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Climate Change Around The World
My drawings are based on actual events occurring around the world. Below are some pictures of the tragic events caused by climate change. At the top of each text segment, in bold, is the title of the art piece that was inspired by the events.
Images and facts are from Al Gore's Climate Reality Project Presentation
Art Piece: "How Hot is Too Hot?"
Photo of people cooling off in a tube well in Quetta, Pakistan on June 2, 2017, as temperature reached 129.2 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Celsius) in nearby town of Turbat.
Kuwait City experienced temperatures up to 124 degrees Fahrenheit (51 degrees C) in July 2017. In August, birds in the city died and fell from the sky from heat exposure.
97% of Iran is experiencing prolonged drought.
Art Piece: "How Hot is Too Hot?"
Photo of a woman suffering from heatstroke being aided by family members in Karachi, Pakistan, June 23, 2015.
In 2015, in Pakistan over 1,200 people died in the Pakistan heat wave.
The number of extremely hot days and nights in the Middle East and North Africa has approximately doubled since the 1970s.
Art Piece: "How Dry is Too Dry?" & "Eye See Drought"
Photo of a woman fetching drinking water from a well on the dry Chemumvuri River near Gokwe, Zimbabwe,
May 20, 2015.
In many places in Africa, the endemic droughts are getting deeper and worse.
The risk of hydrological and agricultural drought increases as temperatures rise.[1*]
Theewaterskloof Reservoir Western Cape, South Africa – South Africa’s Western Cape province faced a severe drought in 2018.
In early 2018, Cape Town (South Africa) was at risk of running out of water.
Art Piece: "How Dry is Too Dry?" & "Eye See Drought"
Photo of a farmer standing outside his tent in Syria, October 2010.
Nearly 40 percent of the world – 1.3 billion people – relies on agriculture as its main source of income, so water shortages put the health and wellbeing not only of animals and crops at risk, but also of the farmers and communities that depend on them, too.[2*]
Short-term droughts (four-to-six-month duration) are expected to increase in frequency throughout the twenty-first century.[3*]
Projections show up to 3.2 billion people may be at risk of increasing water stress by 2080.[4*]
Art Piece: "Eye See Pollution"
Photo of bicyclists on a road obscured by air pollution in New Delhi, India, January 5, 2016.
India has the worst air pollution in the world.
Art Piece: "Eye See Pollution"
Photo of a smog-obscured Bangkok, Thailand on
January 30, 2019.
Worldwide air pollution kills 9 million people every year.
“Climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century.” – The 2018 Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change
Art Piece: "How High is Too High?"
Photo of a melting ice sheet in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland with text about Greenland’s melting ice.
With greenhouse gas emissions increasing and the planet warming, global mean sea-level rise is happening 25 percent faster than in the late twentieth century. [1*]
Sea-level rise is caused by melting glaciers and ice sheets, particularly on Greenland and Antarctica, as well as the thermal expansion of warmer ocean water.[4*]
Large land-based ice formations naturally retreat each summer, but unusually warm temperatures have led to greater-than-average melting.[4*]
In addition, winter seasons are becoming shorter, resulting in an imbalance that perpetuates ice melt and therefore increases sea level rise.[5*]
These factors have contributed to the highest annual average of global sea-level rise on record.[4*]
Art Piece: "How High is Too High?"
Small island states in the Pacific are responsible for only 0.03% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, and yet the millions of people who live here are experiencing some of the earliest and most severe consequences.
Some areas that once flooded only every 100 years or so – particularly on low-lying islands that are home to 65 million people – could face annual flooding by 2050, unless strong protective measures are put in place.
As early as 2030 many small islands could become uninhabitable, including Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Timor Leste and Tonga.
Many people will find themselves displaced and forced to relocate.
Nearly one-third of the world’s population, or 2.4 billion people, lives within 100 kilometers of a coastline, further emphasizing the vulnerabilities associated with increased sea level rise.[3*]
Art Piece: "How Sad is Too Sad?"
Photo slide of the Imja Glacier in Nepal on
November 22, 2018.
Water scarcity already effects more than 40% of the world’s population.
Declining snow and snowpack plays a role in shrinking water supplies.
The extent of spring snow cover has continued to decrease in the Northern Hemisphere.[3*]
In many regions, changing snowfall patterns and snowpack levels and melt time have altered the hydrological system, affecting water quantity and quality.[3*]
Art Piece: "How Sad is Too Sad?" & "Eye See Drought"
Photo of a boat stranded on a dry lakebed in the Cedro Reservoir, Ceara State, Brazil on February 8, 2017.
Water use is growing and straining resources.
Agriculture – primarily irrigation – accounts for 70 percent of global water withdrawals.[1*]
The remaining 30 percent comes from the industrial and energy sectors (20 percent) and domestic use (10 percent).[1*]
In the twentieth century, water consumption increased six-fold, largely due to agricultural use.[1*]
Experts project that two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed countries by 2025.[1*]
Art Piece: "Eye See Fire"
Aerial photograph of a palm oil plantation.
Palm Oil is an ingredient found in half of all super market products.
In some areas, like Southeast Asia, they're destroying peat forests to plant palm oil plantations.
Peat swamps are home to a significant amount of Sumatran Orangutans and are actually their preferred habitat.[1*] Also, lowland peat swamp forest contain high carbon density which means that they clean our air by sequestering Co2.[2*]
Art Piece: "How Ignorant is Too Ignorant?"
Photograph of a cattle farm in Amazonas State, Brazil.
The destruction of trees in the Amazon, Congo, and Indonesia, but particularly the Amazon, is accelerating.
A lot of it to make new pasture for cattle. The soils are poor, so they don't support grazing for many years.
While humans are the biggest driver of deforestation – most often from cutting down trees to increase grazing or allowing over-grazing by farm animals – climate change exacerbates this process.[4*]
Warming air temperatures and decreases in precipitation can cause longer, more intense droughts and prevent the growth of vegetation.[4*]
Art Piece: "How Little is Too Little?"
Photograph of a man cutting down a tree in the
Amazon rainforest.
The destruction of forests is happening now at the rate of one football field per second, and this actually reduces water supply, as well.
REFERENCES: ("How Dry is Too Dry?/ Eye See Dead Land")
[1*] Union of Concerned Scientists, “Causes of Drought: What’s the Climate Connection?” Accessed April, 2018. https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/impacts/causes-of-drought-climate-change-connection.html#.Wo7p-kyZOCQ
[2*] The Climate Reality Project, “The Facts About Climate Change and Drought” (June 2016). https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/facts-about-climate-change-and-drought
[3*] Justin Sheffield and Eric F. Wood, “Projected changes in drought occurrence under future global warming from multi-model, multi-scenario, IPCC AR4 simulations” (2008): 31-79.
[4*] M.L Parry et al., “Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part: How till climate change affect the balance of water demand and water availability” Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, (2007): https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch3s3-5-1.html
REFERENCES: ("How Sad Is Too Sad?")
[1*] United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, “Global Land Outlook” (2017). https://www.unccd.int/actions/global-land-outlook-glo
[3*] Rajendra K. Pachauri et al., “Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report,” Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Summary for Policymakers (November 2, 2014): Pages 4, 6. https://archive.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/AR5_SYR_FINAL_SPM.pdf
REFERENCES: ("How Ignorant Is Too Ignorant?"):
[4*] Tim Lane, “Desertification: land degradation under a changing climate,” Climatica, June 17, 2014. http://climatica.org.uk/desertification-land-degradation-changing-climate
REFERENCES: ("How High Is Too High?")
[1*] MAREX, “Sea Level Rising Faster This Century,” (April 2017).
https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/sea-level-rising-faster-this-century
[3*] National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), “Living Ocean.” Accessed April, 2018. https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/oceanography/living-ocean
[4*] National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, “Is sea level rising?” (November 2017). https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sealevel.html
[5*] European Geosciences Union, “Less snow and a shorter ski season in the Alps.” PHYS.ORG, February 12, 2017. https://phys.org/news/2017-02-shorter-season-alps.html
REFERENCES: ("Eye See Fire")
[1*] Wich, S. A., Singleton, I., Nowak, M. G., Atmoko, S. S. U., Nisam, G., Arif, S. M., … Kühl, H. S. (2016). Land-cover changes predict steep declines for the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii). Science Advances, 2(3).
[2*] Gaveau, D. L. A., Wich, S., Epting, J., Juhn, D., Kanninen, M., & Leader-Williams, N. (2009). The future of forests and orangutans (Pongo abelii) in Sumatra: predicting impacts of oil palm plantations, road construction, and mechanisms for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation. Environmental Research Letters, 4(3), 034013.