Climate & Society Weekly Reflections
Taking advantage of my employee tuition benefits, I have been taking classes part-time in addition to my full-time job to complete the Master of Arts in Climate & Society program at The Climate School, Columbia University. This series is a weekly blog assignment for my Spring 2023 course, Applications in Climate & Society. The series captures my thoughts and reflections based on the provided prompts.
Week 6 - Feb 27
Prompt: How would you show someone a climate risk? Pick a climate risk and brainstorm how you would raise awareness about it.
Guest Speakers: Lize Mogel — Cartographer, Rebeka Ryvola — Illustrator, Alisa Petrosova — Screenwriter
Despite spending the majority of my time studying and working in the climate field, I often find myself gravitating towards visual art and design whenever possible. Observing people and places, finding the contours of light and shadow, drawing and painting, composing an image, finding meaning in the colors and movements of the world—they all come naturally and intuitively to me. Through abstract ideation and physical creation, I also find the space to reflect and process the issues and conundrums that I otherwise feel stuck on. This week’s blog prompt and magazine layout assignment are both related to communications of a climate issue, so I can describe my thinking and process here as I’m finalizing my magazine layout.
Sea level rise is typically one of the most well-known physical impacts of climate change that members of the public might list at the top of their mind. However, sea level rise may not be the most relatable and concrete impact for every person, especially those not currently living in vulnerable coastal areas and islands. And how much gradual sea level rise across the globe can we experience in our lifetime anyway? Would we not have adequate time to facilitate managed retreat and other adaptive measures to cope with such impact? As I’ve become more familiar with and well versed in the physical risks and impacts of climate change through professional work and academic studies, I typically try to identify these other impacts that the public may not be aware about: extreme temperatures, drought—both meteorological and agricultural, flooding, more frequent and more intense storm and hurricane events, etc.
There is a visual simulator of projected sea level rise created and published by the New York Times that has been stuck on my mind since the first time I came across it in 2019. Even before I began working specifically in the context of the Mekong Region, I was struck by the projection that most of the coastal areas and the Mekong Region of Vietnam would become submerged and uninhabitable at ~5m projected sea level rise under 2°C warming scenario. These physical—as well as cultural, emotional, and economic—losses are by all means tangible and devastating for these local communities and ecosystems. And considering that the window for a global commitment to a 1.5°C warming limit has already closed, we are already on track for a 2°C warming scenario (at minimum) by the year 2100. The Lower Mekong River and Delta have long been considered the fertile and productive “bread basket” for Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, despite facing an increasing number of water quality and quantity issues in recent decades. The survival of the Mekong’s natural ecosystems and riparian human populations are intricately tied, but this relationship also impacts the overall economic productivity and job/education/development opportunities for the rest of the region. Even a gradual rise of sea level would bring devastating impacts to many economies within the Mekong Region and beyond.
I envision a climate awareness project channeling people’s personal connections to a place and using a visual projected sea level rise simulator tool to show how that place would be impacted under current climate change scenarios. Participants will be invited to identify their personal connection to a place—whether it’s their hometown or where their parents were raised, their favorite city to visit, or if they enjoy a particular food or item produced in a particular region. Then participants will explore the visual simulator tool to examine how the place/region will be impacted with particular focus on projected sea level rise, and additional impacts and issues rising along with the water level. Participants will be invited to reflect on what will be lost: the physical communities where people live/work/study, the cultural heritage and historical landmarks, the indigenous wildlife species, the products grown/sourced/produced there, etc. Participants will also be provided with literature on the causes of climate change, local risks and impacts, mitigation and adaptation challenges, and some solutions or strategies that are underway. Participants will also be invited to share their vision and message of hope for the place/region, as well as pledge their personal responsibilities and actions to join in the local, regional, and global efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Image: EarthTime has published a series of visualizing tool that enables users to view a variety of map layers from their pre-loaded Data Library of different climate risks, as well as to create and share a collection of EarthTime stories with others. Here I have zoomed in on the map to show the Lower Mekong Delta region under a 2°C warming scenario.
For my magazine layout assignment, I will show images of the richness of the Mekong Delta region and what specific impacts the local communities are already experiences, as well as the risk and anticipation of future losses. I will also discuss the vision and message of hope through the education and empowerment of local youths to become the champions and leaders of climate and environmental actions in the Mekong Delta region. It would be nice to incorporate the stories of the inspiring young leaders I got to meet during my work trip to the region in November 2022.
