WELCOME SKY FRED!!!
Life is Good Sky Fred
arrived at Breidablik during our art installation week,
a gift from Rhode Island!
Already, Sky Fred has captivated one and all. His good work
to help with fusing beach and recycled plastics is overwhelming.
Sky Fred learned much from kids and teachers, and his monkey relatives as well as
Friends of Fred around the planet.......Especially, the First and original,
Fred X310!
Fred X310 passed along much knowledge of coral reef troubles,
learned out on Coconut Island off Oahu, helping Sky Fred
build awareness for kids.........plastics harm so many reef creatures!
Incredibly valuable science, contributed by dedicated teacher, Jeff Manker
and USFWS biologist, John Klavitter, helped kids learn so much about
threats to Albatross........Here, Jeff and John band a young Laysan Albatross
right outside a building on Midway (Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument).
You might find it odd they are by a building, but consider the tiny tiny tiny size
of the islets inside the Midway Atoll........that were nearly swept away in recent
Tsunami waves..........The Albatrosses nest alongside buildings, along the air runway,
and even atop trash that washes ashore by the ton.......and more tons......and more....
Like these albatross chicks, born amidst the trash of the Pacific........
Netting, ropes, legos, bottle caps, toothbrushes..........our throw aways,
washing into the seas........hoping someone will notice. And help.
Hoping someone will notice the serious sand.........filled with our tossed trash.
This photo, I took......2009. Midway, where my Dad cruised past in WWII and where
our ocean tosses large and small bits of lighters, rope, computers, flip flops, buckets,
toothbrushes, more lighters, more toys than imaginable........onto the most
beautiful beach on earth.
Where I watched, helpless..........as helpless as this baby Albatross, its
stomach filled with plastic......testing wings that would never fly
across the seas of its ancestors, the mythical and majestic soaring
creatures affected by our thoughtlessness.......until kids came along who care!
Kids who learn that baby albatrosses, like seals, whales, and more.....accept
bottle caps and other plastics as food.........Here, a parent Albatross feeds its young
by regurgitating what it has taken from the sea after flying as many as 500 miles in one direction
to find squid or other food........on the sea surface, only to fly back to offer up the meal.
Sadly, more than one million seabirds die each year because they mistake plastic
for natural food..........
Lucky for the Albatrosses and Other Sea life, kids Care so much...
Here, a First Grader attaches bottle caps to an Orca Whale..Like a
Traditional Button Blanket created by Northwest Coast Peoples,
She carefully sews the bottle caps onto a plastic mesh oyster bag,
shaping and coloring her whale in an outdoor art collage.
Saving the Seas. One bottle cap at a time.
One Baby Albatross saved from the potential discards of our coastal world.
All the while, other kids created fused plastic fish, crabs, jellies, and more sea
life to embellish their playground fencing.........along with trash collectected from local shores.
Follow this blog to find sources of how to fuse and how to build community while
cleaning beaches and saving the seas as we did at Breidablik!!!
Thanks to Librarain, Mary Fox for spearheading
Jump Off Joe to the Sea Art Project
and to the parents, teachers, and students
of Breidablik Elementary.
Special thanks as well to the Cleavers, and to Dr. Gail Davis!
As always, Thanks to the USFWS, NOAA, and
State of Hawaii for hosting me on a journey begun at
Midway in 2009 with friends of Fred, Jeff Manker, Linda Schubert,
Annie Bell, and young Trevor, and the rest of the PAA team!
Visit all sites to do with Papahanaumokuakea for more about
the islands and life in the Northwestern reaches of what we call Hawaii.
Malama i ke Kai i ka Aina
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