GMU:Critical VR Lab I - Unity Introduction/Ulrike Katzschmann

Project Forest

Video of my project: https://youtu.be/yW_X5mQMJVY

With this Unity experience i want to broach the issue of the forests in our world steadily dying. This happens mainly because of climate change. The temprature rise and rain in the summer is a rarity.

reference picture:

Trees as much as other vegetation dry up in this weather, especially conifers. When the trees don't die from the lack of water they are very susceptible to bark-beetle, which in turn destroy the plants.

reference picture:

These dead trees can easily catch fire and can be torn appart by moderate winds.

You can probably think of the reasons yourself why our forests gradually dying is quite a big problem. I just want to bring more awareness to this issue with my project.

Here are links to videos and websites I used as research material an insperation. They also give more insight to this topic:

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/wie-der-borkenkaefer-im-harz-die-fichtenwaelder-vernichtet-16987381.html

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/heute/massnahmen-gegen-waldsterben-was-wirklich-sinnvoll-ist-100.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYbWuxdg7w4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZePM3K9kaCs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DKEdXurJjc&feature=emb_logo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TiBPHQ4UGs

With these videos I cut together the audio for my project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6ZkqPQHlgc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ANSUMPeXI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVV3q9txlyM&feature=emb_logo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m3EjS7vXyg

(I know it's all german :( but forests dying is not just a problem in germany.)

On a 500 x 500 terrain I created a forest you would want to wander through on a hot, sunny sommer day. Up until you stumble on the dead part of the forest.

As a player you can walk around the map freely while listening to the background audio. You start at a nice sunny alive part of the forest. When following the trail you come to a artifical clearing. The trees here were choped down but behind the clearing you can see many more dead and infested trees. Even the tree logs that sill lie at the clearing are crawling with bark-beetels.