Children’s action to protect the ocean and the Earth
From October 2023 to February 2024, HUMAN IN LOVE held award ceremonies for its marine environment preservation campaign “The ocean I love” drawing contest for children, delivering children’s environmental books named after the winners for 21 organizations in six countries (Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United States, and the Maldives).
[The list of children’s books on environment donated and selected by contest winners]
A Drop in the Ocean /Jenni Ogden
Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea / Steve Jenkins
Entangled Life / Merlin Sheldrake
Fantastic undersea life of Jacques Cousteau / Dan Yaccarino
I’m Jane Goodall / Brad Meltzer and Christopher Eliopoulos
Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive / Philipp Dettmer
Life Cycles: Everything from Start to finish / DK and Sam Falconer
Lonely Planet Kids 101 Small Ways to Change the World 1 / Aubre Andrus
Look Inside Wild Weather / Emily Bone, Bao Luu
Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau / Jennifer Berne and Éric Puybaret
Marine Biology / Karen Bush Gibson and Lena Chandhok
National Geographic Kids Why?/ Crispin Boyer
Ocean Animals and Their Ecosystems / Dr. Erica Colón
Ocean Animals for Kid / Bethanie Hestermann, Josh Hestermann
Ocean Speaks / Jess Keating and Katie Hickey
Old Enough to Save the Planet / Loll Kirby and Adelina Lirius
Quest for the Northern Lights Rory /Sarah
Rebel Girls Climate Warriors / Rebel Girls/ Cristina Mittermeier
Rocket Says Clean Up! / Nathan Bryon
Shark Lady/Jess Keating
Skills for Life: The Ultimate Guide for Smart Kids to Succeed!/ Brainy Kids Press
Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea/Robert Burleigh and Raúl Colón
Stella Diaz Never gives up / Angela Dominique
The Atlas of a Changing Climate/ Brian Buma / Timber Press(November 9, 2021)
The bear in the stars /Alexis Snell
The Big Book of the Blue (The Big Book Series)/Yuval Zommer
The Biology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained / DK
The Brilliant Deep- rebuilding the world’s coral reefs/Kate Messner&Mathew Forsythe
The Environment: Explore, create and investigate! /Jonathan Litton and Pauline Morgan
The Fascinating Ocean Book for Kids /Bethanie Hestermann /Josh Hestermann
The Last Whale / Chris Vick
The Plastic Problem / Aubre Andrus
The Seeking Tree/Jodi Dee
The Ultimate book of Animals./Anne-Sophie Baumann
The Ultimate Book of Planet Earth / Anne-Sophie Baumann
Touch the Earth /Julian Lennon
Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion/Loree Griffin Burns
Very Last First Time /Jan Andrews and Ian Wallace
What a Waste: Trash, Recycling, and Protecting our Planet/Jess French
Wild Cities/Ben Lerwill
Children’s voice should be heard
Sponsored by Korean Re, the contest was held under the slogan “Protect the ocean and the Earth with my drawings”, receiving drawings from children around the world on three themes: 1) the ocean I love, 2) the ocean and my dream, 3) protect the ocean and the Earth, with 1,608 children participating in the last three rounds.
India strongly calls for action to address climate crisis and marine pollution
This year, the contest was especially highly participated by children from India. India has been suffering from severe heatwaves, droughts and floods due to climate change. The schedule of the award ceremony was even postponed due to flooding.
< Winners are presenting their artworks and the importance of the ocean to their friends and teachers. >
6-years-old Deano donated books to schools
“There are no environmental books for children in Sri Lanka. I really want to donate books for children.” -Claudiya, Deano’s mom-
Deano sent us photos soon after we delivered books to him. It was then that we realized he was only 6 years old. Deano donated books to his school so that his friends could realize the importance of the environment. We are incredibly proud of him.
Myanmar is still in a difficult situation with limited access to schools, medical centers, logistics, etc. However, Myanmar children participated in this contest, raising their voice, and we could check whether the participants were living fine through collaboration with our partner, Myanmar Ocean Project. We’d like to express sincere gratitude to the children of Myanmar and Myanmar Ocean Project, hoping peace will come to Myanmar soon.
<The winners from Myanmar>
WALAILAK University, Thailand, Connecting awareness education with plogging
WALAILAK University supported children’s participation in the contest by translating posters into Thai for extensive promotion. Prior to the contest, the university educated children to raise their awareness on marine environmental protection in elementary schools in Tha Sala District, where HIL has been cooperating with WALAILAK for more than 15 years through a university-community cooperation program. After the contest, they did plogging together to join forces to protect the ocean.
< WALAILAK University’s activities for education to raise awareness, contests, plogging>
In the meantime, Misak Wanwisa and Master Phakorn Phanthakhot, the winner of Silver Prize and Bronze Prize respectively, donated children’s books on environment to Wat Thewadaram School and Sahavith Bilingual Kindergarten.
“Humans are acting like the devil to marine animals!”
Chloe and Vera, American winners, also donated children’s environmental books to their schools. Chloe warned that humans are acting like a devil to marine animals through her drawing titled “Ocean Devil” while Vera expressed her desire to swim and dance with sea animals in healthy ocean in her piece “Dancing with ocean”.
“The Ocean I love” Children’s Drawing Contest
