We Use Citizen Science to Contribute to Planetary Health

Interview with Linda Mederake and Tim Kiessling from "Plastic Pirates – Go Europe!"

Presentation: Interview
Date: 4 October 2022
Location: Berlin/Kiel, Germany
Interview: Tim Kiessling (Kiel Science Factory)

Linda Mederake

In the citizen science project Plastic Pirates, children and teenagers become citizen scientists. In an interview with "Bürger schaffen Wissen", the central platform for citizen science in Germany, Linda Mederake (Ecologic Institute) and Tim Kiessling (Kiel Science Factory) talk about the history of the citizen science project, their experiences in working with school classes and their expectations for the ECSA Conference 2022.

Global plastic pollution threatens planetary health with devastating consequences for ecosystems, wildlife and human health. The Plastic Pirates help to uncover the extent and nature of plastic pollution.

How the "Eco" Plastic Pirates Team is Fighting Plastic Pollution in the Havel

26 October 2023

News

Mandy Hinzmann and Doris Knoblauch (both Ecologic Institute) each accompanied a class in October 2022 with the Plastic Pirates, a Citizen Science campaign to collect data on (plastic) waste pollution in rivers. The students take on the role of scientists and collect, sort and catalogue litter according to scientific methods. The results are checked and incorporated into a large study.

Ecologic Institute Accompanies School Classes within the Plastic Pirates Campaign

17 - 21 October 2022

Presentation:Speech

In her presentation, titled "Evaluating environmental policies with citizen science data? An example from the Plastic Pirates investigating plastic pollution of rivers", Linda Mederake (Ecologic Institute) presented an approach to evaluate the Single-Use Plastics Directive with the help of citizen science data.

Evaluating Environmental Policies with Citizen Science Data?

6 October 2022
Linda Mederake

Event:Workshop

It's that time again: From 15 September to 15 November 2022, youths between the ages of 10 and 16 are being called upon to take part in the "Plastic Pirates – Go Europe!" campaign along with their teachers or group leaders. The aim is for participants to deal with the issue of plastic waste in the environment – especially in and around rivers. The accompanying teaching and working materials, as well as the booklet, guide the participants through the campaign and can be ordered free of charge by teachers or group leaders on the campaign website.

Plastic Pirates – Go Europe!

Autumn 2022

15 September - 15 November 2022
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain

Publication:Web Application

Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! is a joint citizen science campaign by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in collaboration with the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. The campaign is taking place in all three countries from 2020 to 2021 as part of the trio presidency of the EU Council. The goals of the campaign are to strengthen scientific collaboration in Europe, promote the level of dedication among citizen scientists and to raise awareness and consciousness for the environment. Ecologic Institute develops and programs the website in four languages. In addition to general information and instructions on the action, the website also offers an ordering system for the action materials of the participating countries.

Plastic Pirates – Go Europe!

Year 2020 - 2021

Project

A torn plastic bag on the riverbank or a yoghurt cup floating in the water are symptoms of serious interference with the highly complex system of seas, the ocean and flowing waterways. The Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! project focuses on this plastic waste problem and our future handling of it. It aims to familiarise young people with the general topic of the ocean and water cycles in the process. They will learn what it means to work scientifically – and try their hand at it.

Plastic Pirates – Go Europe!

Apr 2020 - May 2023

Interview: Tim Kiessling (Kiel Science Factory)

Linda Mederake
Date: 4 October 2022
Location: Berlin/Kiel, Germany
Project: Plastic Pirates – Go Europe!
Project ID: 30002
Keywords: Coastal + Marine

Education

Plastics

Water

plastic pollution, plastic litter, youth project, EU

Europe

citizen science

Website Plastic Pirates

Further Links

PresentationSpeechEvaluating Environmental Policies with Citizen Science Data?

The European Citizen Science Association Conference 2022 took place from 5 to 8 October 2022 in Berlin under the cross-cutting theme of Citizen Science for Planetary Health. One major concern for planetary health is global plastic pollution, which has exceeded the... Read more

Speech:Evaluating Environmental Policies with Citizen Science Data?

Date: 6 October 2022
Location: Berlin, Germany

PublicationArticleWissenschaft zum Mitforschen: jugendliche Plastikpiraten untersuchen die Müllverschmutzung europäischer Fließgewässer

Microplastics from the Laucha (Elbe river system)

How much and what kind of waste is found on European riverbanks? Are microplastics floating in our river towards the open sea? What measures could reduce the presence of single-use plastic items in the environment? These are just some of the questions that young people... Read more

Mederake, Linda; Dittmann, Sinja; Kiessling, Tim (2021): Wissenschaft zum Mitforschen: jugendliche Plastikpiraten untersuchen die Müllverschmutzung europäischer Fließgewässer. In: Korrespondenz Wasserwirtschaft 3/21:135-137.

PublicationArticlePlastikpiraten erforschen die Müllverschmutzung von deutschen Flüssen

Young people from the vacation program of the Förde Volkshochschule Kiel emptying the sampling net.

The "Plastic Pirates" are a citizen science project to research litter pollution in German rivers. Throughout Germany, young people are integrated into the scientific research process by collecting data on litter pollution at rivers. The data is then analyzed by... Read more

Dittmann, Sinja; Mederake, Linda; Kiessling, Tim (2021): Die Plastikpiraten – Ein Citizen Science-Projekt zur Erforschung der Müllverschmutzung von deutschen Flüssen. In: Wasser und Abfall 23(5): 26-30.

ProjectPlastic Pirates – Go Europe! – German campaign

Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! – German campaign

Duration: Jul 2020 - Mar 2022
Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany