Martina Stella di Mare

The Marevivo Association is a non-profit Italian environmental association that protects the sea and its resources. Marevivo focuses on biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, enhancement and promotion of marine protected areas, pollution and education in schools and Universities. The project proposed is organized by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Delegation, thanks to an interesting collaboration with the scientific communities and with many other partners (marine protected areas, scientific Museums, Club services) and has the aim to create and propose innovative and exciting tools (art, literature, drawing.) to involve and emotion citizens and especially kids.
Recently, the association has started to collaborate with the very popular Italian artist and creator of kids comics Nicoletta Costa.
From this collaboration the “Martina Stella di Mare project” has been developed.
The proposal is based on the fact that the EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters”, also called “Starfish Mission” has a starfish as symbol. This symbol has an emotional impact on everyone, mainly on children. Any European kid, also the one who not live near the sea, recognizes the starfish as a living being of the sea that must be protected.
In the Mission strategy, the five starfish legs represent the five objectives that the Mission is proposing for 2030.
How can this strategy and vision be explained to involve and emotionally involve little children?
To give an answer to this question Marevivo, with Nicoletta, has created the new character of Martina Stella di Mare (The Starfish Martina) and produced a booklet (edited by Panini) with a story and some games that accompany children to discover the sea, its biodiversity and the problems that afflict it: first of all, plastic and pollution.

The project aims to raise awareness among children on these increasingly topical issues, by teaching them how pollution arises, what are the small daily actions that we can do to reduce it, what could happen if we continue to adopt wrong behaviors and what we would get instead if everyone, adults and children, adopt new behaviors to preserve our sea.
Many copies of the book Martina Stella di Mare have been generously bought by Rotary Clubs and other Institutions to be distributed in schools and pediatric hospitals. 

Furthermore, Marevivo has decided to launch a competition among kindergarten which host children between 3 and 6 years old. The Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and the Venice Municipality are strongly involved to contact regional kindergarten and propose to participate.
The competition is starting in January 2023 with the aim to:

• Raise awareness among new generations to reduce the daily use of plastic and to ensure its proper reuse and / or disposal to protect the seas and oceans; • recognize and identify artificial elements in the environment; • encourage group discussion to find explanations and solutions and promote actions; • promote cooperation with other children, working in a group in a co- structural, collaborative, participatory and creative way. 
Each school will produce a “product” (design, story….) that will be collected in a public exposition at the end of the scholar year.
Our plan now is to disseminate the project in other Regions, and, thanks to Rotary International, also to translate it in other languages.
Martina is a very special Starfish and is having great success among her many enthusiastic little fans!