Wild 9 Post Script

It’s all over but the work.

I have been struggling for 3 days to come up with an effective way to “wrap a bow” around the gift of Wild 9. It’s hard to see and hear everything that we saw and heard at the WWC without coming back to the everyday world highly energized, inspired and more than a little terrified. What are the big take away realizations for me? Small planet ….. smaller than we think. Big problems …. Bigger than we know or can fully understand. Time for solutions is verrrry short – shorter than we care to admit.

But Wild 9 introduced me to so many incredible thinkers, activists and worker bees from every strata of every society that I experienced a profound and deepening hope for our future. I most certainly felt a global reinforcement for what we at Art for Conservation are trying to do in our own small way – the arms and hearts of strangers patting the collective “us” on the back and saying “Nice work! Keep it up! Thanks for what you are doing.”

So, platitudes and affirmations aside, it’s time to get back to work with a knowledge that we are on the right path and that there are many, many others around the world ready and willing to collaborate, connect and conspire to save the planet and to work with the sense of urgency that is dictated by the crisis that grows every day in our air, our water and our landscapes.

To paraphrase President Obama, ”the fierce urgency of now” is indeed upon us and the common themes that inform our work are connectivity, communication and climate change. The party's over. Get to work!

Quotable Quotes from 9th World Wilderness Congress

1.“That just scared the hell out of me!” Art Wolfe, after viewing Jim Balog’s presentation on the Extreme Ice Survey which is visually documenting the catastrophic decline of the world’s glaciers.

2. “Less than 1/5th of 1% of the world’s oceans are protected from fishing and yet oceans cover 75% of the earth’s surface.” Brian Skerry on the rapid decline of our ocean ecosystems.

3.“The next 4-8 years are the most important years in human history.” Bittu Sahgal, editor of Sanctuary magazine, India.

4.“We will not stop climate change if we don’t stop killing nature. It’s that simple.” Harvey Locke, Canadian conservationist, one of the founders of the Yellowstone to Yukon Initiative.

5.“I awake each day torn between a desire to save the world and savor the world. It makes it hard to plan my day.” E.B. White


Onward!

Linda Helm, VP

Awards and Inspiration-James Balog and Jane Goodall at Wild 9

Time to get caught up to today, Tuesday(Martes). Sunday morning offered a bit of free time which allowed us to get a small taste of the real Merida because we were able to connect with my friend Nancy and her husband Barry who moved down here last year and are in the process of remodeling a home that they purchased about 6 blocks from our hotel. They have an interesting blog and website which details their move to Merida, their remodeling adventure and has lots of interesting info about Merida. They appear at left with their 3-legged dog buddy.

As Nancy and Barry walked us back to our hotel, they explained that every Sunday one half of the Paseo Montejo, which is a main artery through the center of town, is closed down until noon so that families can ride bikes with their children without worry for the crazy traffic. It also allows families to take a leisurely stroll without left traffic noise and exhaust. What a brilliant idea! Can you just envision half of College Avenue closed down each Sunday morning! It encourages family activity, exercise, not driving, slowing down a bit ... I am ready to come back and lobby the city council for that!

Jane Goodall gave a very moving keynote presentation on Sunday and set the stage for an in depth discussion of her Roots and Shoots Program for Children. If you have never seen this woman speak, you must make a point to do it before she stops travelling and speaking. She only does so out of a sense of urgency for the protection of primates. She says she has not been back to the land she loves for 15 years because she knows that she is their best hope for the future. I don't think she will rest as long as she knows she can connect one more person to the issues and raise one more dollar for protection. Jane inspires simply by her presence but when she says she is inspired and made hopeful by this gathering, it reminds us of the privilege and the power of taking part in this congress.

On Sunday evening, James Balog received the inaugural iLCP Conservation Photographer Award - voted as the very first recipient by his peers, both for his lifetime body of conservation work and expecially for his current project, "The Extreme Ice SurveyHis expansive visual documentation through time lapse photography of the rapid recession and disappearance of glaciers is waking up hearts and minds arounbd the world. He recently testified before the US Congress on the issue of climate change. And all I can say is that if they saw what we saw in Jim's presentation, they had to walk out of chambers scared to death. There is no other way to say this - it is simply horrifying to see the full measure of decline of the glaciers - it is NOT part of the natural cycle. It IS catastrophic! Below is a cut from his presentation at the 2009 TEDGlobal conference in Oxford England. It will give you a good idea of what we saw the other night.

There is SO much more but I'll save it for another post. Adios. Linda

".

Anything But Green

I ran across a promo for a juried art show which asked applicants to interpret the theme “Anything But Green”- any way they wanted. I couldn’t help but think about the perceived oversaturation of the word “Green” today, and wondered if that was the impetus for the show theme.

Green fatigue is already a commonplace word in the English lexicon. Susan H. Greenberg wrote an essay about this in a June 30, 2008, Newsweek article by entitled “I’m SO Tired of Being Green”. In it, she interviewed Suzanne Shelton, CEO of the Shelton Group, a U.S. marketing firm that monitors America's environmental pulse.

Shelton Group's latest study, Energy Pulse 2007, revealed that between 2006 and 2007, Americans' enthusiasm for energy-efficient products and services fell across the board. "We are really seeing a backlash to the whole green thing," says Shelton. "We've tested environmental messaging for some clients lately, and we get a lot of eye rolls and deep sighs. We hear things like 'I'm so tired of the green label being slapped on everything,' 'I'm so tired of being guilted into being green'. Confusion creates inner shock, and when consumers are confused, they just do nothing."

OK, so what does that mean for those of us who are still trying to deliver a conservation - a green - message? It says that we have to use more effective tools to get our message across. And that’s where Fine Print Imaging’s green initiative - Art for Conservation - comes in. To successfully deliver a compelling message, one on which people will act, you have to appeal to their emotions.

We KNOW that images deliver a more impactful - more emotional - message than words alone. Fine Print Imaging is working with literally 100s of photographers and artists who are meticulously crafting their art so that it effectively communicates a conservation message. And while this may conjure up imagery of a river with floating debris or a pristine mountain top being scraped to mine for coal, it more often means images showing all of the beauty that our planet has to offer.

Fine Print Imaging and Art for Conservation partner together to provide discounted printing services to these artists. We also provide a beautiful online gallery of their art which helps them raise funds to continue creating art that helps preserve our delicate ecosystem. And we provide a strong social networking component that fosters communication between all of the parties involved in conservation of our natural resources.

One of our strongest partnerships is with the International League of Conservation Photographers. In conjunction with their book on climate change, "A Climate for Life", we created a 50 print exhibit highlighting the photography of the world's top conservation photographers. The gallery wrapped canvas giclee exhibit is touring North America and will eventually land in the offices of Conservation International in Arlington, Virginia.

Rather than screaming our message through a megaphone, we focus on telling the conservation story through imagery. And we tell the stories of our artists and photographers who make these conservation images. Instead of shoving green down people’s throats, we allow them to draw their own conclusions by viewing both beautiful and disturbing images. We KNOW that appealing to their emotions will make a stronger and longer lasting impression.

We would love to help you deliver your conservation message and support your conservation efforts by selling your images. Join us on Art for conservation - http://www.artforconservation.org - and become a member of the Fine Print Imaging family.

www.blogactionday.org

Irreversible, Irreplaceable

The Irreplaceable campaign brings together four distinct groups — from the worlds of art, justice, science, and faith — to highlight the diversity of life we must protect from climate change. As you dive into these photos, be inspired, determined, hopeful. Help us protect these irreplaceable plants and animals.


Check out their most recent video and then visit their website to take action

A Climate for Life

Fine Print Imaging and Art For Conservation are excited and honored to be working on the production of a traveling exhibit of images from the new book A Climate For Life: Meeting the Global Challenge . Sponsored by the Dean Witter Foundation, the exhibit will open in January, 2009 at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

"A CLIMATE FOR LIFE: Meeting the Global Challenge examines the impact of climate change on biodiversity and focuses on the most important challenges currently facing life on our planet.
With a foreword co-authored by eminent Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson and actor Harrison Ford, and a comprehensive introduction by Conservation International scientists led by president Russ Mittermeier, A CLIMATE FOR LIFE examines the enormous impact of climate change on biodiversity and focuses on how nature itself might provide some of the solutions to this challenge.

A lavishly produced volume, CLIMATE FOR LIFE celebrates the diversity of life on earth, and is a call to action and a blueprint to preserve it. With additional text throughout written collaboratively by leading Conservation International scientists, a nonprofit organization that applies innovations in science, economics, policy and community participation to protect the Earth's biodiversity around the world. the book’s ten chapters cover the most important and urgent issues concerning climate change and biodiversity today.

From intense pressure on already stressed flora and fauna, to the implications of polar meltdown, the book explores the effects of rising temperatures on both the land and in oceans across the globe. That said, the book is not all doom and gloom as A CLIMATE FOR LIFE also examines potential and practical solutions and devotes a number of chapters to exploring existing answers. Illustrated with over 175 photographs by esteemed members of the International League of Conservation Photographers, a nonprofit organization that uses the power of photography to help educate the world and to further conservation goals, A CLIMATE FOR LIFE features images from world-class talents including noted wildlife photographer Frans Lanting, glacier photographer James Balog, and endangered species photographer Joel Sartore.

The book includes eleven photography "features" in which the photographers, as eyewitnesses in the field, are interviewed about their first-hand experiences recording the effects of climate change on the environment. Frans Lanting reports in the book that after photographing the same spot in Africa that was shot 100 years ago “…it’s one of those rare instances where you can see extinction in progress before your eyes.”

Powerfully combining both images and offerings, A CLIMATE FOR LIFE, is the result of leading scientists and veteran photographers contributing their talents to showcase the topics, issues, and challenges that society must urgently face, and the book’s lasting impression is that ultimately the responsibility is literally and figuratively in our hands."

Watch A Climate for Life Multimedia piece HERE!