Monday, September 9. 2024 – JOIN THE WONDERFUL HERD MIGRATION

By admin

100 Magnificent Indian Elephants

are

Migrating Across the USA

to

Share their Story with the World

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

ISSUE # 1301


UNTAPPED NEW YORK

JUDITH BERDY

DAN FREEDLAND

The Great Elephant Migration is a global fundraising adventure to amplify indigenous knowledge and inspire the human race, to share space.

A collaboration between indigenous artisans, contemporary artists and cultural institutions, it will raise millions of dollars to power human-wildlife coexistence projects and protect migratory animals making spectacular journeys across land, rivers, skies and oceans.

ELEPHANTS ARE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

The creators of the herd live in the Nilgiri Hills, Southern India, where humans and elephants coexist in the densest overlap on the planet. The indigenous communities here see everything in nature as being alive and having a soul. The wind has a spirit, whispering secrets to the trees as she moves through. The stars, rocks, rivers, trees, plants and animals are all part of a big family. 

This way of looking at the world is rooted in mutual respect and reciprocity. There’s a reverence for nature and all its inhabitants and a belief that the earth will look after us if we are respectful towards the earth and all of its inhabitants. Humans are a part of a larger web of life, where everything is interconnected. When we harm the earth or other beings we harm ourselves. If we behave respectfully towards the elephants, they are expected to behave well in return. This way of looking at the world is key to everyone’s survival and successful coexistence between all living beings.

Kris Tompkins

“I’m very proud to be a Matriarch of The Great Elephant Migration. Audacious and exceptional voices who incite fierce protection of wildness not only around single species but for all life are lacking around the world. 

Every category we humans use to communicate with one another is essential and art and scale are both powerful and impossible to ignore. These giant, beautiful beings touring the world speak louder and more profoundly than any or

Freeing The Forests

Each elephant is made from Lantana camara, the second most widespread invasive species in the world. This fast growing, toxic shrub has taken over 40% of forests in India, obliterating native plants and diminishing food sources for animals, pushing them out of forests and into urban areas.  

The migration supports a large scale lantana removal project, converting it into biochar which improves soil fertility and water retention. Biochar is the only feasible direct capture solution for sequestering carbon into the ground to mitigate climate change – the biggest problem humanity faces today. The project will restore vast areas of forests over the next five years. By the close of 2025, this effort will have sequestered 2,625 tons of carbon.

Along 9th Avenue to the south of 15th Street and west on 14th Street and at Ganesvort Square the elephants are on display until October 20th.

From our perch at a outdoor dining spot, we were in the
audience for the great human migration.

CREDITS

UNTAPPED NEW YORK

THE GREAT ELEPHANT MIGRATION
JUDITH BERDY

PHOTO OF THE DAY

The store was founded in 1865 in Brooklyn, New York, as Wechsler & Abraham by Joseph Wechsler and Abraham Abraham. In 1893, the Straus family (including Isidor Straus and Nathan Straus), who acquired a general partnership with Macy’s department stores in 1888, bought out Joseph Wechsler’s interest in Wechsler & Abraham and changed the store’s name to Abraham & Straus. While Abraham & Straus did not at that time become a part of Macy’s, the two stores shared an overseas office and maintained close ties.
Ed Litcher and Arlene Bessenoff got it right.

PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE DAY

Dan Freedland and I love exploring neighborhoods of New York.. Look for his photos in an upcoming edition.

All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.

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