Our Blue Planet: yesterday – today – tomorrow

The brochure shows the sea of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

The Ocean Primer

Not without a reason the earth is called “the blue planet”, because its surface consists of about 70 percent water, with the largest part being the sea. Far too few people are aware of how much we owe to the sea and how we can protect it. We do not know how rich the oceans were yesterday, how threatened they are today and how they could be again tomorrow. The Ocean Primer shows exactly this and provides possibilities to stop the negative developments with the help of effective projects.

Through the detailed and scientifically sound illustrations and the comprehensibly written texts, the work uses the example of some ecosystems – the North Sea, high seas, deep seas, tropical oceans and ice seas – to bring children in particular closer to the diverse world of the marine habitat and can thus bring about a rethinking for future generations.

The Ocean Primers are sent by us to schools and private individuals for a small nominal fee.

9 panels of the Ocean Primer have been hanging as large prints in the Nordseehalle des Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven.

Opening December 4th at 11:00 a.m. in the special exhibition

“Our Blue Planet: yesterday – today – tomorrow”
the Ocean Primer of the marine conservation organisation DEEPWAVE e.V. with original illustrations by Anna Mandel.

Duration December 4th 2015 to April 17th 2016

Our earth, “the blue planet”, is covered to about 70 percent by the water of the oceans. But far too few people are aware of how much we owe to the sea. We do not know how rich the oceans were yesterday, how threatened they are today and how they could be again tomorrow. The marine primer “Our Blue Planet” by DEEPWAVE e.V., funded by the Federal Environment Agency and the Federal Environment Ministry, on the one hand shows the fascination of the oceans and on the other hand communicates effective projects in response to the current threats. The 36-page brochure is particularly lively due to the detailed and scientifically sound illustrations by the Hamburg artist Anna Mandel.

“As the illustrator of the Ocean Primer for students, I have always been aware of the responsibility of drawing these problems and effective ways of solving them in a clear and sensitive way. My main concern here is the message: to change our view of the oceans, to understand our planet as a blue planet and to be able to act out of newly acquired knowledge, because we still can”, says the illustrator Anna Mandel.

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The living environment of some ecosystems (the North Sea, high seas, deep seas, tropical seas and ice seas) is meticulously depicted yesterday, today and tomorrow. For example, 150 years ago rich shoals of fish and numerous harbour porpoises lived off the North Sea’s dune coasts, whereas today the increasing exploitation (gravel extraction, shipping, tourism, fishing) poses a serious threat to biodiversity. One solution tomorrow would therefore be more protected areas for fish offspring and rare animals. In tropical seas, which are even more threatened by pollution, the protection of mangroves and corals is of primary importance. For the deep sea and its fascinating creatures, it will be necessary to establish worldwide rules and large protected areas in the future.

The comprehensibly written texts of the book-like brochure are primarily intended to bring children closer to the diverse world of the marine habitat and to bring about a rethinking for future generations.

The exhibition will show the 13 large-format original drawings and the Ocean Primer texts, which were created by hand over a long period of time.

“It was an exciting collaboration between a biologist and an illustrator,” explains Hamburg marine biologist Onno Groß, chairman of the Deepwave association, which was founded twelve years ago and draws attention to the increasing environmental pollution of the oceans and even the deep sea. “It lies today in our hands the future of the seas to secure and for it we want to sensitize straight the young people.

The Ocean Primer sea primer for students “Our Blue Planet: yesterday – today – tomorrow” can be obtained via the DEEPWAVE e.V. association against a donation for postage costs.

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Article Ostsee-Zeitung

http://www.ostsee-zeitung.de/Vorpommern/Stralsund/Die-Ozeane-brauchen-eine-Chance