Minett Biosphere Youth Forum – La Bonneterie

Discussion about rethinking
the biosphere signs.

“How can we promote positive behaviour in nature reserves?”

A question we had to answer over the course of 4 days!
Designers as well as environmental experts assisted us during this discussion…

Summary

I. Visiting the reserve with biologist Jan Herr

II. Workshop “Ecosystem services” with Mahmoud Hashoush

III. Searching for the message

IV. “We are the biosphere” and so on…

V. Building the flag signs, step… by step…

VI. Tutorial with Mopsa

VII. Last part is… figuring out where and how to install the signs!

Jan Herr explained us the current challenges in the nature reserve “Brucherbierg-Lallengerbierg”.

 

 

“Littering, cigarettes stems, plastic bags, vandalism…”

 

“Endangered bird species being disturbed, non-respected quiet zones…”

Jan Herr showing documentation on the litter he found in the reserve…

The first sign you see at the entry of the reserve. They were installed just before the reserve became a biosphere.

There are lots of interdictions.

One of the biggest encountered problems are dogs being unleashed. The reason why this troubles ground nesting birds isn’t well understood.

Most people don’t get the information although there already are big wooden signs on the site.

Workshop “Ecosystem services” – Mahmoud Hashoush

In order to seach for the root of the issue, we participated in the workshop “Ecosystem services” with Mahmoud Hashoush.

You shall not pass – Clémence

Discoveries thanks to mother nature – Antonina

“We are the biosphere”

We looked deeper atthe message that should be communicated by the signs. How should they look like?

Ideas which emerged from the first brainstorming morning…

A team worked on 4 messages with different aims and for different publics to have the best results.

1. Wordplay

2. Simplicity

3. Recognisable

4. Shapes

“How should co-existence look like?”

Bikers, hikers, animals! All in one place and they have to live together.

Many times we act intuitively without knowing that we do something wrong.

Little actions can sustain or break the harmony between bikers, hikers, and animals.

We see nature often as a strong force, but we overlook its fragility. This simple mindset is becoming clearer to us as we gather more ideas.

“We are the biosphere” is shouted in the room and we all seem to agree that nature, which is often seen as mother nature, is a part of us all.

Then the focus shifted on the design and visual identity. What colors should be used? We set a color range with primary blue, white as the main tone and pink with yellow as secondary..

Building the flag signs, step… by step…

After having prepared a paper sketch… we began to cut directly in the tarp!

Shaping the letters, checking the spaces and the layout… Focus on lisibility!

We used paper pattern before cutting the forbidden campfire.

Tutorial with Mopsa

1. We draw the shapes on solid paper and cut them out.

2. Next, we place the shape on the tarp and retrace the shape with a posca pen or pencil.

3. Then, we cut our self-made shapes out of the tarp, with a scissor or a cutter.

4. Next, we press all the shapes together with a special press (heat press, it heats up and melts them together). Wait 1 minute. An alternative is sewing.

5. After the pieces are all in place we use an eyelet press, which pierces circles in the tarp. (These will be our ankle points to hang the flag).

6. We completed all the steps and now we will have a lot of fun with our self made flag.

Last part … figuring out where and how to install the signs!

Which size?

Do we use the existing signs ?

Using what we have around : stairs, existing signs, trees…

Brucherbierg-Lallengerbierg reserve map showing the spots we imagine to place the signs.

Participants

Moyra, Elvria, Ida, Lisa, Serena, Sweety, Ahmad, Tim, Sandra,
Agniezka, Marcin, Maja, Clémence, Antonina and Mahmoud

Coordinators

Sandra, Asa, Lucie and Alice

La Bonneterie

Léa, Mopsa, Mélia, Pascal, Louise and Laura

Minett Biosphere

Gaëlle and Yann