Hot Poets - Matt Harvey, Praise the Whale
Science: Year 2
•
4m 36s
Hot Poet: Matt Harvey
Matched with: Whale and Dolphin Conservation
Poem Focus: The Green Whale and Whale Poo Whale
Dolphin Conservation (WDC) campaigns to save whales and dolphins. Whales play a big part in helping to keep the ocean healthy and are our allies in the fight to reverse climate breakdown. How? A lot of it is to do with poo! Their poo contains key nutrients for phytoplankton, tiny plants that absorb up to a third of the carbon dioxide we produce. Think rainforest, but in the ocean. The ocean (including phytoplankton) produces half the oxygen we breathe (every other breath). Whales dive down, eat, then surface, which helps circulate nutrients to phytoplankton. At the surface, their poo provides key nutrients for phytoplankton. So it is a circular process. Secondly, whales spend their lives absorbing carbon within their bodies. When they die, they sink, taking the tonnes of carbon in their bodies to the bottom of the sea, where it can be locked away for thousands of years.
Up Next in Science: Year 2
-
Hot Poets - Zena Edwards, Mother of t...
Hot Poet: Zena Edwards
Matched with: The Word Forest Organisation
Poem Focus: Empowering women in Kenya to grow trees on the equator.The Word Forest Organisation is a young charity founded by passionate environmentalists based in the South West. They plant trees, build schools, facilitate educ...
-
Hot Poets - Vanessa Kisuule, The Eart...
Hot Poet: Vanessa Kisuule
Matched with: RSPB
Poem Focus: PeatlandPassionate about nature, dedicated to saving it. Since the RSPB started on their mission in 1889, the threats to nature have continued to grow, but they’ve grown to meet them too. The RSPB is now the largest nature conservation ch...
-
Hot Poets - Toni Giselle Stuart, Ocea...
Hot Poet: Toni Giselle Stuart
Matched with: The Beach Co-op, South Africa
Poem Focus: Beach Clean-Up Plastic DataThe Beach Co-op began in 2015 when a group of volunteers started meeting every new moon to collect marine debris at our local surf break – the rocky shore at Surfers Corner in Muizen...
