In celebration of International Day of Forests, today we’re launching our first Climate Art Challenge.
Stand For Trees believes in the power of creative expression to connect people and transform our relationship with nature, and we want to hear from you!
Communicating the value of forests and how they relate to our climate change crisis can be challenging. We often ask ourselves, "how do we move people and inspire them to care about how their behavior is affecting Earth? How do we get people to feel something? And most importantly, how do we get people to take action?"
Because art is such a powerful tool to communicate the truth, we are challenging you to use your creative voice to help us tell this important story.
Join the Climate Art Challenge and submit an original piece of artwork expressing one or more of the following themes:
-The urgent need to protect the world’s forests
-Humankind’s connection to nature
-Why humankind should care about forests
The contest is open to anyone and everyone! We encourage you to be provocative, emotional, and inspiring.
The contest will last from March 21 to April 12, and we will announce the winner(s) on April 18th to kick of Earth Week!
Send submissions to: art@standfortrees.org by 5pm GMT on April 12th, 2016.
Please be sure to include your name, age, profession, and preferred contact information. We can’t wait to see what you create!
About International Day of Forests:
March 21st marks the global celebration of forests. Our favorite kind of celebration!
This is a United Nations recognized holiday created to raise awareness about the importance of forests and to generate a platform to discuss why and how we should take action to protect them.
Why Forests Are So Important:
Some Fun facts from the United Nations
1. Forests cover one third of the Earth’s land mass
2. Forests perform vital functions around the world
3. Around 1.6 billion people - including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures - depend on forests for their livelihood
4. Forests are the most biologically-diverse ecosystems on land
5. Forests are home to more than 80% of the terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects
6. Forests provide shelter, jobs, and security for forest-dependent communities
7. Forests play a key role in our battle in adapting to and mitigating climate change
8.Forests contribute to the balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide and humidity in the air
9. Forests protect watersheds, which supply 75% of freshwater worldwide
10. Forests provide priceless ecological, economic, social and health benefits
Not to mention, forests are the lungs of our earth and are essential to our well-being and ability to live on this planet!
YET, despite the AMAZING things that forests do for us, global deforestation continues at an alarming rate. This needs to stop.
How You Can Take Action:
1. Join the Climate Art Challenge (see rules above)
2. Protect a threatened forest RIGHT NOW by supporting a Stand For Trees Project
3. Share this image on your social media platforms, encouraging people to join the movement
Trees stand for us, it’s time we stand for trees!