbage monster" appeared, it was immediately watched. The public, who thought it was ridiculous, began to realize the seriousness of the garbage problem, so they responded to the call of "reflection" and launched the activity of "cleaning the beaches around the island" from Hengchun.
This is the beginning of rethinking environmental education and the first step towards success. Packaging heavy environmental protection issues with marketing methods, combined with fun course experience and treasure-winning activities, turned the junk issues that were originally avoided by the public into community interaction with a sense of design, and they wanted to tell the public that environmental protection can also be very interesting.
Most people's impression of a clean beach is nothing more than bending over to pick up garbage on a beach heated by the sun. But for those who have read marine debris picture books, this is the beginning of a strange journey.
Picking up garbage and beating monsters sound very different, but RE-THINK breaks the traditional thinking of "picking up garbage" and connects the two with creativity. Huang Zhiyang believes that it is better to understand the reasons why garbage enters the ocean than to simply pay labor. So, they collected and analyzed different kinds of marine wastes in Taiwan Province Province, made a picture book of marine wastes, introduced the types, materials and common places of different marine wastes in detail, and attached a brief introduction for Jintan people to compare what kind of "treasure" they found. While improving people's motivation to participate, it also takes the opportunity to let people take the initiative to take an environmental education class; And the originality of "Illustration of Marine Wastes" was affirmed by the German Red Dot Design Award Best of the Best on 20 19.
Inspired by Pokémon GO, founder Huang Zhiyang produced the first illustrated book of marine wastes in Taiwan Province Province, which introduced the types, materials and common places of different marine wastes in detail. The photo was taken by Yang Huanshi and provided by RE-THINK.
In addition to making picture books of marine wastes, RE-THINK also walked into the campus, combined with the board game Ocean Crisis and courses developed by the sheep and dog team, to take children to reflect on the causes and conservation methods of marine wastes, to arouse their interest through "monster" marine wastes, and to explain the impact of marine wastes on the environment, and finally to let them think about possible solutions independently.
"To tell the truth, environmental education in Taiwan Province Province is basically zero. When people encounter the ocean in Taiwan Province Province, the first thing they think of is the dangers of the ocean, such as water ghosts, sharks and wave breakers. These things block your connection with the sea, so you are far away from the sea cognitively, and absorbing waves blocks everything when you want to kiss the sea. Huang Zhiyang explained that RE-THINK is committed to making clean beaches gamified, so that more people are willing to get close to the ocean and thus connect with the environment.
"I'll give you the selected set meal" Sea Stick "of Deep Sea Restaurant. The chef in kimono brought the signature dishes to the table. There is no fresh sashimi in the white plate, only yellowish foam plastic attached to barnacles, and the side dish is plastic fishing net pieces. The most magical meal is the ocean, which is the most common dish for marine life.
Plate after plate of seemingly exquisite meals are made of marine debris. RE-THINK hopes to remind the public with the deep-sea canteen and face up to the problem of marine garbage. Reflection provides
Environmental education can not only appear in the classroom, but also RE-THINK can actively try different types of cooperation to make environmental education go deep into life. For example, the "Deep Sea Dining Hall" exhibition opened by Lanyang Museum, RE-THINK and Team One One &；; 1. 100% pure sewage ice-making research institute cooperated to make plates of "delicious food" with marine wastes (hereinafter referred to as marine wastes), which successfully raised the topic and reawakened the public's understanding of marine wastes.
In addition to exhibitions, RE-THINK also co-organized the Clean Beach Art Festival with printed music, hoping to activate the single value of clean beaches with artistic experience and strengthen the connection between people and the environment. Huang Zhi was surprised that 300 tickets were sold out in this unit price ticketing activity in 600 yuan, but he also said happily that this was the public's recognition and affirmation of the value of environmental education.
Actively try different cooperation, RE-THINK also hopes to reach out to different ethnic groups and flip the public's impression of Jingtan. They cooperated with the popular game Pokémon GO and called on gamers to clean the beach together on Earth Day. After cleaning the beach, they can get game rewards and feedback. Finding a way to make the beach clean is not just "picking up garbage", but the goal of rethinking.
Is environmental education effective? Huang Zhiyang said: "I can't quantify how many people have changed in a clean beach, but you will see qualitative changes in many cases. He recalled that once a mother told him that her children would take straws before drinking Yakult, but after participating in beach cleaning, they would now tell the clerk that he didn't want straws. Seemingly simple things have strengthened the motivation to rethink bit by bit.
Since 20 13, RE-THINK has called for clean beaches through social networks, which has attracted more than 25,000 people to participate in the activities and cleared 75,000 kilograms of marine garbage. Today, this number is still rising, and the change is still happening quietly in the seaside of Taiwan Province Province.
From encouraging individuals to participate in cleaning beaches, to bringing ocean issues into educational scenes through board games, and even cooperating with enterprises in different fields, Huang Zhiyang said, "Rather than following in the footsteps of their predecessors, they want to be standard-bearers in the wilderness. RE-THINK constantly establishes new contacts through social networks, and by leading people to rethink the story of people and the environment, it has personally practiced that environmental protection is not just a slogan.