[Pollinator] Pollinator Crop Art, Chip Taylor and NAPPC in the News

[Ladadams at aol.com]

A Growing Buzz for Pollinators in Peril: Crop Art, Stamp to Raise Awareness
 Libraries
Science News Keywords
POLLINATION BEES BUTTERFLIES STAMP CROP ART BATS KANSAS MONARCH

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only

DescriptionA noted butterfly researcher and a world-famous crop artist are 
behind a nationwide campaign to publicize the peril faced by species that 
transfer pollen between flowers -- vital for much of our food supply. Crop art and a 
postage stamp will help raise awareness of the damage pesticides and 
pollution are doing to habitats of pollinators like bees, butterflies and bats.






Newswise — Humans are reducing numbers of pollinators like bees and 
butterflies by destroying habitats, spraying pesticides and emitting pollution. Now, a 
University of Kansas researcher and a world-famous crop artist are behind a 
nationwide campaign to publicize the peril faced by species that transfer pollen 
between flowers.
 “This is serious,” said Orley “Chip” Taylor, professor of ecology and 
evolutionary biology at KU. “We’re losing six thousand acres of habitat a day to 
development, 365 days a year. One out of every three bites you eat is 
traceable to pollinators’ activity. But if you start losing pollinators, you start 
losing plants.”
Taylor works with the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC). 
That group has successfully worked with the United States Department of 
Agriculture and U.S. Senate to designate June 24 through June 30, 2007, as “National 
Pollinator Week.” The NAPPC also has convinced the United States Postal 
Service to issue a block of four “Pollination” stamps this summer depicting a 
Morrison’s bumble bee, a calliope hummingbird, a lesser long-nosed bat and a 
Southern dogface butterfly.
 To call more attention to pollinators at risk, Taylor has enlisted help from 
noted Kansas-based artist Stan Herd. Herd executes masterful large-scale 
earthworks around the world, including rock mosaics, natural-material sculptures 
and crop art.
 “I sent Stan Herd an e-mail and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a project here I’d 
like to have you think about’,” said Taylor. “Stan immediately said ‘yes.’ He’
s very much aware of ecological issues and he wants to become involved.”
Herd will take an image from one “Pollinator” stamp — the Southern dogface 
butterfly — and create a vast facsimile at Pendleton’s Country Market, a 
family farm between Kansas City and Lawrence. The image will be best viewed 
aerially from a nearby silo or an aircraft. Herd’s immense stamp reproduction is to 
incorporate plants that conservationists urge for use in backyard butterfly 
gardens.
“I wanted to add my artistic statement to the equation,” said Herd. “I’m a 
fan of the flora and fauna and know that with migratory critters like 
butterflies there are increasing problems because of loss of habitat. My work is about 
my ideals. It also catches young people’s attention and we’ll bring school 
kids out to get involved in this piece.”
Taylor and NAPPC are grateful for the awareness Herd’s work could bring to 
the drop in pollinator populations.
 “We can use this larger image to attract the attention of the public to this 
cause,” said Laurie Adams, who manages NAPPC. “Beautiful green lawns are 
wonderful but we need to do more with our cities, farms and the habitats that we 
control to provide for wildlife. Creating pollinator gardens or Monarch 
butterfly waystations through MonarchWatch are easy to do. And they are important.”
 Artist Herd plans to complete the pollinator stamp piece by National 
Pollinator Week. Those wishing to make a tax-deducatble donation to the crop art 
project can do so at the not-for-profit Coevolution Institute which coordinates 
NAPPC at http://www.pollinator.org (click “Crop Art Donations”) or by 
contacting Laurie Adams at (415) 362-1137 or LDA at coevolution.org.
 Web links:
http://www.pollinator.org
http://www.stanherdart.com
http://www.monarchwatch.org
http://www.pendletons.com
 


© 2007 Newswise.  All Rights Reserved.

  



**************************************
 See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20070406/cae474f0/attachment-0001.html