'Replanting and Resilience (Diptych)' from the Art x Climate Gallery

Released in 2023, the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) includes an Art × Climate gallery intended to engage the public with climate in a new way. The gallery features the work of 92 artists, selected from more than 800 submissions. This work may only be reproduced or re-used in connection with the Fifth National Climate Assessment. Any other use must be negotiated with the author.

Many climate-hazard mitigation measures in the United States have been taken in the Northeast. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the Rebuild by Design effort aimed to improve resilience to all hazards in the Northeast, where climate-related changes and extreme weather events are shaping mitigation and adaptation efforts, such as coastal wetland restoration and changes in fishing behavior. The NCA5’s Northeast chapter elaborates on both hazards and resilience efforts.

The artist Jillian Pelto made this image with watercolor and colored pencil. This is the artist's statement:

This work addresses the ways humans and natural habitats are responding to climate adversity in the Gulf of Maine. Three line graphs are incorporated into the painting. They depict, from bottom to top: historic sea level rise from 1950-2021 and projections for future rise to 2050; the increase in National Wildlife Refuge acreage in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire from 2001-2020; [and] the increase in the percentage of US adults who supported policies to protect the environment from 2008-2019. Together, these data show how public efforts are rising to meet the tide.