Art for Climate Change: Illustrating Scary Climate Facts - Extreme Weather

The flood waters of Hurricane Harvey have not yet receded from Texas, and the storm is poised to make landfall again in Louisiana. Of course, this is normal behavior for a hurricane, but the damage it caused in Texas was far worse than anyone expected. I can't help but ask the obvious question - Why?

According to many sources, Harvey may not have been caused by #climatechange, but it was certainly fed by it. Higher sea levels due to melting arctic pack ice caused storm surges to swell far above normal, and higher than normal temperatures on land created the potential for higher humidity and extra rainfall. Those higher temperatures also had an effect on the Gulf of Mexico, where most hurricanes begin. A hurricane that forms over warmer water will be more intense than one that forms over colder water. Climbing temperatures also affect weather patterns, causing storm fronts to move much more slowly than normal. A stalled front and weaker jet stream meant that Hurricane Harvey lingered near Houston much longer, dropping more rain and doing more damage than was normal.

So what does this mean for weather in general? It doesn't take a genius to figure it out - higher temperatures can make bad storms worse, resulting in an increased number of "record" storms, "thousand year" droughts, and "500 year" floods - all of which have the potential to spell the end for us. This is really ironic, since we as a race are actually the root of the problem, but don't get me started about that.

Today's composition illustrates the long term effects of these superstorms. The landscape could be any Oklahoma or Nebraska town. Climate change has increased temperatures overall and shifting jet stream have created record tornadoes, leaving the area a wasteland of rubble unfit for human habitation. Nothing above ground is safe from the wrath of these storms that scour the landscape down to the dirt. Each one of these "super-tornadoes" is stronger than an F5 twister, leaving a trail of destruction resembling a nuclear blast site.

For anyone who says that the ill effects of climate change can't happen in their own back yard, I submit to you that it already is. Sea levels are rising, storms come harder and more frequently, droughts drain the land. These events are facts that will not go away, even when leaders deny that a problem exists. Only the human race can try to reverse the damage that we have caused. Stand up. Speak up. Do your part. It's time for us to stop waiting to be saved and save ourselves,

#4change #actonclimate #EarthToParis #climate
#photobash #mattepainting #photoshop