Reflection

“One hundred and fifty years ago, the monster began, this country had become a place of industry. Factories grew on the landscape like weeds. Trees fell, fields were upended, rivers blackened. The sky choked on smoke and ash, and the people did, too, spending their days coughing and itching, their eyes turned forever toward the ground. Villages grew into town, towns into cities. And people began to live on the earth rather than within it. ” ― Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls

I wanted to show the connection between the health of the ocean and air in our cities. Trying not to create a sad story, I drew the ocean as something alive, using bright colors to represent a clean, healthy environment with many joyful animals. The leaves of the vines are a bright growing green. This is how things could be for the oceans but sadly it is not, polar bears are dying. As for the air, I have drawn it as I have seen it. There are polluting chemicals in the sky. Everything is brown and gray, ground dead, air polluted. “Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.” (Jacques Yves Cousteau).

As people, we all want an easier life, and the result of all the factories and cars is driving out other species who are also trying to adapt. The leaves turn brown and only one drop of clean water can survive in this dirty environment; therefore, I drew the ocean and air connected. If our air is not healthy then our oceans cannot survive either. This is how the Earth's ecosystem works. It is the natural cycle between air and water on which all life depends. I believe that we must take care of the air in our cities so that the oceans, no, not just oceans but everyone, can be healthy.