By Rosa Torres
This session, the Studio Spark has been diving into the world of Marine Science. Through this quest, the Pumas are exploring coral reefs, marine life, and the big environmental challenges that impact these amazing habitats.
Today, I want to share some of the reflections and hypotheses that have emerged over these weeks: thoughts about the sea, marine life, and how we can take care of our oceans.
How do you think it feels to live in a place as big as the ocean?
Matías: There are no houses… or maybe there are, but they’re as huge as the ocean itself.
Gonzalo: It’s all wet, so... I guess the houses aren’t made of cement but of something softer, like corals.
Rodrigo: There are no supermarkets, only coral houses. Fish don’t get food often; they just move around... it’s very open, and it must take them a while to get to other places. I think living in the sea must feel enormous… maybe their homes are huge too.
Lucía: You definitely can’t breathe down there!
Juan Diego: The ocean is bigger, and it’s for the fish, Lu.
Alejandra: There’s no furniture, no leaves, no food like here, and no humans.
Brisa: Fish also eat coral.
Catalina: There are no cars or grass—just sand and water. I think it feels endless and big.
Why do some animals live deep in the ocean and others near the surface?
Catalina: Some animals live on the surface because they don’t just breathe water, they need to come up for air, like dolphins and whales. They have a little hole to breathe.
Brisa: Because the ones near the surface can’t breathe deep underwater.
Lucía: The animals that live near the surface also get tired, and then they look for shelter down below.
Juan Diego: Fish and water are friends.
Alejandra: Maybe because the fish that live deep down don’t breathe the same way as the ones near the surface.
What are some ways we can take care of the ocean and its creatures?
Gonzalo: Trash is a big problem for ocean animals.
Alejandra: We have to take care of it and clean up—trash goes in the bin, not in the water.
Lucía: Sometimes when I go to the beach, I see people throwing garbage into the sea.
Rodrigo: Some people say the water “takes the trash away,” but that’s not true—the fish still get hurt.
Catalina: One way to take care of the ocean is not to feed the fish, because we might give them something that’s not good for them, and they could die.
Pumas, is trash a problem for the ocean or for humans?
Rodrigo: For humans, because if fish eat plastic, it affects us too since we eat fish.
Gonzalo: That’s a disaster! And what if there are toxic liquids in the water…
Alejandra: Yes! Once I saw something spill into the sea, and then the birds started dying too.
If you could say something to the sea, what would you say?
Matías: I’d tell it I want to defend it because it has things that help fish live and be happy.
Lucía: I’d tell the sea to take care of all the animals that live there, and ask people not to throw trash so the fish don’t eat it.
Catalina: I’d tell you that if humans throw trash into the sea, it can fall on a coral and hurt it.
Rodrigo: I’d tell the sea to protect all the animals that live there, and “thank you for giving us food from the fish.”
Listening to the Pumas talk to the sea reminds us that tenderness is also a way of caring. Their words, simple yet deep, invite us to see the ocean not just as a place, but as a friend, one that breathes, feels, and awaits for us to care.
Each of their answers reminded me that caring for the ocean starts with something very small: a question, a word, a promise.
If they can imagine a world where the ocean is clean and happy, then what can we adults do to make it happen?
