Reflection

The work for my submission piece was inspired by my bonding experiences of ski trips with my family. Skiing has become a special time where we connect after being separated most of the year due to work and school. I remember the excitement of being together and hitting the slopes almost every year—the anticipation of looking forward to the cool crisp air and racing my brother down a hill. But eventually, I started to notice ski hills closing early due to the lack of snow. Closings became the recurring theme every time we had a chance to go skiing. We still had our time together, but it was less dynamic and I missed the action in the snow as a family. The snow had become part of the togetherness of me and my family, and it was dwindling. I realized that these events will continue to happen with the onset of climate change and warming temperatures. I chose to express my feelings through art to use my expression of creativity to relate with others differently. While creating this painting, I felt frustrated that our generation has to experience something as terrifying as climate change. I also worried that it would affect every aspect of life, even something as innocent as recreational skiing. My painting portrays a skier skidding to a stop at the bottom of the now sandy hills, with all the snow melted and the ground being exposed. One thing I learned about climate change is that it can strongly affect weather conditions and natural disasters. Due to global warming and rising sea levels, climate change causes and encourages droughts, flooding, hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves, cold spikes, and more. The extreme weather we will all be facing will be much more dangerous than a closed ski hill. My message is: to be thankful and mindful now because climate change can soon greatly change future circumstances.