Reflection

Growing up, I would frequently spend time with my family in the Xindian district of Taiwan. During one of my visits, I experienced a flood while on the way home from a trip with my grandparents to a local amusement park. While I was creating this piece, I recalled my emotions during the flood. I remembered feeling scared, hearing the sounds of people rushing to pick up their children from the rising water on the streets, and seeing the expressions of fear on my grandparents’ faces. Not long after the flood, my great-grand uncle's home was damaged by a typhoon. Due to climate change, natural disasters have become increasingly common in Taiwan, and these disasters cause severe damage to communities, taking lives, inflicting wounds, and destroying infrastructure. Without taking direct and immediate action to curb emissions and stop global warming, Taiwan (and the world at large) will only face more natural disasters. One thing I realized after working on this piece is how important it is to take opportunities to bring widespread awareness to climate change. If individuals believe that there is distance between themselves and the consequences of climate change, they can separate themselves from the issue. I want to bring awareness to how close climate change is to us, and how important it is to take effective action against warming so that we can prevent communities from suffering.