Environmental Graphiti
Environmental Graphiti® is a venture that uses art to dramatize the critical science of climate change in an effort to expand public awareness of this urgent issue.
ART makes the science more accessible. Science makes the art more meaningful. Together they tell the story of climate change in a unique and powerful way.
The art in this series is based on the compelling data that describes the various factors that have contributed to climate change over the last two hundred years. Click on image title to see graphic data source.
Gallery 1: Why Is Our Climate Changing?
Carbon Emissions 1958 - 2013
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| Although carbon dioxide (CO2) occurs naturally in our atmosphere, levels have increased dramatically over the last 50 years (from approximately 300 to 400 parts per million). LARGE IMAGE |
Buy Throw Away Buy
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| In Laudato Si, Pope Francis’s 2015 seminal encyclical on climate change, he laments consumerism (referring to it as “our throwaway culture”) and its destructive impact on the planet, global warming and climate change. “Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it.“ Over-consumption has a huge impact on greenhouse gas emissions. According to Diana Ivanova, one of the lead authors of a recent study published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology: “…(B) between 60-80 percent of the impacts on the planet come from household consumption. If we change our consumption habits, this would have a drastic effect on our environmental footprint as well.” LARGE IMAGE |
Radiative Forces From Greenhouse Gases |
| Significant increases in various heat-trapping greenhouse gases (such as CO2, methane, nitrous oxide and others) have contributed substantially to the warming of our atmosphere. LARGE IMAGE |
Deforestation
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| Greenhouse gases emitted when forests are cleared account for a fifth of global emissions from human activities. LARGE IMAGE |
Precipitation Vs Temperature
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| “It is virtually certain that, in the long term, global precipitation will increase with increased global mean surface temperature.” Rising temperatures caused by CO2 emissions increase water vapor and global precipitation. Most of the warmth generated by these emissions is absorbed by the oceans, which also has the effect of increasing evaporation and precipitation. LARGE IMAGE |
Trends In Global Methane Emissions
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| Methane (CH4) traps far more atmosopheric heat than carbon dioxide. Although methane’s global warming effects last only a few decades, (compared to CO2 which remains in the atmosphere for centuries), it can warm the planet 86 times as much as CO2 before it decays into CO2*. In recent years, global methane levels have been hitting new highs. Over 60 percent of global methane emissions come from human activities such as industry, agriculture, and waste management. LARGE IMAGE |
2 And 3.6 Degrees
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| Climate scientists have warned for some time: In order to avoid extremely serious climate change impacts, global temperature increases should be limited to no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels. At the recent COP21 Paris Conference (December 2015) 195 countries agreed to hold the increase to "...well below 2 degrees Celsius ... and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius ...". LARGE IMAGE |
Number Image - 400
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| The global concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in recorded history (from pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm). Current CO2 levels are more than 100 ppm higher than at any time in the last one million years, and may be higher than at any time in the last 25 million years. LARGE IMAGE |
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