Reflection

In 2023, on June 7th, smoke from the Canadian wildfires filled New York City's skyline, reducing its air quality so much that students were dismissed early, and had virtual school the next day. I remembered looking out the window in the middle of English class and wondering whether there was an apocalypse because the scene looked like something straight out of a movie. 2023 was a historic year of wildfires for Canada, partly because its fire season lasted longer due to climate change, making fires burn bigger, more frequently, and more destructively. When I read this year's prompt, I immediately remembered this apocalypse day in New York. As someone living on the East Coast, I never thought I would feel the reverberating effects of a forest fire. However, that perception all changed on June 7, 2023, and I wanted to emphasize these far-reaching effects of climate change in my image, which depicts New York City in an apocalyptic state, completely consumed by smoke.