High-Level Project Summary
Our Earth is a very beautiful planet. As we know, it consists of land, air, water and life. On Earth's surface, water is important for all plants and animals to survive. Earth has this amazing ability to cleanse itself of waste which is called the 'water cycle'. So we represented this ability in a physical form and named her SHUI! Without a water cycle, natural water sources would be contaminated making it unsafe to use for all living beings. Apart from that, SHUI also has an ability to control weather. Since Earth's water cycle and weather conditions directly impact climate change, both of her abilities are used to combat the climate change issue we are facing today.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
INTRODUCING SHUI:
Climate change is a huge concern worldwide. Day by day, the Earth's climate worsened to a point where it affects mankind as well. Significant changes in temperature and weather patterns have been observed throughout the globe as a result of selfish human activities. This environmental issue needs to come to an end. One day, when the Earth's temperature peaks, the iceberg in the North pole melts and SHUI the being that controls the Earth's water cycle was unleashed! SHUI has lived in the iceberg for thousands of years, controlling the Earth's water cycle in peace. However, the change in the Earth's climate released her and she is destined to save the world with her newly acquired power which is weather control. Can she save the world alone?
We were amazed by the Earth's ability to cleanse itself of waste and the ability is called the 'Water Cycle'. Hence, we created SHUI based on the Earth's water cycle. As the water cycling in and out of the atmosphere affects the weather patterns on Earth which consequently affects Earth's climate thus, we choose weather control as SHUI's superpower.
We chose the name 'SHUI' as it is simple and short yet catchy. It carries the meaning water in Chinese which is related to our project as we chose to create SHUI based on the Earth's water cycle.
The phrase 'Kitaran Ai' in our project title which translates to water cycle in English comes from the language used by the Iban people or also known as Sea Dayak which is an indigenous race in Sarawak.
By creating SHUI, we are able to combat climate change and raise awareness at the same time.
DESIGN DESCRIPTION:
The image above was created by our team for this challenge.
The design of SHUI's costume is greatly influenced by the cultures of different races in Sarawak. We wanted to embed a little bit of the traditional cultures from our own homeland to give SHUI a unique and magnificent look. Besides that, we included a cloud-like figure which represents weather control, flowing water on her skirt as well as a fish scale pattern on the top of her skirt. These designs reflect SHUI's extraordinary power.
We are proud that we are able to show the uniqueness of our homeland in our project.
To better showcase our superhero, we used an online do-it-yourself animation video maker called Animaker. We explained about the climate change issue we are currently facing in the world right now and how SHUI is the one who is able to solve it. Other than that, we also used the website Pexels to obtain free stock photos and videos in order to help us deliver our message in our video.
Space Agency Data
Our team researched and used information from NASA's articles about climate change and global warming. We also used data from NASA to research the connection between Earth's water cycle, the different types of weather conditions and how it affects climate change.
From the Youtube video by NASA Goddard entitled NASA | Earth's Water Cycle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDkph9yQBs), we learnt that water cycle is not just merely the transition of water from one state to another but it also describes the continuous movement of water, on , above and below the surface of the Earth as well as the transportation of water throughout the globe. Besides that, it also shows us the connection between Earth's water cycle and weather patterns worldwide. This inspired us to choose weather control as SHUI's extra superpower.
From the NASA: Climate Change and Global Warming website (https://climate.nasa.gov/) we are able to view the current condition of the Earth as well as data from previous years. Through these data, it is obvious that there has been a gradual increase in global temperature, sea level, ocean heat content as well as the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through out these years. By observing these data, our team realized that climate change is a very serious problem that was caused by human and in return would cause an adverse effect to mankind.
After a long research, our team came to a conclusion that water is vital for the continuation of the human race on Earth.
Hackathon Journey
Our Space Apps experience, especially as first-timers, was eye-opening. We were exposed to so many different kinds of information that helped broaden our knowledge. We learned the beauty and importance of teamwork, especially now that we're all living in the midst of a pandemic, which means that we had to resort to virtual gathering most of the time to discuss about our challenge. We chose this challenge because it was youth-friendly as well as beginner-friendly that we feel would fit perfectly with us.
To develop this project, we first thought of what comes to mind when we think about Earth. Once we have our main ideas established, we started building elaborations from there and worked on how to connect our ideas together in order to present it in a fun and understandable way. When something or some data doesn't add up, we would make sure to reevaluate where we went wrong and try to come up with another solution at solving this challenge.
On that note, we would like to express our gratitude to NASA, Space Apps Sarawak as well as the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research Sarawak for providing us with this opportunity to participate in this hackathon. It is truly an experience we will never forget!
References
DATA & RESOURCES
- https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/
- https://climate.nasa.gov/
- https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/co2-temperature.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDkph9yQBs
- https://climatekids.nasa.gov/water-cycle/
- https://gpm.nasa.gov/education/water-cycle
- https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&cx=006512980533040368915:vxqxucmutji&q=https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiJipCEmKzzAhUd8HMBHTCmCCEQFnoECAEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw34Ko5hL8kPTdoUWCZK4APt
- https://climate.nasa.gov/news/937/
- https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/sea-level/
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50980386
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50341210
- https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/how-is-climate-change-impacting-the-water-cycle.html
- https://www.pri.org/stories/2021-09-06/climate-change-driving-extreme-weather-events-around-world-2021
TOOLS
- https://www.animaker.com/
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sketchbook/id883738213
- https://www.pexels.com/
- https://flipaclip.us/
- https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/3
Tags
#weathercontrol #water #watercycle #SHUI #climatechange
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.