Ashley Steele

Ashley Steele

Hometown: Troy, Alabama

Earth’s Story in Pixels

Earth’s Story in Pixels is a brief overview of the story of our planet, told through pixel art reminiscent of the early video game and computer graphics. The project’s purpose is to promote education and concern over our current climate crisis by putting it in a new perspective. This is a problem that transcends all differences, with high potential to unify people in a way nothing else ever has. To care about the planet is to care for one another, both of which are essential to preserving our future on this planet.

The reason I chose to do this project is more personal than that, however. My mom’s house is in a rural area. It was surrounded by trees the ten years that I lived there. That place nurtured my love the natural world, and never failed to make me feel better during difficult times. It made me happy to think that no matter how my life changed, nature would continue. At the same time, I knew climate change existed, but I didn’t understand anything about it except that it was bad for the environment.

Not long after I moved out of my mom’s house, our new neighbors began to clear the land around it. The trees that I was looking at while thinking that nature would last longer than me are gone. One of the leading causes of climate change happened to my home before I understood its significance on the global scale.

What taught me about the severity of climate change wasn’t feeling that I needed to educate myself, but being educated while I was entertained. Because I loved nature, I began watching BBC and Netflix nature documentaries. My education began with entertainment. This inspired me to stylistically incorporate one of my favorite forms of entertainment, video games. Formatted like a story introducing a video game, I hope this helps grow awareness and concern primarily in people who lose sight of reality in their pursuit of fun.