October 14, 2021

1: The University of Alabama Birmingham has created an art exhibit as a contribution to the Red Planet Planning Commission’s I_Butterfly project. Please read here: UAB NEWS THANK YOU to the UAB students from the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Art and Art History and the more than 90 art students from Hewitt-Trussville, Woodlawn and Mortimer Jordan high schools who participated!

May 14, 2021

1: The Red Planet Planning Commission is proud to be working with Destination Destiny and the Steelmantown Cemetery Company. We would like to thank Owner/Operator Ed Bixby for joining our efforts. They are now reintroducing native milkweed and native wildflowers to their properties to support monarch butterfly restoration.  Their properties include:

• Steelmantown Cemetery - Steelmantown, New Jersey

• Mo Vian High Acres - Canadensis, Pennsylvania

• Historic Columbian Cemetery - Portland, Oregon

• Purissima Cemetery - Half Moon Bay, California

• Westwood Hills Memorial Park - Placerville, California

• Whitewater Cemetery - Winona County Minnesota  

• Amery Prairie Cemetery - Polk County Wisconsin.

2: This August the RPPC will be launching I_Butterfly. I_Butterfly is a nationwide festival of independent self-guided bike tours that will follow the monarch butterfly paths during the summer/fall migration season. It is a location-free freeform festival created entirely by the efforts of each participant. For information please visit our I_Butterfly page.

October 23, 2020

1: Episodes #2 and #3 of Monkey the Chimp are now available for viewing at our website’s new GAMES page. This page will feature all Monkey the Chimp episodes. Please look under PAGES or see https://www.redplanetplanningcommission.com/games

These episodes are also posted on Youtube.

• Episode #2: https://youtu.be/3voEw5dpFvw

• Episode #3: https://youtu.be/jvDdW1QGaGE

2: We are honored to announce the participation of The University of Alabama at Birmingham!

• Our friend Bambi Ingram, the manager of the University’s Sustainability department, researched Green Burial options in the state of Alabama to find there were none. She then ordered milkweed plants and had the University registered as an official Monarch Waystation. 

• Also at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, art professor and co-director of Bloom Studios, Doug Baulos, has joined our team. Doug is proposing the Red Planet Planning Commission as next year’s Bloom Studio group project. They would adopt an aspect of our efforts and develop it with a new and broader perspective.

Please share these links and this information with anyone who you feel would be interested.

September 15, 2020

1: MONKEY THE CHIMP will be a video series created for The Red Planet Planning Commission. It will discretely share the RPPC's humanitarian and ecology based goals and themes. It is also meant to be entertaining, relevant, and a chance for an open collaboration. Episode #1 is now available for viewing.

• Youtube: https://youtu.be/8IyJJp718V8

• Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/456760600

2: Our friends at the Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery in Gainesville Florida have begun planting milkweed! There has also been some talk of offering the scattering of native milkweed seeds as part of a memorial ceremony. Prairie Creek is the first conservation cemetery that we have begun working with and it has been an absolute pleasure. 

3: Artist and co-founder of the Apohadion Theater in Portland Maine, Patrick Corrigan has been scouting out natural and conservation cemeteries throughout the state of Maine on behalf of the RPPC. We will be inviting the cemeteries that seem approachable and appropriate to join us in our monarch butterfly restoration efforts.

NOTE: If you are planning to plant milkweed please be sure that it is the correct milkweed species for your area. Planting non-native milkweed can be disruptive to the monarch butterfly migration pattern. Information can be found at https://shop.milkweedmarket.org. This group might also have the appropriate seeds available for your area.