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California Coastal Commission

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Monarchs hanging from a tree

Climate Storytelling Contest

2025 Photo Essay 1st Place Winner

"Hearts in the Grass"
By Jin Yang Li and Chi Wai Hui, Ukiah

Text: Hearts in the Grass, by Jin Yang Li, Chi Wai Hui

Text: Introduction. Climate change often feels like a distant problem too big to approach. But for us, it starts with a feeling: the warmth of the sun on our faces, the color of a blooming flower, the wisper of leaves outside a school window. These small beauties root us in the world, and they're the reason we care. This photo essay is a journey from appreciation to awareness to action. Through these images, we want to show that our love for nature can be the spark for change. What we hold dear is worth fighting for.

Photo from behind of a girl sitting in the grass under a tree, facing a building. Text: Stillness. The moment is peaceful, warm, and green. This is where connection begins; noticing, sitting still, and caring.

Photo of a red flower with background out of focus. Text: Bloom. Nature offers us moments of color and life that feel like small miracles. Climate change puts this delicate beauty at risk.

Photo of a bee on lavander flowers. Text: The Pollinator. A single bee at work reminds us of how much we depend on nature's tiny workers. As ecosystems warm and shift, even the smallest lives are disrupted.

Photo of the roof and top floor of a building, shaded by a tree. Text: Roots of Memory. The past and future meet here: trees that have stood for decades, buildings full of learning. What kind of world will the next students inherit?

Photo of a dried flower head. Text: Disrupted. Not all is green. The signs are already here - in heat, in drought. We can't ignore the damage any longer.

Photo of a piece of trash stuck in a tree. Text: Trace of Waste. A single bottle, a small rag, each is a mark we leave behind. The Earth remembers everything.

Photo of a person crouching to pick something up off of the ground. Photo shows the person from a distance, a small figure in a parking lot with trees and a building begind them, and a sky full of fluffy clouds. Text: Small Hands, Big Change. Caring becomes doing. these small actions aren't perfect, but they matter, they ripple outward.

Photo of hands making the shape of heart, with a flower-filled meadow in background. Text: Together. Love for the planet grows stronger when it's shared. We don't face this crisis alone, we act together.

Photo of a peaceful vista of tree covered hills and mountains in the distance, under a blue shy with wispy clouds. Text: A New Dawn. There's still hope on the horizon. If we act with heart and urgency, a better future is possible.