Events and News

“We are having a lot of fun, and then it's nice to think that we’re doing something for the wetlands, an environment so rich in species. I live near Marceddì, and I often see flamingos. Then just get on the boat and in Capo Frasca and you can meet the dolphins". Davide walks absorbed along the short strip of sand and shell dust that separates the waters of the Santa Giusta pond from the small eucalyptus thicket. Armed with gloves and sack, he collects cans, old cartridges, a lighter. His mates of the II N and II F are scattered around, lonely or gathered in small groups, busy and noisy.

For the students of the Othoca Institute of Oristano, the morning of environmental education began at the municipal civic center of Terralba. Here Maria Pala and Vanessa Melas, biologist and environmental economist of the MEDSEA foundation, illustrated the wonders that inhabit wetlands and the fundamental elements of a harmonious process of waste disposal. At the end of the workshop the group moved to the tiny pier, where the "ciu", the local traditional fishermen boats, rest on the placid waters.

In the small inlet, stasis and short flights of herons and lapwings, seagulls and waders alternate. Then Franco Mura, municipal councilor of Santa Giusta and fisherman for 42 years, took the floor to describe the everyday life between nets and pots, how the pond has changed over the decades, the difficulties faced because of the changing climate: “Our fathers took us on boat, ever since we were little more than kids. Today teenagers have other things to do, they hardly bind themselves to such a hard activity, but also full of satisfactions, and surrounded by nature. In ten years the forty members of the Santa Giusta cooperative may no longer have heirs. We have to entice young people, today is a perfect opportunity".

The group then follows the path that leads from the pier to the eucalyptus thicket, passing through narrow passages of Mediterranean scrub, passing next to the large building which in the future will host the archaeological treasures extracted over the years from the womb of the pond, which in the 8th century laid in front of Othoca, the ancient Phoenician settlement. Around the stone benches the MEDSEA team distributed gloves and bags, the bibs of Parley For the Oceans, the great American group of artists, scientists, designers, journalists and architects united by the desire to find alternative development models for the sea and the coasts, and sponsor of many clean-ups organized by the foundation.

“We’ve been lucky, the sun accompanies this splendid morning. The students are having fun, and learn while doing something useful. The views around here are splendid, I had no clue", says Luciano Canu, vice president of the Othoca institute and active interlocutor of MEDSEA within the environmental teaching strategies envisaged by the Maristanis project. “These days are very important, especially for our future. It's amazing to find out how many species live in wetlands”, says Christian Pinna of II N, just after delivering a bag full of plastic. "From the outside it would seem clean, but it is not at all", comments his classmate Sara Piras, when a dozen sacks lay around the recycling bins. It is always true, the daily gaze on things is not able to grasp the aggression that constantly weighs on nature. After a little more than an hour, the hunt for the boys and girls from Othoca will bring in the bags 10 kilos of glass, 40 kilos of plastic and 50 kilos of unsorted waste.