Why am I doing this project?
If you want an entertaining way to understand why I find this topic so important, please watch Neil deGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk video, 'How Our Coastlines Will Change,' featuring Chuck Nice: link. I urge you to watch the whole video; it’s hilarious, informative, and only about 11 minutes long. The main point is that humans have enjoyed a relatively stable climate for around 10,000 years, during which time we have built massive cities on relatively stable coastlines.
Most of our major cities are near water; over 2 billion people live in coastal areas worldwide, and 50% of those people live in low-elevation areas (source). Human-driven climate change has created a relatively unstable climate within decades, which is transforming our coastlines (source). What’s going to happen to all these major cities and economic hubs that were built by the water? What will happen to the surrounding ecosystems, the people, their quality of life, and their traditions?"
Boats floating in a dock; A tiny sliver of Toronto's harbour
Photo credit: Saachi Sadcha
Toronto, my home, is on Lake Ontario, one of Canada’s Great Lakes. I live in the Entertainment District, passing by the CN Tower and Ripley’s Aquarium during most of my errands. I also enjoy strolling along the Waterfront, watching planes fly into and out of Billy Bishop Airport. In the summer, I see people on boats and canoes, while ducks, geese, and swans bob along the water’s surface and occasionally dive in for a snack. In the winter, the lake is often frozen over with crackling ice, and I hurry along, trying to get my steps in to justify a hot chocolate when I return home. It’s a safe and comfortable area to live in, almost idyllic on the surface.
However, I’m uncertain about the sustainability of Toronto’s waterfront and its resilience to climate change. I want to learn more about this and imagine what a sustainable Toronto-like waterfront could look like, visually and interactively. Along the way, I aim to sharpen my skills in data visualization, 3D modelling, and communication. To keep the scope manageable, I’m focusing on food production and security. Not only because I love sculpting and painting food but also because of a startling statistic: in 2022, 24% of Torontonians lived in a food-insecure household (source). That just isn’t okay. How did it come to this in a city that regularly makes the top 20 most livable cities, and only just recently fell out of the top 10 (source)? Can we imagine a future where the waterfront helps with food production for the local community?"
My first 3D data viz using 3JS
Credit: Saachi Sadcha
I decided to package what I learned into a series of interactive data visualizations accessible on this website, a visual comic book with interactive gaming elements, and this monthly blog.
Last month, I explored the carbon emissions generated by my usual breakfast of fruit, pastry, and coffee. I also learned enough HTML, CSS, and 3JS (a WebGL library) to create a 3D website and my first 3D data visualization (link). Although I wasn’t able to work on the visual story as much as I’d hoped, I now had an easy-to-use template for future data visualizations. So, I decided that in June, I’d put the data visualizations on hold and focus on creating the first chapter of the story.