Caithness sisters' plea to Save our Oceans
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A SHORT video by two Caithness girls highlights the ecological damage caused by plastic pollution at sea and has led to them being given special awards.
The two-minute film called Save our Oceans was created by sisters Emma and Sarah Thomson, aged nine and 13 respectively, and in the short time it has been posted online has been viewed over 4000 times.
Up until the holidays, Emma was in P5 at Newton Park Primary School and her class had been asked by their teacher, Fiona Ferrier, to do a small project for World Ocean Week which ran from June 8-12.
The children had to chose a topic under that banner and research issues such as plastic pollution.
With Emma's new understanding of the issue, she worked along with her sister – who has an interest in photography – to make a short film highlighting ocean pollution.
The two sisters chose to pool their resources and make the film about saving the world's oceans.
Wick community councillor Alastair Ferrier, the husband of Emma's teacher, saw the finished project and said he was amazed at how professional and educational it was.
He added: "They did all their own research, filmed the video themselves, edited the film themselves and narrated the video themselves.
"This is truly a 100 per cent effort by the two girls."
In his position as a community councillor, Alastair pushed to get the sisters more recognition for their work and published the film on the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council's Facebook page.
The views and shares went soaring up and, in recognition of their great efforts to create the film, the girls were given special awards by the community council last week.
The film combines shots of Emma on Reiss beach with stock images of turtles and other marine life being affected by discarded plastic in the sea.
Alastair said: "Through the power of Facebook this film was shared and viewed all round the world, including Canada, America, Australia and Afghanistan.
"I even had an email from a lady in America who wrote to say that, having watched this film, she was going to stop using plastic bags at the grocery stores and instead use bags for life or biodegradable bags."
Both girls were delighted to receive their awards from the community council members on Wednesday evening and the setting, by the old lifeboat shed, was fitting due to its proximity to the sea.
The film can be viewed on Wick Community Council Facebook page, and and has been shared on other community council pages too.
