The 1 Minute Before 12 Memorial
is a commemorative project complex dealing with the ecology on Earth, the natural living habitat of the human species, animals, plants and other life forms.
The Rainforest Memorial – launched by Agricola de Cologne 2003 – makes it evident, that it was at that time already 5 minutes before 12, but the chances on Earth were missed to follow action after the scientists had warned people on Earth since long, and especially those who have political power to stop pollution, reduce emissions, reforest, etc, but despite all and the perceivable effects on the global and local climate, the human cilvilization is meanwhile seriously threatened by its own ability to change, that it’s meanwhile 1 minute before 12. It is probably not yet too late, but probably it is already too late, and the evolutionary developments of the global cimate are irreversible.
Rainforests
are forests characterized by high rainfall, with annual rainfall in the case of tropical rainforests between 250 and 450 centimetres (98 and 177 in), and definitions varying by region for temperate rainforests. The monsoon trough, alternatively known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating the climatic conditions necessary for the Earth’s tropical rainforests.Around 40% to 75% of all biotic species are indigenous to the rainforests. There may be many millions of species of plants, insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests have been called the “jewels of the Earth” and the “world’s largest pharmacy”, because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there. Rainforests are also responsible for 28% of the world’s oxygen turnover, sometimes misnamed oxygen production, processing it through photosynthesis from carbon dioxide and consuming it through respiration.
The undergrowth in some areas of a rainforest can be restricted by poor penetration of sunlight to ground level. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense, tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees, called a jungle. The term jungle is also sometimes applied to tropical rainforests generally.
Rainforests as well as endemic rainforest species are rapidly disappearing due to deforestation, the resulting habitat loss and pollution of the atmosphere.
Deforestation
in Southeast Asia, Deforestation in Madagascar, and Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest.Tropical and temperate rainforests have been subjected to heavy legal and illegal logging for their valuable hardwoods and agricultural clearance (slash-and-burn, clearcutting) throughout the 20th century and the area covered by rainforests around the world is shrinking. Biologists have estimated that large numbers of species are being driven to extinction (possibly more than 50,000 a year; at that rate, says E. O. Wilson of Harvard University, a quarter or more of all species on Earth could be exterminated within 50 years)[34] due to the removal of habitat with destruction of the rainforests.
Another factor causing the loss of rainforest is expanding urban areas. Littoral rainforest growing along coastal areas of eastern Australia is now rare due to ribbon development to accommodate the demand for seachange lifestyles.
Forests are being destroyed at a rapid pace. Almost 90% of West Africa’s rainforest has been destroyed. Since the arrival of humans, Madagascar has lost two thirds of its original rainforest. At present rates, tropical rainforests in Indonesia would be logged out in 10 years and Papua New Guinea in 13 to 16 years. According to Rainforest Rescue, an important reason for the increasing deforestation rate, especially in Indonesia, is the expansion of oil palm plantations to meet growing demand for cheap vegetable fats and biofuels. In Indonesia, palm oil is already cultivated on nine million hectares and, together with Malaysia, the island nation produces about 85 percent of the world’s palm oil.[42][unreliable source?]
Several countries, notably Brazil, have declared their deforestation a national emergency. Amazon deforestation jumped by 69% in 2008 compared to 2007’s twelve months, according to official government data.
However, a January 30, 2009 New York Times article stated, “By one estimate, for every acre of rain forest cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing in the tropics…” The new forest includes secondary forest on former farmland and so-called degraded forest.
Wake Up! – Climate Change!
will be latest commemorative level in the framework of The 7 Memorials for Humanity
Climate change
occurs when changes in Earth’s climate system result in new weather patterns that last for at least a few decades, and maybe for millions of years. The climate system comprises five interacting parts, the atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water), cryosphere (ice and permafrost), biosphere (living things), and lithosphere (earth’s crust and upper mantle). The climate system receives nearly all of its energy from the sun, with a relatively tiny amount from earth’s interior. The climate system also gives off energy to outer space. The balance of incoming and outgoing energy, and the passage of the energy through the climate system, determines Earth’s energy budget. When the incoming energy is greater than the outgoing energy, earth’s energy budget is positive and the climate system is warming. If more energy goes out, the energy budget is negative and earth experiences cooling.As this energy moves through Earth’s climate system, it creates Earth’s weather and long-term averages of weather are called “climate”. Changes in the long term average are called “climate change”. Such changes can be the result of “internal variability”, when natural processes inherent to the various parts of the climate system alter Earth’s energy budget. Examples include cyclical ocean patterns such as the well-known El Niño–Southern Oscillation and less familiar Pacific decadal oscillation and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. Climate change can also result from “external forcing”, when events outside of the climate system’s five parts nonetheless produce changes within the system. Examples include changes in solar output and volcanism.
Human activities can also change earth’s climate, and are presently driving climate change through global warming.[1] There is no general agreement in scientific, media or policy documents as to the precise term to be used to refer to anthropogenic forced change; either “global warming” or “climate change” may be used.[2] The first describes the average effect on a global scale, whilst the second describes how different geographical regions are affected differently.
The 1 Minute Before 12 Memorial
will be launched on 25 December 2019, on occasion of the start of New MediaFest 2020 – the retrospective 2000-2020 – http://2020.newmediafest.org
The Rainforest Memorial 2003
includes works by following artists
Babel, Fred Adam, Andy Deck, Veronica Perales, Ricardo Miranda Zuniga, Christiane BLANC, Paola Michaels, nick barker, Susan Kruss, Jayne Fenton Keane, Meryl Brown Tobin, Yannig Guillevic, Anahi Caceres, NEVENA LJUBISIC, Marco Regalia, Ilse Hilpert , Ruth Wallen, MATT HETHERINGTON, BOZ, Henk Badenhorst, ISABEL ARANDA *YTO*, Clemente Padin, Mona Vatamanu, Florin Tudor, Akinori Oishi
Contaminated Progress (2019)
artvideoKOELN ECO Collection
Robert Dohrmann (USA), Marcantonio Lunardi (Italy), Anna Garner (USA), Brit Bunkley (New Zealand), Paul Turano (USA), Ben Fox (UK), Manuel Ferrer and Alena Mesarosova (Spain/Slovakia)
Diego de Los Campos (Uruguay) , Luis Patino (Spain) , Francois Knoetze (South Africa) , Kristina Frank (Sweden) , Javier Velasquez Cabrero (Spain), Cinzia Sarto (Italy) , Claudia Borgna (Italy)
Carolin Koss (Finland) , Francois Knoetze (South Africa) , Liu Wei (China)
Wake Up! – Climate Change!
audio-visual collections
Tova Beck-Friedman (USA), Wilfried Agricola de Cologne (Germany) , Alina Vasilchenko (Russia), Yarik Z (Russia), Fran Orallo (Spain) , Kate Walker (USA), Julio César Guzmán Villarpando (Bolivia), Johannes Gerard (NL), Uri Kloss (Israel), Dmitry Kmelnitsky (USA), Maureen Bachaus (NL), Isabel Perez del Pulgar (Spain), Caryn Kline (USA), My Name is Scot (Canada), Savio Leite (Brazil), Carolin Koss (Finland), Xia Han (China), Alan Sondhein (USA), Ausin Sainz (Spain), Andrea Torrice (USA), Kristina Frank /Mervi Kekarainen (Sweden), Moshe Vollach (Israel), Irena Paskali (Macedonia), Susanne Wiegner (Germany), Adrien Gaumé (France), Oleg Kharch (Ukraine), Studio Third World Collective (India), Gabrielle Lenhard (USA), Marie-Paule Bilger and Jean-Baptiste Friquet (France), Lino Strangis (Italy), Gabriele Stellbaum (Germany), Ana Isabel Martén (Costa Rica), Arie Sigal & Ben-David Sigal (Israel), Kim Maree (New Zealand), Oliver Ressler (Austria), Laura & Sira Cabrera (Spain), Brit Bunkley (New Zealand) , Adrian Regnier (Mexico), Karin Till (Australia), Lisi Prada (Spain), Honey & Bunny (Austria), Renata Padovan (Brazil), Dee Hood (USA), Stephen Nachtigall (USA), Marcha Schagen (NL), Vardit Goldner (Israel), Hind Saâd (Morocco), Boris Marinin (Israel), Maria Korporal (Netherlands), Zlatko Cosic (Bosnia), James Murphy (Ireland), Stine Gonsholt (Norway), Lana Z. Caplan (USA), Michael Carmody & Elissa Goodrich (Australia), Mikey Petersen (USA), Krzysztof Rynkiewicz (Poland), Ronnie Sluik (NL)