The Great Elephant Migration in Newport, RI

I have invited you to Newport, RI, and you have listened. Here’s another reason to come see me.

Chadd Scott of Forbes tells his readers that through September 2, 2024, The Great Elephant Migration can be seen along Newport’s famed Cliff Walk hugging the Atlantic Ocean with groups installed at Salve Regina University, The Breakers, the Rough Point mansion, and a lone “tusker” at the Great Friends Meeting House in town. He writes:

India has experienced a remarkable population explosion over the past 40 years. Several actually.

One is well known. India’s human population has more than doubled since 1980; it is now the most populous country in the world with over 1.4 billion residents. Lesser known, and even more extraordinary in light of the country’s surging human population, has been a doubling of its elephant population over that same period, from a bottom-out of around 15,000 individuals to nearly 30,000 today. Populations of Asiatic lions, tigers, and the greater one-horned rhinoceros are also increasing across the country.

India offers a remarkable example for how humans and wildlife, even the largest of wildlife, can coexist in an ever-developing world. Sharing that message with the world is the mission of The Great Elephant Migration which debuted 100 life-sized Asian elephants in Newport, RI on July 1.

The elephants–each based on a real, wild elephant from the Nilgiri Hills known by name and personality living alongside people in their coffee and tea plantations–were made by members of the Coexistence Collective, a group of 200 Indigenous artisans from the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The herd was produced from the Lantana camara, a toxic, invasive plant overtaking the Indian forest, pushing elephants and other wildlife out and into closer proximity to humans, with greater potential for conflict. […]

   

After arriving on the shores of America in Newport where the sun first rises over the country, The Great Elephant Migration heads to New York’s meatpacking district this fall, to Miami Beach for Art Week in early December, then on to the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, MT in 2025 where members of the Blackfeet nation are working to restore bison populations. The migration concludes next summer in Los Angeles.

Each of the elephant sculptures can be purchased, with prices ranging from $8,000 for a baby up to $22,000 for a tusker. Ganesh hopes to raise $10 million through their sale, with proceeds benefitting 22 different conservation partners around the world, many of them Indigenous run, many of them focusing on improving human-wildlife coexistence. In India, purchase supports the nation’s largest sustainable Indigenous enterprise along with large-scale lantana eradication. In Newport, money raised goes to Save the Bay.

“You see an elephant, you just smile,” Ganesh said.

Animals have a way of doing that when humans let them into their lives.

Read more here.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.

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