Activists of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF of Russia) and the Team of Taibola Art Team have created a mural depicting a deer on the wall of a five-story building in Arkhangelsk. That is how they want to draw attention to the problem of climate change and its possible consequences for nature and humanity. There will also be similar drawings in Severodvinsk, Murmansk and Naryan-Mar in the next month. WWF Russia reports that.
"Warming in Russia occurs 2.5 times, and in the Arctic - 4 times faster than on the globe as a whole. We can already note an increase in the number of dangerous weather events – hurricanes, floods, heat and cold waves, and so on," Andrei Kopytov, a project coordinator of WWF Russia’s representative office in Arkhangelsk Oblast, explained the campaign's meaning. "Climate change also threatens many northern animal species. The number of wild reindeer, polar bears, walruses is steadily declining due to human impact on the climate, so we decided to depict those species that may disappear in the wild in the coming decades, if we do not take measures to preserve them, on the murals. People need to know more about climate change in order to understand how to deal with the issue, how to adjust to the changes taking place and avoid negative consequences."
As WWF Russia explained, work on the first thematic drawing has already been completed. A graffito depicting a critically endangered wild reindeer appeared on the sidewall of a five-story house on the Northern Dvina’s embankment in Arkhangelsk.
The sketch was developed and drawn by Russian street artist Georgy Kurinov (gooze_art). As planned by the author, the metaphorical picture shows a reindeer half submerged in melted ice, as well as a man in a boat, who, in comparison with the main character of the picture – the reindeer, – looks very small. This is an allegory of man's respect for the power of nature. The color scheme from blue to orange and yellow tones is designed to create a feeling of heat and boiling water.
In addition to Arkhangelsk, similar graffiti will be created in Murmansk, Naryan-Mar, and Severodvinsk, for which, according to the organizers of the action, bright and original environmentalistic sketches have already been developed. The drawings are created as part of WWF Russia’s project on raising awareness of the northern regions’ population about the climate change issue.
Each drawing will be supplemented with a link to a thematic website, developed by WWF Russia in cooperation with leading climate scientists. The site thoroughly describes climate trends and forecasts for Russia as a whole, as well as for Arkhangelsk, Murmansk Oblasts and the NAO in particular. The site also has up-to-date scientific data on climate change in the formats of an interactive lesson for schoolchildren and an online course of lectures for students and everyone.
