Rising Tides

by Sophy Tuttle

Boston, USA – December 2020

Artist

Finding This Mural

This mural is located under the Sumner Street Bridge underpass along the Mary Ellen Welch Greenway.

East Boston Greenway, Boston, MA, USA

Google Map

Story Behind This Mural

Artist Statement

“One of the main problems climate scientists face is getting the public to understand the weight of their research and the potentially dire consequences of climate change. My mural is a form of data visualization that creates an embodied experience from abstract climate numbers. Each horizontal line represents where the sea level will rise to at this spot along the Greenway with a 0.5°C rise in global temperature (according to data from climatecentral.org). ⁠ ⁠

The Saltmarsh sparrow nests in the Belle Isle Marsh, not far from the location of my mural. This year, all seven nests counted by scientists failed due to an unusually high tide in July. As the climate gets more erratic and super tides become more common, the carefully timed nesting pattern of this bird, which once helped to protect it from predation, will become a liability it won't be able to overcome. The Saltmarsh Sparrow is expected to go extinct in the next 50 years.” - Sophy Tuttle.

Focus

Sea Level Rise and the Salt Marsh Sparrow

Take Action

Reduce your environmental impact by:
• Bring your own! Say no to single-use plastics. • Eat as local as possible. • Reduce your carbon footprint and energy consumption. • Make sustainable seafood choices. Vote for the environment and call your representatives. • Educate yourself about what’s happening to our oceans.