'Sunrise over Cholla' 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.

NCA5’s Southwest chapter examines multiple challenges the region faces as a result of changing climate, including impacts on water resources, rising challenges in growing food and fiber, and impacts on human health in the form of droughts, floods, and wildfires.

Diya P.’s photograph was selected as a youth entry (grade 9). This is the artist’s statement:

This photo was taken in Joshua Tree National Park on a road trip with family including all of my grandparents. I was inspired by the fleeting nature of time and the tenacity of mother nature as illustrated by the cholla cactus, which nourishes desert creatures in the harshest conditions. Watching the sun rise over the Pinto Basin and light the humble cholla cactus on fire, I remembered that as families pass on through the generations, nature is here to sustain us. We all have a duty to protect her.