Without Them We Starve

A LESSON IN SHARING AND COLLABORATION
Without
them, we
starve.
Global problems are a reality but
individuals can make a difference.
The 6th graders of SISQ make their voices heard.

Without them, we starve.
Global problems are real but
individuals have the choice and
power to make a difference.
The 6th graders of SISQ make their voices
heard
IB LEARNERS AT SISQ ARE CARING
THEY USE DATA TO IDENTIFY PROBLEMS
AND CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS TO
DEVELOP CREATIVE SOLUTIONS. THESE
ARE CALLED ATTITUDES TO LEARNING.

© SISQ Individuals and Societies
Do you enjoy chocolate? How about strawberries?
Perhaps you enjoy a good cheeseburger? But maybe
you don’t enjoy those irritating bees that come into
your house. And bats just give you the creeps. And
pesky birds irritate you when they eat the fruit in your
garden.
But without those scary, irritating creatures, we
would lose 75% of our food supply and bees alone
produce food worth over $500 billion. Einstein
himself noted that if the bees die, humans will soon
follow.
Unfortunately, due to human greed, bees (and other
pollinators) are under threat.
Join our 6th graders on their adventure to save the
planet and create awareness about how humans and
pollinators can live together in harmony.

Welcome to Bourges.
Avaricum. Place of water. This is the name that
the ancient Romans gave to Bourges when
Julius Caesar invaded this region of France.
As you can see, it is still possible to visit the ancient
Roman ramparts and our students will go on an
exciting virtual visit to the same marshes that Julius
Caesar crossed.
Unlike Caesar, we are not greedy conquerors but
global citizens with an urgent mission to highlight
how people like you and me can make an important
difference to saving the planet.

You see, Bourges is also a natural heritage site
where ordinary people are making a huge difference
to ensure that humans live in harmony with animals.
Our students are about to discover how traditional
farming methods, geographical skills and biology
might just protect the world from starvation.
Please join us on our adventure to save the planet by
reading our very own publication where the 6th
graders will highlight how WE can make a difference.
WE ARE INCREDIBLY PROUD OF
OUR STUDENTS FOR THE
COLLABORATION THAT THEY
HAVE SHOWN. THE FRENCH
STUDENTS ARE TRANSLATING AND
STUDENTS ARE SUPPORTING ONE
ANOTHER AS EDITORS. DESPITE

Friends or Foes?
This article investigates whether bats and humans can
live together in harmony - Claire Olivier
Imagine a boxing match. In the red corner, we have a
creepy bat. “Don’t bats spread Covid?”, I hear you say. And
don’t they drink blood and turn into vampires? Surely, it’s a
well known fact that they fly into
your hair at night just to
terrorize you...
Or do they?
In order to investigate
whether bats and humans can
live in harmony, Mrs Olivier
decided to visit the Natural
History Museum of Bourges
where she met bat expert
Amelie Chrétien.
First of all,
Amelie reminds
us that bats are
mammals too
and very similar
to humans. Just
look at our
skeletons.

That’s right - we have the same rib cage, pelvis, arms
and very similar jaws and skulls. Bats give birth to life
babies that they breastfeed. When Amelie rescues
baby bats, she has to feed them kitten milk from a
paintbrush - just like a mommy bat!
There is also no evidence that bats do cause Covid and, in fact,
they actually eat mosquitos and prevent malaria and other
diseases. Did you know that one bat can eat 600
mosquitos?
So what about our side of the boxing ring? According to
the Museum of Bourges, we are definitely far scarier than
bats. Bats drown in our swimming pools and get stuck in
our fences. They die on our road and in our windscreen
wipers. We poison them, throw stones at them, chase them
from our houses (which are their homes too) and pollute
the skies with electric lights so they can’t hunt.

This looks hopeless but Amelie has good news for us.
Saving the Climate and Saving the Bats
Bats are a lot like 6th graders - very curious little creatures.
To a bat, a wind farm is like a giant forest of trees. Until they
get sliced to death by the blades.
Wind energy is becoming a very popular fuel source in
France and the rest of Europe where it is designed to save
the environment by reducing air pollution but many bats
and birds pay a heavy price when they get sliced by the
blades.

The university staff made an agreement with the France
Énergie Éolienne (the owners of the wind farms) to develop
a creative way to save the bats and keep the farms
productive.
The museum staff mapped where they found the dead bats
and when they found them so that they could let the wind
farms know when the bats would be flying.
The blades turn at a speed of up to 280 km/hr and during
the period when the bats fly into France (migration period),
the museum has arranged for the wind farms to slow down
the blades.

This results in only a 3% loss of production but saves 90%
of the bats flying through the farms.
Paths of Darkness
Bats like rhinolophes, barbastelles and grands murins cannot
live in areas that are lit by artificial lights. The museum has
negotiated with the cities to change the lighting in the areas
where the bats have babies.

The big red blog is Paris and you can see how much light
pollution is being produced . Bourges is the much smaller
red dot on the bottom right hand corner because the
museum persuaded the city to use safer lights and actually
switch off their lights during breeding seasons so the bats
could find husbands and wives and have bat families.
Mommy, I’m hungry
Amelie took us into the bat sanctuary where they rescue
baby bats and injured animals.
Firstly, they help residents to make bat homes (“nichoirs”) in
their own buildings. Guess what? One of the bat nests was on
the roof of my home!
Secondly, people can
bring in bats if they find
them injured in their
windshield wipers,
swimming pools or
fences. They then get
delicious kitten milk
meals

When the bats get older, they then get fed some worms.
Look right. Look Left...and cross!
Unfortunately, bats also get
squashed in traffic so the university
staff came to the rescue, once again.
At night, bats were going to hunt
in the countryside and had to cross a
busy highway so the university staff
tracked the bats and built them a
bridge so they could cross safely.

So, are bats and humans friends or foes? Can they live
happily together?
This little
rescue bat and
mommy Amelie
seem to think we
can!
A big thank you to the staff of the museum of Natural
History (Bourges).

About our experts
Michel Olivier
At 81 years old, Michel uses organic and sustainable
farming methods to produce, fruits, vegetables, salads
and herbs without causing any environmental harm.
He also protects bees and provides recipes for using
“ugly crops” and avoiding food waste.
Michel will be allowing us onto his farm and showing
the students how to look after bees, protect birds and
mice and grow tomatoes without any pesticides.

Amelie Chrétien
As a chiropterologist, Amelie has dedicated her career
to educating the public about the importance of bats
and finding creative ways for bats and humans to live in
harmony.
Amelie will show our students how to transfer skills
from biology and geography into creative solutions to
protect both bats and human development.
She also rescues bats in distress and she will teach our
students how to feed baby pipistrelles with kitten milk
and a paint brush.