In Franklin Theater on the evening of April 8, Waynflete will host the fifth annual State of the Ocean Series Talk. Having taught Marine Biology for more than twenty years, I have developed a deep passion for the ocean and the organisms that live within it. I have grown keenly interested in how people respond to the question, Why does the ocean matter? So I asked a variety of students this question, and here are some samples of what they said:

• “The organisms in the ocean can give us new insights on medical and behavioral research.”

• “If there were no ocean, the human race would not exist”.

• “It helps control the earth’s temperature.”

• “The ocean provides protein for 1 in 5 people on the earth, and personally, I love outdoor activities on the water”.

• “It provides food, jobs, and helps to maintain a stable environment.”

• “There are so many discoveries that still need to be made in the ocean. To me it is our most valuable resource and the true final frontier.”

• “The ocean matters because it sustains life and has been a crucial part of evolution”.

• “In a practical sense, it provides food and a home for most life on earth. In a more abstract sense, it symbolizes the vastness and wonder of life and the endless possibility of evolution.”

• “Without the ocean there would be no evaporation which would mean no precipitation”.

• “It is home to a huge portion of earth’s life that is essential to earth’s ecosystem”.

• “It is the basis of all life, and it affects all of us.”

• “We have to take good care of the ocean for our health and safety as well as the earth’s”.

Photo by Brian Skerry

These statements express much insight and understanding. Given that 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with ocean, that every second breath you take comes from oxygen produced by phytoplankton in the ocean, that the ice caps are melting, coral reefs are dying, the ocean is acidifying, and that most of the big fish are gone from the ocean, asking why the ocean matters again and again is increasingly important. As a school, we are committed to responsible environmental citizenship, and one of the ways we do this is to host the State of the Ocean Speaker Series. In each of the past four years, together with a wide variety of ocean-focused organizations, we have brought in a speaker who has dedicated his life to the ocean by capturing remarkable images in still photos, exploring its deepest places by remote-operated submarine, capturing the last 5% of truly pristine areas on video, or raising public awareness about the ocean-related challenges that each country in the world currently faces. Brian Skerry, David Gallo, Feo Pitcairn, and Steve Katona each brought compelling messages to their audiences about why the ocean matters. Their collective message boils down to this: No matter where you live, your life depends on the ocean. Furthermore, we are on a path that could result in irreversible consequences to the health of this vital aspect of our earth.

For many of us, when we look out at the ocean from the shoreline, we see how large it is and know it is remarkably deep. Most of us understand that on some level we generate a lot of waste that ends up in the ocean. Yet, our ability to see beneath the ocean surface and to truly understand the impact that humans have on it is significantly limited. In the right frame of mind, however, we can learn valuable lessons about our throw-away tendencies. For example, on the macroscopic level, of the top 10 types of trash found in beach cleanups monitored by the Center for Conservation since 1986, 7 were plastics of some type. (http://www.takepart.com/oceans/plastic-pollution).

By itself this statistic is alarming, but add to it the following pieces of information: The average American will throw away approximately 185 pounds of plastic and use more than 1,200 plastic bags in a year. Plastic in the ocean breaks down into such small segments that pieces of plastic from a one liter bottle could end up on every mile of beach throughout the world. And plastic is durable, it takes about 1000 years to degrade completely (http://www.takepart.com/oceans/plastic-pollution).  Sea Education Association (SEA) scientists studied plastics in the Atlantic and calculated there are 580,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer. Many of the plastics are slowly breaking down in the ocean and releasing their own toxins, such as BHA, which is used as an antioxidant in many plastics. If you are interested, you can read more about this by clicking here.

Photo Credit: true2death, CCN, Local Philosophy; Published November 15, 2012

There has been a lot of press in the last few years about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located at the confluence of several major currents in the Pacific. One scientist who has helped to publicize it with the scientific community and the general public is oceanographer and chemist Charles Moore, now with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. “Plastic hits marine creatures with a double whammy,” Moore said in an interview with National Geographic. “Along with the toxic chemicals released from the breakdown of plastic, animals also take in other chemicals that the plastic has accumulated from outside sources in the water. We knew ten years ago that plastic could be a million times more toxic than the seawater itself, because plastic items tend to accumulate a surface layer of chemicals from seawater. They’re sponges.” Most of us also probably know that many marine organisms inadvertently ingest plastics while feeding or mistake plastics for their food source. In either case, marine organisms that ingest plastics are not only taking in the plastics but also all of the chemicals that have latched on to the surface of the plastics.

So, for all of the reasons that the ocean matters, it is crucial that we understand the impact of plastics pollution in the ocean. To this end, the Gulf of Maine Marine Education Association (GOMMEA) has organized an event to be held at Waynflete entitled “Plastics at SEA” featuring oceanographer and Sea Education Association research scientist Dr. Kara Lavender Law. SEA students and scientists began collecting data on floating plastic debris in the 1980s. Dr. Lavender Law will review the state of scientific research on marine debris in the world’s oceans and share her in-depth look at research carried out for more than 25 years by undergraduate students and faculty scientists on sailing oceanographic research vessels at SEA.

http://blog.oceanconservancy.org/tag/why-the-ocean-matters/

It is my sincere hope that you will take a moment to answer the question for yourself: “Why does the ocean matter”? Then, I hope that you demonstrate your understanding of why the ocean matters by joining us at “Plastics at SEA” on Tuesday, April 8th.  For details on the event, click here.

Plastics At SEA with Dr. Kara Lavender Law

7:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 8th, 2014

Franklin Theater

Waynflete School

Doors will open at 6:00 p.m. for interactive exhibits and informational tables from ocean focused organizations. Light refreshments will be available. Admission to the evening is FREE.

For more information call: 207-774-5721 ext 1318

I have never really thought of myself as smart at life. But last semester, Steve Kautz sat our Business and Finance class down for a discussion about LifeSmarts, a national competition for high school students that focuses on consumer education. Waynflete had entered the competition for the first time the previous year and won, so we were the defending State Champions.  Steve signed us all up for accounts and told us to take these five online quizzes to qualify for the competition, covering the categories of Consumer Rights, Health and Safety, Technology, Personal Finance and the Environment. I thought to myself, “This sounds like the perfect competition for me.”

And then I forgot all about it.  Instead, I immersed myself in other success stories at Waynflete, from the Soccer, Basketball, Science, and Math teams to the recent success of the Upper School Jazz Combo. Then one day, out of the blue, my friend Mason Saltz called me up and told me, “You are doing a quiz.” I thought to myself, What on earth is he talking about? I asked him to clarify, and he said that I should complete the five online LifeSmarts quizzes by the due date, which happened to be the next day. I figured that I had nothing to lose, so I went ahead and completed them.  Sample quiz questions are linked here.

Little did I know that I was actually skilled in these categories. Steve Kautz, now my Personal Finance teacher, came up to me the next day and told me that I had qualified for the LifeSmarts team representing Waynflete. I was shocked and a little nervous. “This will be fun, right?” he said reassuringly.  We got together our qualifying team, and based on the people in our group, I instantly knew we had a good chance at winning. Each member of our group was skilled in at least one of the five categories, if not more. After devouring study guide after study guide and practicing quiz after practice quiz, our work finally culminated in the Maine LifeSmarts competition at the Unum campus in South Portland.

At the event, we were introduced to the sponsors, question masters, judges, referees, and our competitors from high schools across the state. The woman who ran the competition told the group that we would first be competing in a Mock Round. My nerves instantly set in. I am not the kind of person who enjoys public speaking, never mind having the spotlight on me to answer questions. And just my luck. Waynflete was called up first, and I had the brains to pick the first seat by accident. They explained that we would be competing in a buzzer round, where the first person to buzz in gets to answer. She started reading. “What three digit number do you call for emergencies?” I thought to myself, “If this is what the competition is like, then I am in for the easiest day of my life.”

Unfortunately, the questions grew harder and the competition became fiercer as the day went on.  We finally made it to the last round, where the members of each team could buzz in and answer. Waynflete and Woodland High School pulled away from the pack.  We were neck and neck headed down the stretch. Waynflete had to answer the final question correctly to tie, which we did.  The two teams entered a tie breaking round, an all expenses paid trip to Disney on the line. The questions started ticking by, one that they got right, one that we got right, until finally only one question remained.

It was now or never. The question master, Bill Green from “Bill Green’s Maine”, opened his lips. “Created in the 1970 by the federal government, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation is better known by what name?” he read. Five seconds were on the clock. Nobody answered on either side. Then at the last second, Cody buzzed in. “Amtrak?”. “Correct!”

We all looked at each other in awe. Coach Kautz looked as though he was going to faint.  We were rushed by our adoring fans (Well, we were rushed by our alternate, who had practiced with the team and watched the competition patiently).  We had done it, our team had made it to Nationals.  Waynflete had repeated as State LifeSmart Champion. On to Disney.

Left to Right, Top Row: Mason Saltz, Chloe Williams, Sally Li, Codte Tiparos, Sam Frederick. Bottom Row: Steve Kautz and Pam Green

LifeSmarts, the Ultimate Consumer Challenge, is an online competition available to high school students across the country. After completing the online section of the event, the top schools are invited to the state competition, a live head-to-head event. LifeSmarts tests knowledge in five core categories: Personal Finance, Consumer Rights and Responsibilities, Technology, Health and Safety, and the Environment. Visit their website to learn more, http://lifesmarts.org.

Juniors Jacob Soley and Alexa Carrington earned first and fifth place respectively in the writing contest about bullying in schools sponsored by The Women’s Literary Union.  Students from all over the area were nominated by their English teachers, and Lorry Stillman recommended Jake and Alexa.  The Women’s Literary Union was founded in 1889 by Eunice Fry, whose name appears over the front door at 64 Emery St, the home of Waynflete’s Upper School.

The Women’s Literary Union was established an all women’s non-profit organization in the early 1900’s. Women met weekly to discuss the literature and the arts. More recently, they have encouraged reading and writing in Maine high schools through essay writing contests on issues of civic responsibility.

As a past member of the Union her junior year at Deering High School, Lorry Stillman has proudly joined with the English department in nominating students for this program. Liz Lewis (2011) is a past honoree.

I picked up the elephant first. The clock was ticking. Al and I grabbed for the pipe cleaners, unfortunately inspiration hadn’t hit yet. The Kennebunk team across from us in the film studio was hurriedly constructing what looked something like a skyscraper of jumbled animals. We had only managed to get a panther and a lion atop a pipe cleaner pyramid when the buzzer sounded.

We lost the food web engineering challenge, but luckily we won the competition overall. Junior Al Ghorashi and I were representing Waynflete on MEST Up (Math, Engineering, Science, and Technology), a game show for high school students. Our animal pyramid was the engineering challenge.  In addition, the competition consisted of a jeopardy style round, a lightening round style question and answer period, and a final math challenge where we could wager our points.

I was first introduced to MEST Up when Science Chair Wendy Curtis enthusiastically projected a previous episode in astrophysics class. I immediately thought, “I would never do that.” Three days later, science teacher Carol Titterton promised me a box of munchkins if I would go on the show. That’s how I found myself in a film studio in Westbrook answering questions about dodecahedrons, the solar system, the Hippocratic Oath, and many other topics, including this one: “If 200 is added to a positive integer X, the result is a square integer.  Adding 276 to the same integer X results in another square integer.  Solve for X.” There was even a question to which the answer was “platypus.”  To my surprise, it was a fun experience.

Our victory assured us a place in the semifinal competition. If we win in semifinals, we will advance to the finals and the opportunity to win a new iPad each, a trophy, and “eternal glory.” The show airs Thursday nights at 7 PM on WXPT (channel 12).  Our next match will be aired on the 27th or later.  Click here to watch the the Kennebunk match.