‘If you compressed the whole of Earth’s unimaginably long history into one single day, the first humans that look like us would appear at less than four seconds before midnight’ (Lewis & Maslin, 2018, p.3). Humans are the smallest sliver in the 4.5 billion years of geologic time yet their behaviours and actions have changed Earth as much as other defining events in Earth’s history… Recent global environmental changes suggest that Earth may have entered a new human-dominated geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Extract from ‘The Human Planet: How we created the Anthropocene’ by Simon L. Lewis & Mark A. Maslin. 2018, Penguin Books.
Anthropogenic interaction is a human and environment interaction and in particular, the influence of humans on nature. It is the is the way people depend ( for food, water, timber, natural gas etc), adapt (build houses, cities etc.) and modify (i.e. drilling holes, building dams) the environment. It is the connection/ interaction with the entire ecological system and includes activities such as agriculture, energy production, industrialisation, transportation, personal and domestic activities etc.
The environment is made up of biosphere (plants and animals) , atmosphere (air) , hydrosphere (water) and lithosphere (soil, rocks, minerals). Water plays a vital role in the biosphere.
In this project, w are looking to engage people in the understanding and appreciation of the natural environment (i.e. Flatholm island). We want to make them aware that their anthropogenic interaction with the subsurface (i.e. Cardiff city—industrialisation, transport) can create an environmental and climate response. We want to model associated change/s.
Looking at particular at the effects of environmental and climate change on the water cycle. On Flatholm island, there is no natural water source, instead, rainwater is collected all winter, and carefully rationed out over the summer. This water ensures that people on the island can exist (i.e. shower, drink, cook etc.). Also it ensures that the wildlife (i.e. the seagulls etc.) can survive. We have daily rain fall data from the island as well as water tank levels which will enable us to paint a picture of the water situation on the island. Also we have groundwater data from Cardiff city. We are interested to map the level of groundwater from Cardiff (and any contamination from industrialisation etc.) with the weather data from the island to explore any patterns that might effect the sustainability of water resources and quality.
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