Community Education and Public Outreach
Penguins, Environmental Education, and the Fight for Planetary Health
At Penguins International, we strongly believe that one of the best ways to help conserve all species of penguins is through education and awareness in every aspect of penguin biology. To accomplish these goals, we actively engage in the following activities:
Inspire
We connect learners of all ages to penguins through engaging hands-on activities that inspire
conservation leadership and sustainable actions. Together we answer the question, “Why
Penguins?”
Support
Working with international partners we co-develop STEM lesson plans, curriculum, and
activities that intersect science with creativity. We highlight penguin conservation efforts and
tie in global science standards for educators.
Build Passion
We encourage people to chase their curiosity for these black and white birds and discover the
biology, ecology, and threats penguins face in the wild. Join us as we build a team of penguin
advocates and ambassadors.
Teach
Protecting penguins includes identifying creative solutions to real-world threats for penguins
and creating community action plans. We showcase STEM career paths related to penguins and
highlight that anyone can help penguins, not just the scientists.
Penguin conservation is important not only for the sake of the animals, but also for the outlook of our planet. We all love the cute, charismatic nature of penguins, their human-like qualities, and their stunning underwater acrobatics.
We also want penguins to be around for millennia to come, so they can be enjoyed by many future generations. And we certainly don’t want human activities to be the cause of their demise. But penguins are far more than the beautiful, amazing creatures they appear.
They are sentinels of the health of our oceans and our planet as a whole. Like their relatives, the proverbial canary in a coal mine, that was the first to succumb to a toxic environment and serve as a warning to the working miners, penguins serve as a similar type of sentinel. Penguins are mesopredators in the middle of the food web, they accumulate toxins that build up in the ocean, if penguins start dying off, the health of humans is also in grave danger.
Most penguins live in regions of the planet that are far from any industrialization, and if these penguins become affected by such dangers as warming of the planet, contaminant accumulation, or over-population, humans are also in imminent danger. But we can make a difference before it’s too late. If we can protect the penguins, we can protect the planet.
Please help us in spreading the word about the importance of penguins to our planet. They need your help!
Current and Ongoing Projects
Explore our current and ongoing projects dedicated to safeguarding penguins and preserving their natural habitats for generations to come.
Penguin Education Programs
Synopsis: Provide penguin conservation education in-person and online at local and international schools in support of science standards.
The Story: We aim to educate the general public about threats penguins face in today’s world and what we can do to help save them. We work with learners of all ages including K-5 students, Middle Schoolers, High Schoolers, College and University Students, and Adults. By planting the seeds of conservation in the future changemakers of our world, we hope to encourage protection of all species for generations to come.
Produce a penguin conservation-themed television series for PBS
Synopsis: Commitment from CPT 12 (PBS) to air an entire season of episodes
The Story: Also very inline with our public education mission, we have a television series in production to air on local and national PBS television channels that will highlight penguin conservation challenges and goals, while at the same time providing an entertaining presentation of penguin biology and facts to a wide audience. Each week, the show will feature a different zoo or aquarium.
These projects all fill gaps in penguin conservation that desperately need to be addressed in order to help conserve and protect penguins throughout the Southern Hemisphere. Our staff and Board of Directors have carefully evaluated these projects and are working hard to use these methods to fulfill our mission — to protect and conserve penguins of all species. But we need financial support from generous donors like you to make these efforts work. Please consider donating today!
