Along with 550 Kinder to Year 10 students, NRM South participated in the Kids4Kids Conference in Hobart this year. Students shared stories, lead activities and participated in workshops on the Conference theme of There is no Planet B.
NRM South ran three biosecurity workshops that focused on biological threats to Tasmania’s unique marine and terrestrial environments. Students played ‘Pathogens and People’ – a version of the classic game of Tag – to help understand how diseases spread quickly; and raced in teams to clean ‘pathogenic’ white slime off outdoor equipment such as kayaks, bikes, bodyboards, wetsuits, and life jackets. Students discussed the possible impacts of pathogenic organisms on Tasmanian primary industries and environment, and practised cleaning their shoes on a boot wash station.
With the summer holidays approaching, NRM South decided to focus on the equipment kids are likely to use in conjunction with disease education. The students noted that Tasmanians are lucky to live in a unique place where bushwalking, beaches, and boating are in their backyard, and learned that it only takes one- or two-minutes to minimise their impact on these places. Before cleaning the equipment, students were shown photographs of areas effected by Phytophthora cinnamomi (root rot), Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS), Abalone Viral Ganglioneuritis, Didymosphenia geminata (rock snot), and spoke about the importance of cleaning adventure equipment between use to help prevent or mitigate the spread of threats in our natural assets and primary industries.
Kids4Kids Conferences aim to inspire action on local and global environmental issues.