ENVG111 Geography Challenge

Rhiannon Absalom, Justin Manalo and Alice Melton

1. TRAIN BOUNDOn Friday the 21st of March three intrepid travellers caught the train to Sydney’s Inner West suburb of Burwood.

None of us had ever been to Burwood before (though we were much more aware of its geographic location than we were to Cabramatta’s), so we weren’t too sure what to expect. But forth we went with empty stomachs to enjoy what we were certain would be a delicious meal worth leaving the comforts of home for....

BurwoodAccording to the 2011 census of Population, there were 12,466 residents in Burwood. In Burwood, 30.4% of people were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 26.5%, India 4.6% and Korea, Republic of (South) 4.0%. 25.5% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 22.5%, Cantonese 13.1% and Korean 4.3%.

Australian Bureau of Statisticshttp://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/105351300?opendocument&navpos=220

We found ourselves at Anh Dao Vietnamese and Chinese Cuisine on Burwood’s main street.

The atmosphere was reminiscent of the many affordable Asian cuisine restaurants that have popped up along the Inner West and throughout the city, bringing traditional cuisine that has been modified to suit the western palate.

Nothing posh or expensive here, just Chinese food perfect for an impoverished but hungry university student- delivered quickly after ordering, with complementary hot tea for all.

2. During our fieldtrip to Burwood, we sat down with the owner of the restaurant, Anh.

Anh was from Northern Vietnam, and immigrated to Australia in her early 20’s following the Vietnam War which had significantly affected her and her family. Before arriving in Australia she spent 3 months waiting in Thailand for a visa. She has a daughter who was born and raised in Australia.

Anh is fluent in Vietnamese, and considers Cantonese to be her second language. She speaks English as her third language, though she says not fluently.

The biggest obstacle she faced in her transition to Australia was the language barrier, as she spoke no English when she arrived. She overcame this obstacle by learning English through an English speaking school and by watching television.

She says what she likes most about Australia is that the people are friendly, and she thinks the weather is great (and much better than Vietnam)!

3. PRODUCTION & CONSUMPTION

Lavazza Ground Caffe EspressoThis commodity was purchased from a local Woolworths Stall. Coffee is a brewed beverage that is prepared from roasted seeds that come from Coffea shrubs.

Coffee is the second most consumed beverage in the world behind water, and approximately 300 billion cups of coffee are drunk each year.

Legend has it that coffee originated in the highlands of Ethiopia in the 9th century. During the 14th century the coffee plant was transported across the Red Sea and introduced to Arabia, where the coffee seeds were roasted and brewed similar to how they are produced today. During the 17th century, coffee was introduced to Europe via Venice, where traders shipped coffee from Turkey. Within 30 years to popularity of coffee in Europe had grown immensly.

The two main and vastly used types of coffee bean are Arabica and Robusta. Coffee only grows in tropical and sub-tropical regions such as Africa, South America, and South East Asia.

The Lavazza Ground Caffe Espresso is made from 100% Arabica beans where it is mainly cultivated in South American countries such as Brazil, which is the largest coffee bean producer in the world and has a third of the market share.

The Lavazza Ground Caffe Espresso is then roasted, brewed and grounded in Italy, where it is also packed. After this process it is then shipped to distributers who distribute it to cafes, restaurants, coffee shops and supermarkets around the world.

4. WATER FOOTPRINT

Your total water footprint

= 600

cubic meter per year

Components of your total water footprint

431

114

55

600

Food Domestic I ndustrial Total

Contribution of individual food category towards the total water footprint

55

305

4

16

14

0

1

5

14

16

cereal meat vegetable fruit dairy Stimulant Fat sugar egg Others

Your total water footprint

= 563

cubic meter per year

Components of your total water footprint

438

119

5

563

Food Domestic I ndustrial Total

Contribution of individual food category towards the total water footprint

0

266

5

19

48

64

1

7

10

16

cereal meat vegetable fruit dairy Stimulant Fat sugar egg Others

As can be seen, the water footprints for two of our group members are very similar.

Food is the component which contributes the highest percentage of our total water footprint, followed by domestic uses.

Within the sub-category of food it is meat which makes up the majority of this water footprint.

WATER FOOTPRINT

In order to try to lessen our water footprint, we came up with the following solutions:

• Shorter showers- we both admitted to having rather ridiculously long showers. Wannabe opera singers? Contemplating existentialism and the meaning of life? Who knows. But wasting A LOT of water? YES.

• Changing to a low flow shower head• Eating less meat- meat consumption was the cause of the highest

amount of water use. We attempted to be slightly less carnivorous for a week

• Moving to a lower fat diet and trying to avoid fast food and processed foods

WATER FOOTPRINTWhen we compared our experiences for the week we discovered that we both found it easy to cut down on the length of our showers when we knew were aiming to try and halve our shower time. The challenge will be maintaining these faster shower times, and convincing family members to take shorter showers too.

We both tried to cut down on our meat and fast food consumption: Considering one of us worked at a fast food chain that proved difficult. Alice found it was possible to cut down on some meat as she tried to bring her own food from home or made the conscious decision to try and eat vegetarian whilst at university. At home it was more difficult as she arrived home late and didn’t have much option in what was cooked for dinner. Rhiannon found it easier to cut out meat and processed food, as her sister is already a vegetarian.

We both acknowledged that we hadn’t realised how much water went into producing the foods we eat, and that it was so easy for people living in developed countries with access to as much fresh, clean water as they need, to forget how important water is for our survival.

5. MUSIC

Artist: Bleached Academy

Genre: Rock/Pop

Origins of the genre: The style ‘Rock/Pop’ is a fusion of two incredibly broad genres of music. The Rock genre is said to have originated in the 1950s in the UK and USA. It mainly consists of driving backbeats provided by the drum kit, melodically and rhythmically exciting guitar sections (with a lot of use of distortion), as well as rough and sometimes husky vocals. Rock music is greatly contrasted to pop music, as it rarely uses distortion.

Pop music (which also developed in the 1950s from rock and roll) is almost always in a major key which provides a sense of happiness and joy to the music, and includes catchy and memorable vocal lines, clean guitars with repetitive riffs, and simple drum beats. The fusion of these two genres aims to mix the catchy melody lines and the joyful feeling of the music with the exciting, challenging, and sometimes distorted guitars of rock.

How do they produce their image and music for consumption? This band is able to produce their image and music for consumption as they are appealing to an already existing audience. The pop/rock genre has gained in popularity in the last few years. On the Triple J Unearthed page they have listed their influences as Paramore, Anberlin, and Enter Shikari. By listening to these bands as they were producing their own music, they were able to incorporate the elements of these groups’ music they liked into their own work. By drawing similarities between their own music and the music of more prolific and well known artists, Bleached Academy is able to increase their listening base and give themselves a legitimate platform and music community to work with.

How is their music connected to global change? The pop/rock genre continues to develop and diversify, so there is a lot of room for new bands to enter into the scene and create their own space. One of the huge developments in music with the utilisation of new technologies is accessing music online- which is why being able to share your music on a prolific Australian radio website like Triple J Unearthed gets you more exposure with a local and international audience as people search, discover, and share new music content online. In the 21st century many artists have been able to rise to fame due to their success on the internet.

Thank-you for

watching!