A graph showing the rise in global temperature or the increase
in ocean acidity is really just ink on paper. Emotionally, the
impact is minimal, unless a person truly understands the meaning
behind the lines and numbers shown on the chart.
That’s why I am thrilled and amused with the work of artist Jill
Pelto, who has uniquely bridged the gap between scientific charts
and living creatures. Jill has incorporated real climate data —
charts and graphs — into the backgrounds of her paintings, which
also tell compelling stories about the changing environment.
Take the water-color painting of clownfish (first on this page),
for example. The anemone in the background is outlined by pH data
from 1998 to 2012, as Jill explained to me in an email.
Ocean acidification results when atmospheric carbon dioxide
dissolves in the water to form carbonic acid. Higher-than-normal
levels of acidity can affect the brains of some fish, leading to
disorientation and a reduction in their ability to avoid
“The clownfish in my watercolor are grouped in confusion,
separated from the anemone in which they live,” Jill told me. “The
oceans may be vast, but if the pH drops globally, there is
literally nowhere marine life can go. They are confined to the
The decline in pH, along with a further explanation of ocean
acidification, can be found on Climate Central’s website
WXshift (pronounced “weather shift”).
The greatest effects of climate change are being experienced in
the polar regions. Data describing the melting of Arctic sea ice
from 1980 to the present are expressed in Jill’s painting of the
“Rapid warming in the Arctic has caused the sea ice area to
decline so quickly that species cannot adjust,” Jill wrote. “The
Arctic fox is small and extraordinarily resilient to the most
severe cold. They can withstand the frigid north and thus have this
corner of the world in which to hunt. But when the temperatures
mellow, competition from larger species could overcome them, as
other species move farther north to escape their own warming
“I painted the Arctic foxes to look cornered and skittish. One
is hunched and defensive; the other is yowling in panic. The sea
ice, from which they are separated, is spaced out by large expanses
of dark blue water absorbing the sun’s heat.”
Changes in sea ice are described in Climate Central’s website
Jill has studied both art and science, graduating in December
from the University of Maine with a double major in studio art and
“I have always loved the outdoors and want to use my creative
skills to communicate information about extreme environmental
issues with a broad audience,” she says on her website, Glaciogenic Art. “I see
nature as a work of art and the origin of my observational skills.
I enjoy cross-country and downhill skiing, reading, running,
camping and spending time with my friends and family. I make art
inspired by all of these experiences.”
Jill’s father, Mauri Pelto, a professor in environmental science
at Nichols College in Dudley, Mass., has studied glacier recession
in Washington’s Cascade Mountains for decades. He founded the
Cascades Glacier Climate Project in 1983. Jill has assisted
with research on that and other projects around the country since
research paper on the North Cascade glaciers (PDF 1.6 mb)
contains these unsettling observations: “All 47 monitored glaciers
are currently undergoing a significant retreat, and four of them
have disappeared.” He goes on to add that this glacial retreat is
“ubiquitous, rapid and increasing.”
Experiencing such environmental changes first-hand has helped
shape Jill’s future.
“To me, it’s really dramatic and it means a lot because it’s
something I personally experienced,” she told Brian Kahn of
Climate Central. “Seeing signs of climate change that were more
evident inspired me to pursue science at the same time as art.”
The decline in salmon inspired Jill to incorporate a graph of
coho population data into one painting. Receding glaciers, last
year’s lack of snowpack and a shortage of rainfall contributed to
real problems for salmon. Streams were too low and too warm,
reducing the amount of spawning.
“Seeing the rivers and reservoirs looking so barren was
frightening,” Jill said. “The salmon are depicted swimming along
the length of the graph, following its current. While salmon can
swim upstream, it is becoming more of an uphill battle with lower
streamflow and higher temperatures. This image depicts the struggle
their population is facing as their spawning habitat declines.”
Read more about the decline of salmon in Mauri Pelto’s blog on
American Geophysical Union Blogosphere.
The final example on this page captures multiple measures of
climate change occurring across the globe, such as glacier mass
balance, sea level rise and temperature increase.
“I wanted to convey in an image how all of this data must be
compared and linked together to figure out the fluctuations in
Earth’s natural history,” Jill said. “One of the reasons scientists
study what happened in the past is to understand what may happen
now as a result of human-induced climate change.
“I represented this by illustrating that glaciers are melting
and calving, sea levels are rising and temperatures are increasing.
The numbers on the left y-axis depict quantities of glacial melt
and sea level rise, and the suns across the horizon contain numbers
that represent the global increase in temperature, coinciding with
the timeline on the lower x-axis.”
Jill offers these references on
sea level rise, the
“disastrous year” of 2015, and the
annual climate report by NOAA and NASA.
I am really looking forward to seeing more of Jill’s work in the
future, as she continues her academic pursuits at the University of
Maine. Prints of her paintings are available for sale, and Jill can
be contacted through her website.
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