Reflection

Reflection

Oftentimes, people view extreme weather events as far away. Until they feel the effects of one personally, they can remain ignorant to the damage that climate change causes. It will not be long before every person is feeling the harsh realities of climate change. For me, I understood this when my community was devastated by Hurricane Michael, a category 5 hurricane that struck the Florida panhandle on October 10th, 2018. It was the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall in the contiguous United States in terms of pressure and fourth in terms of wind speed. Along with many others in my community, my home was destroyed in the storm. Hurricane Michael's storm surge and the tide submerged my town under 9–14 ft of water along the coast. My artwork is a gif, meaning that the sequence will repeat. If global warming is ignored, natural disasters will also repeat the destruction that Hurricane Michael caused my community. The frequency and intensity of these events will only increase if we do not do something to mitigate the effects of global warming now.