Marine Eco Tours
Imagine with Responsibility
“Human activities are threatening the health of the world's oceans. More than 80 percent of marine pollution comes from land-based activities. From coral bleaching to sea level rise, entire marine ecosystems are rapidly changing.” –National Geographic
Compelling educational programming is urgently needed to teach our world’s children and future generations to respect the oceans and do their part to make a change for the better in their lifetime. Storybook Theatre of Hawai’i has been addressing this need with its Marine Eco Tour—Imagination with Responsibility since 1997.
With a fleet of inflatable sea creatures, including Humpback Whales, Monk Seals, a Sea Turtle, American Salmon, Tiger Shark, Spinner Dolphin, and Rainbow Trout, veteran storyteller, Cap’n Mark Jeffers generates excitement about ocean life, the visual/media arts, literacy, and science in schools and communities across Hawaii and the Pacific.
The “traveling classroom” of inflatable characters inspires children with an up close and personal experience with a life-size marine animal. Each half-hour performance guides them on a journey that invites them to become part of the ocean animal’s world. They learn and sing songs of ocean creatures and hear sea stories from different cultures. Crawling inside the Tiger Shark, and breaching with the Humpback Whales, while imagining their migration over thousands of miles of ocean all the while communicating with their family along the way, creates an unforgettable dynamic learning experience. Children not only learn about the animals’ life cycles, behavior, and anatomy, but also the importance of ocean conservation. Educational resource coloring and activity books by Monika Mira, the author and illustrator of The Complete Hawaiian Reef Fish Coloring Book, are provided for more study.
‘Harmony’ and ‘Melody’, two inflatable, life-size pacific humpback whales.
The tour has touched the lives of tens of thousands of children through 100s of performances.
The inflatables were created by internationally renowned textile and performance artist, Evelyn Roth of Adelaide, Australia. Evelyn has received numerous awards for her pioneering work as an artist/activist. She creates to raise public awareness about threats to the environment and many of the worlds endangered species.
Our Goal: To promote even greater awareness among our world’s children around the importance of learning about and caring for our oceans with an expanded international version of this tour.
Over the next few years, key locations throughout the Pacific Rim will be targeted for the “Imagination with Responsibility” tour and invited to take part. STH is seeking connections with schools and human service agencies to immerse school children in ocean life and literacy.
The preparation for a tour like this takes a great deal of work and the collaboration of many artist /educators and support individuals. To realize this vision, STH is seeking funding to create a central office, staff training time, travel and the development of educational materials, promotional and fundraising costs, as well as the creation of and refurbishing of more inflatable sea creatures. This will also position the project to attract commercial sponsorships to support future tour costs. The tour has the potential to reach well over 150,000 children annually throughout the Pacific Rim for years to come, teaching the next generation the importance of preserving our oceans.
