The Effects of Pollution - Parallax Scrolling Website
For my parallax scrolling website I have chosen the theme - Effects of Pollution. I have chosen this as my topic as I feel its is being continually discussed, in the media and is something that is effecting the lives of people today. The topic is focused on the environment and how things effect it.
Initial Research:
Pollution occurs when pollutants contaminate the natural surroundings; which brings about negative changes in the environment and can have an effect on natural resources, habitats and on humans.
Pollution occurs in different ways:
1. Air
2. Water
3. Soil
4. Radioactive
5. Noise
6. Light
7. Thermal
For my research and project I decided to focus on air, water and soil pollution. Here is some of the information I found out while researching.
Air Pollution:
Air Pollution: is the most prominent and dangerous form of pollution. It occurs due to many reasons for example excessive burning of fossil fuels and industrial activities, releases a huge amount of chemical substances in the air.
Smoke from chimneys, factories, vehicles or burning of wood basically occurs due to coal burning; releases sulphur dioxide into the air making it toxic.
The release of sulphur dioxide and hazardous gases into the air causes global warming and acid rain, which in turn has increased temperatures, caused erratic rains and droughts worldwide. We breathe in every polluted particle from the air this results in an increase in asthma and cancer in the lungs particularly in areas high in air pollutions.
Ref: Ref: http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/PollutionTypes.php
Water Pollution :
Almost 60% of the species live in water bodies. Water pollution happens when chemicals or dangerous foreign substances are introduced to water, including chemicals, sewage, pesticides and fertilizers from agricultural runoff, or metals like lead or mercury. More than 500 million people drink water that could be harmful to their health, worldwide.
Water pollution can also affect marine life: oil and chemical pollutants can harm anything living in water.
Sewage causes pathogens to grow, while organic and inorganic compounds in water can change the composition of the precious resource.
Thermal pollution happens when a factory or power plant that is using water to cool its operations ends up discharging hot water. This makes the water hold less oxygen, which can kill fish and wildlife.
Ref: http://www.livescience.com/22728-pollution-facts.html
Soil Pollution:
Soil pollution occurs due to incorporation of unwanted chemicals in the soil due to human activities. Use of insecticides and pesticides absorbs the nitrogen compounds from the soil making it unfit for plants to derive nutrition from. Release of industrial waste, mining and deforestation also exploits the soil. The use of insecticides and pesticides cause the soil to become infertile. Since plants can’t grow properly, they can’t hold the soil and this leads to soil erosion.
Ref: http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/PollutionTypes.php
Deforestation:
Deforestation is the clearing of trees and forests for resources of fuel such as wood, providing more space and increases industrial activities but this has its effects on the environment. A dramatic impact of deforestation is the loss of habitat for millions of species. 70% of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes.
Deforestation also drives climate change. Forest soils are moist, but without protection from sun-blocking tree cover they quickly dry out. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapour back into the atmosphere. Without trees to fill these roles, many former forest lands can quickly become barren deserts.
Removing trees deprives the forest of portions of its canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day and holds in heat at night. This disruption leads to more extreme temperatures swings that can be harmful to plants and animals.
Trees also play a critical role in absorbing the greenhouse gases that fuel global warming. Fewer forests means larger amounts of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere—and increased speed and severity of global warming.
Ref: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview/
Moodboard:
Colour Palettes:
Here are a few sample colour palettes. I wanted to focus on the getting a colour palette that shows the rich natural colours of the environment, this will later change to another colour palette that contains darker dirtier colours that will show the effects that pollution is having on the environment. These colour palettes are only samples thats I haven't fully decided whether to use these colours or to rethink them.
These colour palettes are the ones representing the unspoilted nature and surroundings. My favourite is Web Dev Palette 1 as I feel it showcases the more natural tones of green.
Here are the different colour palettes that I believe create a dark, gloomy, spoilted kind of feeling, I think these colours could help get across the point of how different aspects of the environment will change in their and their presentation.
Sketch:
10 Foreground/Background Elements:
1. Stars
2. Planets
3.Clouds
4. Airplane
5. Smoke
6. Cars
7. Trucks
8. Birds
9. Green House Gases move in
10. Movement of water down stream
Effects I'm thinking of incorporating:
1. Movements of stars and planets
2. Chaging of opcaity to reveal infographic facts
3. Movement of clouds
4. Highlighting the taget area that infographic message is referring to
5. Animating of Text such as introduction and conclusion
6. mocement of cars and trucks
7. Changing of colour on such elements as the pond
8. Fading in of green house gases in atmosphere and slow growth of smog in the townscape area
9. switching of images between healthy forest in background to a forest that has been cleared
10. Plane flying across the sky carrying a message relating to the environment and pollution
10 Infographic Facts:
1. Pollution occurs when pollutants contaminate the natural surroundings; which brings about changes that affect our normal lifestyles.
2. The warming of the atmosphere by heat reflected back to Earth by gases in the upper atmosphere is called the greenhouse effect. Many scientists have linked the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide with the rise in the earth’s temperature over the last century.
3. The Ozone layer is the thin shield high up in the sky that stops ultra violet rays from reaching the earth. As a result of human activities, chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were released into the atmosphere, this has contributed to the depletion of the ozone layer.
4. Pollution occurs in different forms; air, water, soil, radioactive, noise, heat/ thermal and light.
5. The burning of fossil fuels and extensive clearing of native forests has contributed to a 40% increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide.
6. The Golden Toad (Bufo periglenes) is thought to be the first species to go extinct because of climate change.
7. Every day new industries are being set up, new vehicles come on roads and trees are cut to make way for new homes. All of these, directly or indirectly lead to an increase in CO2 in the environment. The increase in CO2 is resulting in the melting of polar ice caps which in turn increases the sea level.
8. The decrease in quality of air leads to several respiratory problems including asthma or lung cancer.
9. Soil pollution occurs due to incorporation of unwanted chemicals in the soil due to human activities. Use of insecticides and pesticides absorbs the nitrogen compounds from the soil making it unsuitable and unable for plants grow and live.
10. You see, these different aspects all have an impact on the world around us, even the little things add up and can have a big impact. The world is our home, take care of it before its too late.
11/03/15
This project is now complete. I've leanred a lot about using jquery to creating a parallax scrollign site. A problem I faced was scaleability. Unfortunately I still struggle with this problem but hope to improve this site in the future.
If you are interested in looking at it please go to:
The best experience can be found on Chrome
