Recap of World Oceans Week 2020 Rising Waters Workshop

By Halle Berger

Recap of World Oceans Week 2020 Rising Waters Workshop Co-Hosted By Climate Creatives and Future Frogmen

In celebration of World Oceans Week 2020, Future Frogmen hosted two virtual workshops with Rising Waters. The first workshop featured a tutorial on how to use online data tools to find sea level rise predictions and create a digital installation at a particular location.

After attending the first workshop, I followed the instructions to create a digital installation for downtown Mystic, CT. I made the digital rendering using a picture I had taken of the whale statue outside of Bank Square Books. The picture was taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why the whale is wearing a face mask. Using the standing ashtray height as a reference point, I was able to measure and draw the sea level heights for 2030, 2050, 2070 in an imaging processing program called ImageJ. The predicted heights are 0’5” in 2030, 2’3” in 2050, and 4’10” in 2070.

At the second workshop, I was able to present my digital rendering and talk about the process. I shared how I found the instructions to be easy to follow, especially after watching the tutorial during the first workshop. While the process was creative and fun, I was shocked to see the predicted sea level rise within my lifetime at one of my favorite locations.

Combining art and science is a great way to inform people about the threats posed by climate change. I definitely encourage others to create their own digital installations. If you do, please share your images and stories here. You can also get involved by joining the #do1thing campaign on social media— use the hashtag to share one simple thing people can do to fight climate change, such as driving less or buying local.