SPLASH MOB LEAP FROG ON WALL STREET TOMORROW!!!

Come join our Wall St. Splash Mob Leap Frog this Friday April 16th and have fun while raising awareness about wetlands in NYC.

Place/Time:

Federal Hall National Memorial – the place where they first signed the Bill of Rights - around the statue of George Washington.
26 Wall St, New York, NY 10005
4:45pm, Friday April 16th.

Idea:

To advocate for our amphibian wetland neighbors by entreating the National Parks Service to pursue an “Amphibian Bill of Rights” by reclaiming habitat in Lower Manhattan, at least temporarily, through a “frog” inhabitation.


Tactics/methodology:

Dressed in business attire, at a signaled time (as designated by an assigned individual assuming the posture of a frog on the concrete pedestal in front of the statue) we will surround the giant green George Washington with many games of leap frog – please keep leap frog groups to 3 or 4 people so as to assure maximum hoppage. After 2 minutes of hopping around the statue and up and down the stairs of the Federal Hall, an assigned person will exclaim, “Please Mr. President” and all hoping will cease as we gather at the base of the statue. This person will continue, “Please Mr. President, support our ‘Amphibian Bill of Rights’. If you don’t”, this person will say, “we’ll all croak!” Upon these words, all leap froggers will die in a pile at the base of the statue. At this time, those so designated will pass out pamphlets on the social and ecological importance of wetlands and amphibians to the hopefully assembled crowd. Those in the pile will one by one, extricate themselv
es from the group and hop away, gradually regaining their human form.

Issue:

Four hundred years ago, much of Lower Manhattan was covered with wetlands. The site of the new World Trade Center tower and memorial, for instance, used to be a brackish coastal marsh. As the industrial revolution took hold, however, corporations and governments filled in many wetlands, expropriating them as bases from which to exploit workers and maximize profits. Today, wetlands such as the Arlington Marsh on Staten Island, and elsewhere in the United States, are increasingly under threat from real estate developers seeking to exploit every bit of seemingly available space in a crowded city. But wetlands perform an important role in the overall health of a bioregion’s social ecology and more must be down to protect them. Amphibians in particular need our help. Worldwide, the amphibian population has dropped by more than 40% in the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs! Our amphibian neighbors also play an important role in our social well-being. They help to
control insect populations that have the potential to harm agricultural crops as well as pass along deadly viruses such as West Nile.

Please come out and help gain attention for this important issue. If you have contacts in the media that might be interested in doing a story on Wetlands in NYC please let me know. Wetlands in and around New York City are endanger of being lost as we speak. Proposals to dredge and bury sensitive portions of Arlington Marsh on Staten Island are being sped through flimsy environmental review processes without due consideration from elected officials. We must show them that wetlands matter.

Thanks,

Aidan