Musings From Your Sci-Fi Loving Shut-In
As a fan of Earth Day (April 22, www.earthday.org), one of my favorite bumper stickers reads: EARTH with ART highlighted in a different color, thereby communicating two relevant topics in a simple yet impactful way.
Which makes me think about how creative types can take on causes with their art. In addition to feeding my inner sci-fi geek beast by working on various versions of Spock of Star Trek fame for the next ZaPow Gallery group show, and a cartoon line called “Space(d) Kitties” for Geek Out 2013, I’m also very excited at this writing about my World Tapir Day series.
I know, two questions: 1) Um, World what? And 2) Why?
This bizarre-looking mammal, so critical to ecosystem stability in each place in the world in which the four species reside, is endangered. World Tapir Day falls each year on April 27, shortly after Earth Day.
Although baby tapirs are so cute it can make your teeth ache, adult tapirs simply are not, so overall, their plight tends to get minimal attention. Young tapirs are all speckled and stripey in tawny colors for fall – a typical evolutionary development for protection from predators – and they look like they’re smiling. All the time.
I suspect any animal on the hunt would not only move on, but also immediately become a vegetarian. Back to the adults… they can be a bit, ahem, behaviorally low-brow. In fact, many zoos post warnings that tapirs can spray urine backwards up to about fifteen feet. I would hate to have been the first person to discover that.
“Oh, hey, don’t stand too close to that pig-hippo-anteater-elephant-looking thing …. Ooooohhhh, SORRY!”
Tapirs are large herbivores – and therefore the main seed-dispersing species in their habitats. This makes them like prehistoric Johnny Appleseeds, but with genetics tied to horses and rhinos. Across the world one finds the Baird’s Tapir (Mexico, Central America, Colombia), the Lowland, aka Brazilian, Tapir (South America), the Mountain Tapir (northern Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, and Northern Peru), and the Asian, aka Malayan Tapir (Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Sumatra).
Habitat destruction and hunting have reduced ranges for all tapirs, with some populations now so low that breeding programs may be their best hope. Their perilous situation also serves as a reminder that species extinction is rampant.
Ecosystem elimination also means we will never discover other useful things in those habitats, including natural medicinals that could ultimately help us survive as a species. Not to mention rainforest and other habitat losses contribute to increased atmospheric and temperature problems.
Species extinction is kind of like one of those fancy dominos-on-end setups: when the first one falls, so go the rest of them. It could be a very long chain reaction, and take quite a bit of time, but one of those dominos toward the end of the line is… us!
The “why” of it all is simply conservation, which involves awareness and action. There are many opportunities for each of us to take little, often easy, actions that add up. Like, start recycling, stop littering, take the bus more, teach the next generation to conserve better than before, create an awesome bumper sticker.
One could also take on global issues, like the Earth Day Network (as it’s now called) does, from saving whales and preserving ecosystems, to renewable energy and green economies.
Conservation can also be personal. What in our lives might we want to preserve? Papers and photos? Mementos? Our brains and bodies? Pondering what we would like to be remembered for can help us decide upon a course to take.
I hope to maintain my ability to draw until my last breath, and I hope some of my art does some good. I’m using what I have at my disposal to do my little bit, hoping each person out there is also discovering their own unique opportunities to safeguard the planet and the creatures on it, including the humans.
What can you do with your art, or your love of art, and your skills and spheres of influence to do something today to communicate a concept that’s important to you?
During April, my illustration display inside ZaPow Gallery, 21 Battery Park Avenue in Asheville (across the street from Chai Pani Restaurant), will include my Tapir-themed art, with 25% of my proceeds on those items going to a tapir conservation fund.
Happy Earth Day, and Happy World Tapir Day, to you!
For more info on WTD: www.facebook.com/pages/World-Tapir-Day