Stars and STEM Stories
Thirteen Years of Earth Day Celebrated in GLOBE Italy
The 13th edition of Earth Day in Italy for the GLOBE community took place in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of northern Italy in Aquileia in the surrounding areas of the Basilica of Aquileia and the archaeological area. Sixty stands were proposed for a total of over 300 interactive workshops that integrated science, history and culture. The EARTH writing created with the 1500 participants represented great land art.
There were remote contributions from some schools in the “Generating Schools on the Move with GLOBE” network with scientists at Deakin University (Australia) who developed the Microplastics Monitoring Protocol in Waters along with Peter Falcon (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California, USA).
As part of the celebration, the challenge "An idea for the EARTH" was launched in participating schools; the challenge was a search for ideas and thoughts that have built a large Solomon's Knot, a mosaic symbol of early Christian art present in Aquileia.
The following day (23 April), the Earth Day event continued with a Scientific Educational Expedition in the lagoon area and in the Reclamation Lands with a "scientific expedition" along the aquatic and land routes, from Aquileia to the Marano and Grado Lagoon, to discover sites of naturalistic interest and reclamation areas.
Selected students from the schools participating in the Generation School on the Move with GLOBE project and representatives from the GLOBE schools in FVG and neighboring Slovenia conducted investigations on various environmental issues, supported by local scientists and experts. The exploratory activities made use of investigation methods and GLOBE Protocols, and The GLOBE Program's app, GLOBE Observer.
A video of the celebration can be viewed below, or on YouTube.
Video and images courtesy GLOBE Italy.