The newest addition to the Brigade is the Environmental Education Committee. Initially, the committee will promote and support local student efforts to encourage ocean stewardship. The first initiative will be the “Rakefish Project”. The “Rakefish Project” is a collaborative, traveling, research endeavor that is demonstrated through art on the topic of marine litter. The purpose of the project is to bring awareness of how human habits and behaviors, involving single use plastic products, have had a profound negative impact on the environment. The project began in the Guilford Public Schools as an art project.

The “Rakefish” sculpture is a 4 foot long fish made mostly of broken plastic rake and it was created by third grade students in 2011. The sculpture has traveled extensively, visiting host schools across the United States and Australia. The sculpture is currently in Japan. In addition to “Rakefish”, Guilford art students have created two sea turtle sculptures, made mostly of plastic waste materials. They are designed to offer students the same research opportunities and interactive components as the original “Rakefish”. All of the sculptures are part of the “Sea of No Plastic” initiative, (seaofnoplastic.org) which functions as an information hub for all three sculptures. Currently, both of the sea turtle sculptures are preparing to visit host schools. One will be sent to the Dominican Republic and the other will be sent to Mystic, CT. Click on the Project Rakefish tab for more information.