Art, art, rainforest protection

Art to protect the Amazon rainforest

We have had an exhausting few weeks. Weeks in which we drew attention to our next heart project and also collected donations. But first things first.

In March, a Plant for Future delegation traveled to Amazonia. Rough objective: to capture beautiful images and visit the piece of Amazon rainforest that we have already protected with Wilderness International. But on the way there we entered a very special place. 9 hectares of Amazon rainforest in Loreto Peru. An area that is particularly subject to human expansionism. And this area, which is characterized by urban sprawl and monoculture, is home to a poison dart frog that was thought to be lost until 2011. The -nominate- variant of Ranitomeya Fantastica, the fantastic tree climber. Not seen for 130 years, rediscovered in 2011 and almost 10 years later we are standing on this forest island and have to realize that preparatory measures have already been taken for an upcoming clearing.

Back in Rostock, it was clear that we would try to prevent this. Contact has already been made with the owner and we have also managed to stop the work. But as is so often the case in life, nothing happens in nature conservation without moss. We quickly came up with a few ideas to publicize our cause and then raise funds. We started off in collaboration with the Volkstheater Rostock. The Kulturhaus not only made its façade and scaffolding available to us for the three-week working period, but also initiated a corresponding press event, which helped the mural and the idea behind it to attract a certain amount of attention.

The result is a graffiti tribute to the Amazon and its biodiversity. On this stage, we took the opportunity to once again underline the threat to the world’s largest rainforest and at the same time to record the chance we now have to save one of the smallest and most colorful animal species in the Amazon. If we don’t manage it, it will die out! Not that our human existence depends on this tiny creature, but it is representative of the development that is destroying our planet. Preserving biodiversity means protecting intact habitats! And what could be better than a thumbnail-sized poison dart frog as an ambassador and its forest island the size of a few soccer pitches? The design of the gable wall was the beginning of a whole series of actions to protect this area.

After the newly designed gable wall was unveiled, a few weeks later there was a graffiti jam on the theme of “Amazonas” in collaboration with the Volkstheater Rostock. There were amazons, jaguars, macaws and puffing caimans to see. Anyone who has purchased a shirt or even the special edition Amazon Can produced in collaboration with Loop for this occasion can say that they have done something for this rainforest.
The auction of the little masterpieces then blew us away two weeks later. A whopping €1,700 was raised after deducting the cost of framing the artworks. The Full Color Shop from Rostock raised €3,250 for the forest purchase in Peru. A huge thank you for the wonderful day, your commitment and the proof that everyone can do something to help our planet. And because pictures say more than a thousand words, here are a few impressions of the Amazon Graffitijam.

You can look forward to seeing what else we come up with this year and of course you are invited to help us!
With this in mind:

“Preserve existing forests, create new forests.”