The New Yorker Cover - Ocean Acidification
This project for the ILLU-503 Illustration Strategies class at SCAD aimed to explore conceptual illustration by creating a cover for The New Yorker that highlighted an environmental or social issue of our choice. Students were tasked with gathering research for the chosen cause for an illustration that strayed away from straightforward narrative illustration and instead used conceptual wit to make a thought-provoking and concise cover. For this project, I chose ocean acidification, which significantly affects our environment. Ultimately, I created an illustration of an underwater habitat that is "under construction," representing the harmful impacts with toxic colored paint, cones, and other construction items. Although our oceans haven't been entirely altered yet, we are certainly seeing the impacts acid rain and acidification are causing.
About Ocean Acidification:
Also called acid precipitation or deposition, acid rain is any precipitation with a pH of around 5.2 or below and is caused by the combustion of fossil fuels. Acid rain directly impacts environments and their natural resources, causing harm to the nutrients, biodiversity, environment, and other foundation aspects of the habitat. For bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, or oceans, acid precipitation changes the chemistry of the water, which ultimately harms marine organisms and environments. In addition, oceans also absorb "about 30% of carbon dioxide that is released into the Earth's atmosphere." Changes in these habitats have a ripple effect that only gets worse as it continues.