Reflection

When thinking of climate change, people usually think of big things like ocean warming or glaciers melting. But they never think of how climate change affects small creatures that live in the ocean. In this case, sea butterflies are a part of smaller, less known living creatures that are impacted by ocean acidification and climate change. Through my research, I learned that ocean acidification occurs when carbon dioxide gas is absorbed by the ocean and reacts with sea water to produce acid. This acid dissolves the creatures’ shells, which they are then unable to remake. Without their shells, they cannot survive. A study showed that since the pre-industrial era, the percent of sea butterflies with dissolving shells has doubled. That’s expected to triple by 2050. In my art work, I painted three sea butterflies to represent the three main results of climate change: temperatures rising, ocean acidification, and glacier melting.