For Every Child a Tree
Artist
Eric Carle
United States, 1929 - 2021
Date1982
Dimensions27 1/2 x 20 1/4 in. (69.9 x 51.4 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.7684
DescriptionEric Carle was a celebrated children's book author and illustrator best known for The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This poster, featuring his trademark collage style, reflects his love of nature and his intuitive understanding of, and respect for, children and their futures. Founded in 1972 and based in Nairobi, Kenya, the United Nations Environment Programme was created to help the U.N. respond to global environmental issues. The 1982 conference resulted in the formation of the Nairobi Declaration that broadly aimed to structure environmental strategies and sustainable development. This poster was designed in honor of the Kenyan conference and features the Swahili word for “environment.” It announces a large-scale program in which every child is invited to plant a tree. In the 1980s, South American countries received funding from the World Bank to help develop highways and agricultural settlements for the beef industry, resulting in an average annual destruction of the rainforests equal to the size of New Jersey. Media outrage inspired numerous campaigns, like the one promoted in this poster, to encourage tree planting. While there are still robust tree-planting campaigns around the world, the average annual rainforest destruction in the Amazon is now equal to the size of four New Jerseys.On View
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