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Update from the Galapagos Conservation Trust:

© GECO

GECO trip to Isabela island

Thanks to Sculpt the Future Foundation’s support, we are able to extend the reach of GECO’s campaign to Isabela island, Galapagos. In October, the first trip to Isabela was conducted, with four GECO members travelling to San Cristobal to participate in a cultural exchange with a local group on Isabela called Manos Reciclando (translates to ‘Recycling Hands’). 

GECO members stayed for three and a half days and shared experiences and knowledge on responsible consumption of single-use plastics and reusing waste materials, as well as the campaign activities they conduct on San Cristobal to promote responsible plastic use. Manos Reciclando also shared the activities they do to encourage more families to engage with this issue and conducted a workshop with GECO members to show how they’re using creative methods to find other uses for plastic waste.

The trip was a great success. Together, both groups also visited Radio Isabela to communicate the activities that were carried out to the community and to encourage more Galapagueños to reduce their plastic consumption.

Another trip to Isabela has been planned for March 2019, and we look forward to sharing updates from this trip in due course.

All images © GECO

Running South America With My Husband and Other Animals

StFF beneficiary – the 5000 Mile Project – has launched its book entitled: ‘Running South America With My Husband and Other Animals’.

This expedition was a first! An epic adventure documented by Katharine and David Lowrie, who are both keen environmentalists.

They are giving talks and having book signing events in the UK or you can buy it from the publisher here or if you can’t do that, then from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

Katharine and Dave are an inspiration but check out their video first and make your own mind up:

BOOK OUT NOW!

5000 Mile Project – update

StFF beneficiary couple – David and Katharine Lowrie – are the first to run the length of South America, unsupported, for its wilderness and wildlife.

The following is an extract from their latest email update:

NEW BOOK!- Running South America with my husband and other animals

I have a publisher! ‘Running South America with my husband and other animals’ will be zooming into shops near you from this August! It’s about our love affair with running and wildlife- so much so, that we ran a continent to meet its wild animals. How we lived life at its rawest; with insects crawling over us, sleeping in jaguars’ ‘back-yards’ and washing in ditches by the side of the road. Running marathons back-to-back for days on end, this crazy feat nearly cost us our marriage, health and lives….. More details to come!

Check out their website here

Mountain Caribou Initiative

David Moskovitz was supported to undertake work to help conserve the Mountain Caribou. The following is an update from David on his work.

Please also see Lost Explorer this article.

Film: We are starting work on production for a 20 minute documentary on mountain caribou, the inland rainforest and BC’s continued efforts to liquidate a large percentage of the remaining old growth of the region. We are aiming to have the film ready for release in late spring 2017.

Photography: Images from the project appeared in the New York Times. High Country News also published a photo essay and article by myself on the plight of mountain caribou.

Book: I have a book contract with Braided River Press for a photography book on this story, schedule for publication for fall of 2018.

Education: We are working on developing educational resources which will accompany all of our major content pieces for the project to make it easy for teachers and community groups to use our content for structured educational purposes

Community Conversations: Our team has delivered our first slideshows for the project, all here in Washington State. One of our current tasks is to reach out to communities on a larger scale to bring the story in person to people within the region and beyond.

Continuing Field Work: I am planning on another 3 seasons of field work for the project as I work to nail down some of the most challenging and important images for this story.

Policy: The Canadian and USA federal governments are both currently reviewing their management of mountain caribou. Canada should have revisions to the current plan out in early 2017. Early reports are that the new plan will be stronger then the existing plan including important additional habitat protections. We are poised for these announcements to drive public engagement for official comment periods and to help hold government accountable.

Social Media: We have an active social media presence on Facebook and Instagram. We have been quiet the past several weeks since the USA elections as we have been dealing with more urgent conservation and social justice issues but will be gearing back up after the new year. Every major content release for this project will be paired with a coordinated social medial campaign.

As we roll into our final year of field work and and production of our most ambitious content pieces its good to see a growing number of individuals and organizations giving us support and encouragement along the way!

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT. We appreciate your support for the project.

Divide in Concord film

Divide In Concord, a film by Dave Regos is now available in the UK and around the world.

Supported by the Plastic Pollution Coalition, Algalita, 5 Gyres, Story of Stuff, Food and Water Watch and others, the Massachusetts state senator Jamie Eldridge has endorsed the film calling it

an inspiration to anyone who cares deeply about the growing environmental chaos that our world is facing.

Click https://dic.vhx.tv/ to see more

Jungle-ized – David de Rothschild project – Times Square, New York

From 1 – 30 April 2016, Soundwalk Collective presents JUNGLE-IZED: a month-long interactive multi-sensory art installation that will transform Times Square, transporting over half a million visitors daily to the heart of the Amazon, by following the 73rd Meridian West that connects Times Square with the Amazon rainforest.

Presented in partnership with The Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC), Times Square Arts, Audio-Technica, CXA+ART, and David de Rothschild’s The Lost Explorer, this immersive installation includes a participatory audio experience and an interactive video not only to encourage and celebrate a conversation with nature but to bring a heightened awareness around climate change and the environmental impact of our everyday actions.

New project supported – Mountain Caribou Expedition

Mountain caribou are on the brink of disappearing across most of their range in the Pacific Northwest of the USA and Canada.  David Moskowitz took part in the Wolf OR 7 Expedition, supported by StFF in 2014 and has now launched a new project to explore the world of mountain caribou and the conservation challenges faced to sustain them and the unique mountain landscapes they depend on.

Sculpt the Future Foundation has made a donation towards the project – see project page for more detail.

Swim the Eden – Report

In August, three brothers, Robbie, Calum and Jack Hudson, swam the length of the River Eden in Cumbria gaining Cumbrian, British and World Records in the process. StFF supported this adventure with a small grant and helped these boys achieve their ambition and will inspire young people and the local community engage with and value their environment.

Swim the Eden pic

 

We really couldn’t have done the swim without Sculpt the Future and will be eternally grateful for your support. It is something we will never forget and we think has inspired lots of people to engage in a more sustainable and positive relationship with the environment.

Kate Rew the head of the Outdoor Swimming Society (18,000 members) said that we “had captured the public imagination” and were “the big hit of the

summer”. The BBC said that it was an “incredible achievement” and ITV described it as “epic and engaging”.  Calum Hudson

Read reports  of their success here and here

 

Why Nature Needs a Seat at the United Nations

StFF Founder, David de Rothschild, is in Paris this week chairing a round table discussion at the COP21 Summit.  

In an online article for Amuse, a digital magazine and video channel published by i-D, David expresses his fears:

Our oceans really are rising and have already risen. It already is hotter and it’s going to get hotter. It’s dry and going to get drier. The familiar shape of continents and countries soon won’t be so familiar, as by the middle of this century we’ll be redrawing the maps as we know it. We are killing ourselves quickly and slowly. We are losing against ourselves. There is no off switch.

I’ve travelled a lot and do what I can to turn this knowledge into positive action. I’m generally an optimist, but I am shit scared.

and offers an idea for how conservation efforts could be approached at the national and international level.

Read David’s article here

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MISHA TAYLOR