St. Edward’s University student and Austin EcoNetwork intern, Amanda Madrigal, has taken the overwhelming issue of climate change and expressed it in a beautiful way through a series of paintings titled “The Art of Action on Climate Change”. Check out the paintings below with a statement from the artist herself under each:
“Urgency”
The world is currently at a make-or-break moment when it comes to climate change. As President Obama says, it is not yet too late to make a change and to stave off some of the worst effects of climate change, but it’s getting close. As this picture illustrates, Texas in particular, has no time to waste. The recent report, “Risky Business: The Economic Risks of Climate Change in the United States,” predicts that Galveston could see up to a two foot rise in sea level and that Texas could see a $650-million-per-year increase in storm-related losses. The study also anticipates that the number of extremely hot days per year in Texas – with temperatures exceeding 95 degrees – could more than double, from an average of 35 to 108 by the end of the century. As the study point out, these kinds of severe consequences can only be avoided with immediate action.
“From Kyoto to Paris” 
The kind of action that is needed to stave off the worst effects of climate change is global. That’s why the international community has been meeting for years in an attempt to hash out a global deal on climate change. For years, this effort failed, until finally at the UN Climate Conference in Paris in 2015 things changed. For the first time, nearly all of the world’s countries pledged to reduce emissions and to join in on the global effort against climate change. It was an historic breakthrough and hopefully marks a turning point in worldwide climate change action.
This image pages homage to this historic moment by revealing all of the places where previous UN Climate Conferences failed, all leading to success in Paris.
“From Paris to Austin”
Now that a global deal has been reached, it is up to each individual country to carry through on its promise to reduce emissions. That’s where Austin comes in. As Mayor Steve Adler is always saying, “big cities do big things,” and it will be up to America’s cities to lead the way on climate action. Austin has already embraced this leadership role, enacting a Community Climate Plan and pledging to eliminate all of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest.
This image illustrates the importance of taking that global climate agreement and making it local. From Paris to Austin, it is now up to all of us to make sure that real change occurs.