Communicating Climate Change Impacts through Crochet

Abstract

As climate change is causing an increase in natural hazard events across the United States, special attention must be paid to the impacts these events have on citizens, particularly those in marginalized or vulnerable communities. In New York, increases in extreme precipitation events in both winter and spring have the capacity to impact a wide range of citizens in different ways. I recognized the increasing frequency of these events through data review and comparison from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service. The aim of this project is to use crochet to understand and represent the difference in experience that different residents of New York face when dealing with natural hazards and disaster events related to climate change. In order to do this, I planned out an imperfectly mirrored scene of the aftermath of a disaster, while making sure to include many of the effects these precipitation events have on different socioeconomic communities. By using crochet to set the scene literally and figuratively, I can use my art to communicate the impacts of New York’s changing climate while also depicting environmental justice issues in a way that non-scientists can engage with and understand.