On Saturday the 13th of February, my friend Sheruni was hosting an Environmental Awareness Campaign called “Save the Wetlands” for her CAS projects. The aim of this project was to raise awareness about the destruction of wetland ecosystems. Specifically, the Sri Lankan Government was planning on building a highway over the Thalangama lake. This highway construction would be fatally damaging to the wetland ecosystem, and it would damage biodiversity. The wetlands also act as a source to keeping the surrounding air clean and absorbing carbon out of the air. With a highway built, there will be more carbon released, no wetland to absorb it, and a severe lack of biodiversity in the ecosystem.
Here is a miniature map of the Sri Lankan Government to plans for where to put the highway road.
Since the wetland ecosystem is so vital to the Thalangama neighbourhood, and the entire surrounding environment, Sheruni’s CAS project consisted of trying to save these wetlands from the construction of the highway. To achieve this, she organized a peaceful protest to raise awareness of the Thalangama Lake road itself. There were many different signs printed out, and everyone that lived in the Thalangama neighbourhood came to support the cause, including many other OSC (my school), students. Sheruni, Ritheek, Ben, Oliver and I all came to the wetlands to hold up signs (in Sinhala) to the passing cars to raise awareness and to help support this cause. Many other teachers, students, and families from our school also came to support the cause (including my mom!). There were 170 people who came to the protest, and social media was used to advertise the project.
LO7 Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions Students show awareness of the consequences of choices and actions in planning and carrying out CAS experiences.
Of course, since there were so many different people there, during the COVID-19 times, all proper social distancing and health precautions were put in place to make sure everyone was safe, and that there were no resulting issues with the Virus. To do this, everyone attending wore a face mask, sanitized their hands beforehand, and stayed at least 1m away from the other strangers who are not a part of their family (or close friend) bubble. Also, in terms of the signs used, everyone only had one sign, and they were not shared to prevent the spread of germs. Additionally, there were precautions to make sure that there was an ethical treatment of the surrounding environment. All of the signs were collected afterwards, so they were not littering the surrounding area, and any garbage used by the people protesting was collected afterwards to keep the lake and wetland area clean.
LO5 Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively Students are able to identify, demonstrate and critically discuss the benefits and challenges of collaboration gained through CAS experiences.
We realized that the more people that participated in this protest would create the maximum impact, and hopefully prevent the government from building the highway. To do this, we used social media to advertise, and it caused many different people and organizations to come and help support the cause. Along with my friends, many other students and my other friends came to support, many of the teachers at our school, and other people in the neighbourhood. Through all of these connections, we all worked together on this common cause, which was really beneficial. We gathered so many people to come together for this project that it even received lots of attention on the local news, from multiple different sources. Sheruni did many interviews to speak on the subject, and I also talked to some news sources about why it is important to save the wetlands. Because of the collaboration, and working together, we managed to make an impact on the local news sources and on other environmental awareness groups locally. These are some of the benefits that we had from working together. Some of the challenges of working collaboratively included trying to get everyone spread out far enough to be safe (as there were so many people we didn’t fit along the roadside), to fit COVID protocalls. However, we did manage. We even had Sri Lankan Policemen supporting this cause and being present at the event.
LO6 Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance Students are able to identify and demonstrate their understanding of global issues, make responsible decisions, and take appropriate action in response to the issue either locally, nationally or internationally.
This is definitely an issue of global significance, as the wetlands are a crucial and important aspect of the environment. This fits really well with the global issue of Climate Change, as the destruction of wildlife and wetland communities through urbanization and developing roads is a really large aspect of Climate Change. Building a highway would affect the local ecosystem and surrounding environment, as well as stopping the local ecosystem from reducing the amount of CO2 going into the air. Nationally, not constructing a highway will definitely improve the environment, and help the whole country reduce its carbon footprint. Every country in the world impacts and contributes to climate change, so every little effort contributes, which is why this is a global issue.
Learning Outcomes:
LO5 Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively Students are able to identify, demonstrate and critically discuss the benefits and challenges of collaboration gained through CAS experiences.
LO6 Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance Students are able to identify and demonstrate their understanding of global issues, make responsible decisions, and take appropriate action in response to the issue either locally, nationally or internationally.
LO7 Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions Students show awareness of the consequences of choices and actions in planning and carrying out CAS experiences.