Invisible Dust is deeply committed to supporting local and regional communities to become ambassadors for climate change. Understanding local environmental issues and learning how to talk about them is the beginning of a journey. ECOde aims is to support children and young people to respond imaginatively to environmental issues, to start taking responsibility and to begin influencing change.

ECOde introduces children and young people to the natural world, inspiring them to investigate local biodiversity and understand that human activity can affect nature in negative ways. It helps them to join the dots, ask questions and find creative ways to inform the wider public about climate change and environmental issues closer to home.

The project is based in Scarborough and is a collaboration between Invisible Dust and North Yorkshire Library and Information Service involving Scarborough Library’s Code Club. Code Club is a nationwide network of volunteers and educators who run free coding clubs for young people aged 9 – 13.  

This unique project will give children the chance to develop their computer coding skills in fun and creative ways, sharing their ideas and learning about the world around them with members of the public at local Open Days planned throughout the year.

They will get to meet and work alongside experts in digital technology, scientists and artists who will support them on their creative journeys. As well as the regular code club sessions, there will be ‘hands on’ workshops to enable the children to make friends with nature in a variety of ways.

Capturing the Sounds of Scarborough

Working with sound artist Rob Mackay, ECOde participants ventured off into Scarborough to capture sounds of the sea, bird song in parks and underwater noises using special hydrophones – microphones that record sound in water.

Once the sounds were collected the young people used the computers at Scarborough Library to layer the sounds to create their own individual soundscapes of Scarborough. These soundscapes will be uploaded on to Google Maps to make a soundmap of the area.

A solar-powered microphone and streambox  has been installed on the roof of Scarborough Library, to capture the sounds of Scarborough, which will be added to a worldwide interactive soundmap. The Locus Sonus Project Soundmap showcases sounds from all over the world, from whale breeding grounds near Hawaii, the jungle in Costa Rica and the hum of traffic in Camberwell. The sounds are captured using microphones which are then shared live via an online interactive map.

The microphone on the roof of Scarborough Library is now live recording noises familiar to the town, such as seagulls and easterly winds from the sea. The microphone and streambox will continue to capture sounds so anyone from around the world can continue to listen in to the soundscape of Scarborough.

Photo © Esme Mai, courtesy of Invisible Dust.