A 10-foot whale sculpture has gone on display at Dundee Science Centre as part of the city’s science festival.
Created by Rhiannon Moore, with help from local school kids, Moby the whale was constructed entirely from recycled materials as part of a COP26 project for Dundee City Council and Dundee Sustainability.
Rosebank, St Pius RC, St Mary’s RC and Craigibarns primary schools all helped to create the jellyfish for the whale, through a series of workshops from Scrapantics.
Scrapantics helps to teach children about the importance of reusing and recycling, through games and creative workshops.
What is COP26?
The science festival will focus around themes such as climate change, and help children understand what exactly COP26 is.
Carlene Cura, development and fundraising advisor at the Dundee Science Centre, said: “COP26 is a word that is being branded around quite a lot.
“It’s something that everyone in the community is doing something for but maybe not really sure what it is.
“And some people maybe just need a bit of support to realise that climate change is everywhere and we all have a part to play in it.
“So it’s important that everyone – from early years right up to adults – has an awareness of what it is so they can do their part.
“We’re hoping the festival will allow another way to showcase how we can do that and why it’s important.”
Sandy Greene, from ScrapAntics, added: “Four schools from around the city made all the jellyfish using 100% waste materials, and all that was bought for the whale to be made was PVA and varnish.
“The role of the whale really is to encourage young people from around the city to engage with the conversation around waste and creating a sustainable future and the role of creative solutions we need to make that happen.”
Events at the Science Festival
During the science festival, visitors can check out a whole new exhibition on climate change, in the newly refurbished centre.
The Face Lab from Stirling University have also set up a new facial recognition research station in the centre.
And Dundee Science Centre has a new Weather Chalk Walk – a colourful mural from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art student Briony Penrice.
Kids can run from snow to sun through the chalk designs in this new interactive trail.
Carlene said that the reaction to the new refurbishment was “beyond what they had hoped”.
She added: “It’s been so great. I think when you see something every day, you get quite used to it.
“But when people are coming in and seeing it for the first time, people love it.
“There’s things going on that have never happened before and it’s a space everyone wants to be in and play in.”
The science festival will run both in person and online events, starting on November 1.