Celebrating International Biodiversity Day with Alphabeast

Yesterday marked the 25^th annual International Biodiversity Day, a United Nations-proclaimed day to build awareness of the innumerable threats to our world’s biodiversity.

This International Biodiversity Day, Defenders of Wildlife is proud to celebrate with Type Hike – a nonprofit collaborative design project that honors and supports the outdoors through typography. Type Hike’s current project, Alphabeast, explores the intersection of art and conservation to raise awareness of endangered species in the U.S. The Alphabeast collection includes 26 original works of art depicting an endangered species for each letter of the alphabet.

Statements:

David Rygiol, co-founder of Type Hike: “With the sixth mass extinction event rapidly underway, we wanted to partner with Defenders of Wildlife to use design to spotlight a fraction of the thousands of species at risk. Like International Biodiversity Day, Alphabeast raises awareness of the diverse range of species we need to protect, so that our children and grandchildren may experience the incredible wildlife and wild places that our ancestors and we had the privilege to enjoy.”

Jared Saylor, vice president of Communications at Defenders of Wildlife: “While many of us will celebrate 25 years of action for biodiversity, Congress and the Trump administration are focusing on dismantling the Endangered Species Act (ESA) – our nation’s most effective law for protecting wildlife in danger of extinction. Ninety-nine percent of species listed under the Act have survived, and many are on the path to recovery. It is critical we recognize the need to protect our rich variety of species, on International Biodiversity Day and every day. Projects like Type Hike’s Alphabeast are a creative way to do just that.”