Marcellus Hall Global Warming Essay

Global Warming: A Burning Issue Put On Ice

The scene that the image plays out is not all that strange. The January 16th, 2016 cover of The New Yorker, done by artist Marcellus Hall, depicts many citizens of New York City enjoying time in the local pool. Women in one piece swimsuits and bikinis alongside men in swim trunks are all swimming, lounging, or dipping their feet into the cooling pool water. However, despite how typical the scene should be, it does seem a bit odd. In the background of the image, just past the wall surrounding Rockefeller Center, is a large, fully decorated Christmas tree. The presence of the Christmas tree is the artist way of showing the audience what time of year it really is: winter, a time of year during which the

With its effects on the world becoming more and more obvious, many people have begun to sway more to the side of believing in the phenomenon. With severe weather happening across the country, especially California with its droughts and water shortage and even in Louisiana with winters seeming to get shorter and hotter, many are considering global warming to be a serious issue that needs to be revisited. When asked about the influence behind his artwork used for the cover, Marcellus Hall responds, “I first submitted this idea eight years ago,” showing just how long this issue has been going on. He goes on to explain, “Global warming was still a topic of discussion then, and I was thinking of a twist on the usual winter theme in New York.”(Kaneko) The Christmas ice rink of Rockefeller Center with the beautiful Christmas tree behind is very iconic, having been used in movies and television shows for years to depict a romantic-type of winter scene, so to have it turned into a swimming pool still alongside the beloved Christmas tree could be seen as quite jarring, but a kind of comedic and interesting take on the topic of global warming itself. In a survey done by the National Survey on Energy and Environment, it was found that 70% percent of Americans have begun to believe in global warming and see it as a real problem as opposed to the 50 to 60 % that was found back in 2008, over eight years ago. Dr. Nancy Selover, one of Arizona’s state climatologist, stated to the Time Colonist out of Victoria, British Columbia, “We have cycles of drought that come and go. In the 20th century, we had a 37-year wet period that was followed by an extremely short dry 10 years…and now we’re in a 21-year dry