Eco-Art Competition 2022

“The Ice Caps Are Melting!” a headline reads. “The Polar Bear Population Plunges Dangerously Low!” another announces. People around the world are enraged and appalled. Then, there is silence. Here lies the root of the problem: people are so desensitized to the increasingly worsening climate crisis that these important headlines are quickly forgotten. People going about their daily lives lack a full understanding of the gravity of our environmental problems. However, images can make a lasting impact. In my painting “The Ice Caps Are Melting,” I hold up to the viewer a realistic portrait in oil of the ravaging physical evidence of climate change. As stated by the World Wildlife Fund, polar bears hunt ringed and bearded seals on the Arctic Sea ice. However, because of climate change, sea ice is melting earlier and forming later each year, leaving polar bears with less time to hunt. As their ice habitat shrinks, the starving, emaciated polar bears face a grave challenge to their survival. Polar bears are just one of the millions of species around the world impacted by climate change. Imagine a time when the human race faces the same fight for survival. By presenting an emaciated polar bear, my artwork plants the seed in the viewer’s heart and mind to take action: use public transportation more often, eat less meat, limit the use of plastics, and/or contribute to the World Wildlife Fund for polar bears. Climate change can be alleviated if everyone does their part, no matter how small.