About

Remembrance Day for Lost Species, November 30th, is a chance each year to explore the stories of species, cultures, lifeways and habitats driven extinct by unjust power structures and exploitation, past and ongoing.

It emphasises that these losses are rooted in violent, racist and discriminatory economic and political practices. It provides an opportunity for people to renew commitments to all that remains, and supports the development of creative and practical tools of resistance.

Participate in Remembrance Day for Lost Species by holding – or joining – any kind of memorial to lost species or places. This could take the form of an art project, a procession, lighting a candle, planting a tree, or any kind of action you like.

The theme of Lost & Disappearing Pollinators is offered this year as inspiration. Read the 2017 call for artists and participants.

Martha’s Flock at the Life Cairn, Mount Caburn 2014. Photos: Robin Taylor

 In 2014, WWF-UK reported in its Living Planet report that Earth has lost half its wildlife in the last 40 years. However, worse is to come as climate change and habitat loss are leading us into the Sixth Mass Extinction. Now is the time to create new rituals for remembering and mourning  those we have lost, and for celebrating and making commitments to those remaining.

227331_10150181841331836_5909477_nPassenger Pigeon war memorial, Camilla Schofield, 2011. Photo: Rebecca Anson

 

thylacine-ghost-ii-destructionjpg Thylacine Ghost by Gabbee Stolp

Bombus franklini by Eti Meacock. Photo: Abi Horn

Some coalition members:

  • The Life Cairn, an international group that builds stone cairns as a focus for memorials to extinct species
  • Extinction Witness founder, US-based poet Megan Hollingsworth
  • Feral Theatre  – make performance that explores loss, death and memory
  • ONCA – UK art organisation that supports the wellbeing of people and places by increasing  engagement with environmental and social challenges
  • Bridget McKenzie founder of Everyday Ecocide
  • Dark Mountain
  • Joel Greenberg, author of A Feathered River Across the Sky and co-leader of Project Passenger Pigeon
  • MEMO Project, an iconic architectural project to build a permanent memorial to extinct species on the Isle of Portland
  • Sew the Seeds textile artist Sherrell Biggerstaff Cuneo
  • Brandon Ballengee, US-based artist/biologist
  • Zoomorphic magazine
  • Errol Fuller, painter and author of The Great Auk, Dodo, Extinct Birds and Lost Animals
  • Amphibian Foundation, a US-based non-profit organisation dedicated to addressing the global amphibian extinction crisis
  • Buglife – the only organisation in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates
  • Extinction Symbol – the circle signifies the planet, while the hourglass inside serves as a warning that time is rapidly running out for many species and cultures.