Epsom Geographic (January 2019) by Epsom Geographic

EPSOM

GEOGRAPHIC January 2019

ISSUE NO.5

Editor’s note.

THE COVER

Welcome to the first edition of Epsom Geographic of 2018-19. Through this magazine, we were able to showcase our students’ potential in academia, photography, literature and fine arts. The photos in this edition have come from all over the world, ranging from Iceland to North Korea: giving us an insight of the diverse beauty that lies within these countries. My interest for Geography became prominent following my contributions to previous Epsom Geographic magazines. It was my greatest pleasure to take on the reins of Epsom Geographic Editor. However, the burden of taking over as the editor has far exceeded my expectations. I’ve learned that producing a magazine is no simple task. especially when my predecessors, Sarah and Farisa have consistently produced work of the highest quality. Despite the hurdles, my passion for Geography has pulled me through. If there’s one thing I find fascinating about Geography, it’s that anyone, from different subject fields will have the ability to contribute their viewpoint in the context of Geography. Geography is interlinked with so many other subject fields such as Economics and Biology. Moreover, in an increasingly competitive world, a positive digital footprint will enable you to stand out from the crowd. Thank you to everyone that contributed the first edition. Enjoy the latest magazine and please look forward to the upcoming two editions this year. Chanel Ng

Contents Flora Cyn Thea Yu

Aurora Borealis, Iceland Zackritz Rodwan

Big White BC, Canada Natasha Naylor

North Korea Shanza Asif

Bali, Indonesia Tia Siddle

Nick Chong

Farisa Wan Fadzmi

Haikal Feroz

Hua Hin, Thailand Pias Kaensa

Editors: Chanel Ng, Farisa Wan Fadzmi Assistant Editor: Ben Yee Production Manager: Jon Barker Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this magazine are the authors’ own and do not reflect the view of Epsom Geographic or Epsom College in Malaysia

Perth, Australia Venesse Cheng

Cebu Island, Philippines Ayana Nagasaka

Joie Koh

Linguistics Sophie Hill

Colouring Map

34 Geography Puns

St Moritz, Switzerland

THE EDITORIAL TEAM

Tai O, Hong Kong

Marvel

Galle, Sri Lanka Robert Hopkin

Callum White

Cambridge, UK

Langkawi, Malaysia Kit Price

Chanel Ng

Bays of Fire, Australia

Malaysia Aiynah Hazni

Imogen Cory

Reykjanesbær, Iceland

Krabi, Thailand Stella Spence

Impacts of Meat Diets

Natasha Naylor, Rosebery

Cyn Thea Yu, Rosebery

Aurora Borealis, Iceland Zackritz Rodwan, Propert

Krabi, Thailand Stella Spence, Crawfurd

Big White, B.C. Natasha Naylor, Rosebery

JUNGLE TREKKING THROUGH

TAMAN

NEGARA

By Aiynah Hazni, Rosebery

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award (IA) is a

The most difficult experience that we had to go

platform used to encourage young people to step out

through was definitely jungle trekking through the

of their comfort zones, by challenging them to push to

scary and heavy Malaysian wilderness, which officially

the boundary of their personal limits and recognize

began on our second day there. After an hour-long

their achievements in doing so. With having an

journey in the boat across Tembeling River, we finally

‘Adventurous Journey’ as one of the required

arrived at the jetty and started our trek. Tahan

specifications in achieving this award, the seven of us

Mountain has been said by many to be one of the most

in Year 12 (Gold level recipients) along with Mr

challenging trails in Malaysia, with big trunks and

Bumbacco and Mrs Doorne, as our assessors, set off to

slippery slopes due to the persistently wet nature of

Taman Negara in Kuala Tahan, Pahang to complete our

the forest. To top all of that off, our journey was not

Practice Journey. Our main objective was to learn and

made easier by the fact that we were carrying 10kg

familiarise

challenges

bags with little to no lumbar support throughout the

throughout our journey. This trip was also to prepare

whole journey, while fending off bloodthirsty leeches

us for our next ‘Qualifying Journey’ which would be

from crawling up our trousers! The amount of leeches

organised entirely by ourselves and be assessed on.

there was just absurd! Alicia somehow managed to

ourselves

overcoming

break the record of getting 33 leech bites by the end of Our journey took its course on the 22nd of February,

the trip. Despite all those challenges, we still managed

when we were sent to a tribe village called the “Bateq

to jungle trek for at least 8 km on the second day, 5 km

Village”. Bateq is one of the three remaining existent

on the third day, and 2 km on the last day.

groups from the Orang Asli community in Taman Negara. It was amazing to have witnessed how these

Throughout our journey, we also got the privilege to

people, despite the intense globalisation happening all

encounter many other cool experiences. For example,

around the world, can still survive in the jungle, using

we got to sleep with bats in Kepayang Cave and we

their own conservative and traditional ways of survival

even built a campfire. It was fun and extremely unique

and beliefs. It felt like we were taken back to the olden

as these kinds of experiences are hard to be found

days where food, shelter and marriage were the only

elsewhere. Eddy, our tour guide was also very helpful

necessities of life. The tourists also had the privilege to

in sharing information about ‘BigFoot’ trails and plants

try blowpiping, which is a also a conventional way of

that can be used as medicine and a source of food.

paralyzing small animals. Yie Shern seemed to be the best blowpiper amongst us, which deserved him a merit from Mrs Doorne.

Despite all of these amazing experiences, we

definitely challenging, but it has also equipped us with

definitely had the most fun on the third day when we

the necessary skills on how to survive in a jungle or

stopped by a river to find fresh mussels and ‘siput

even in any other extreme places. From the smallest

sedut’ in the river bank. Cooking the mussels and the

of things such as how to pack our hiking bags

‘siput sedut’ on a log, in the middle of the river around

efficiently to the biggest issues like learning how to

good company, with the rain pouring down against

cook in the forest, the knowledge that we received is

our backs, will forever be one of my most memorable

definitely beneficial for us in order to improve our

experiences. No jungle meal will ever taste as good as

skills and build our physical endurance for our future

that one.

expeditions, especially in the Qualifying Journey, where we will be assessed. Special thanks to Mr

On the last night, we stayed at an animal hide which

Bumbacco and Mrs Doorne who

guided us

had a broken door, no electricity, and, worst of all, no

throughout our journey and made the trip such a

toilet. Our plan was to stay up throughout the whole

success.

night, taking shifts to hopefully find more hidden wildlife in Taman Negara. Unfortunately, for us, we only managed to spot a wild buffalo and a black cobra despite only getting 3 hours of sleep per person. However, we were fortunate enough to be staying out under the night sky in the middle of the jungle, which happened to be both beautiful and breathtaking at the same time. Our trip ended with a canopy walk which was tiring but definitely worthwhile. It is the longest canopy walk in the world, hanging at a massive length of 530 metres. Not only that, it was also built without any usage of nails and methods that could have damaged the trees. How fascinating is that! This walkway is definitely a challenge to people who are scared of heights and instability, like Shi Hao and Toby. Watching the both of them cross the entire Canopy Walkway was definitely entertaining for the rest of us who flew through the canopy walk with ease. Having said all of that, this Practice Journey, despite the tremendous amount of fun we had, was also a learning and unique experience for all of us. It was

The IA team: Aiynah, Yie Shern, Fatihah, Alicia, Beverly, Toby, Shi Hao

Langkawi, Malaysia Kit Price, Propert

Galle, Sri Lanka Robert Hopkin

North Korea

Shanza Asif, Crawfurd

The animal agricultural industry is one that is

go into making one steak and 3,000 litres of water go

becoming more and more criticised, due to the

into making one hamburger, which during a time of

increasing spread of veganism. I first became

uncertainty

interested in this topic after watching a documentary

diminishment is quite shocking.

with

the

environment

and

water

called Cowspiracy in 2015, as it discusses the negative effect that animal agriculture has on the environment.

Water scarcity is becoming a bigger and bigger issue, as it affects every continent in the world currently and

Considering the ongoing water droughts across the

over 1.2 billion people still today do not have access to

world, such as two years ago in Southeast Asia,

clean drinking water, according to The Water Project,

Somalia and Bolivia, which experienced their worst

despite how much water is being used frivolously for

water drought in over 25 years, water is becoming an

animal agriculture.

increasingly scarce resource. However, raising animals for food makes up 30% of the world's water

On the other hand, it has been argued in the journal

consumption. According to a journal article entitled ‘A

‘Energy use, blue water footprint, and greenhouse gas

Global Assessment of the Water Footprint of Farm

emissions for current food consumption patterns and

Animal Products’, 1,000 gallons of water are required

dietary recommendations in the US’ that the

to produce 1 gallon of milk. This suggests that dairy

vegetarian diet is in fact worse for the environment.

farming is unsustainable due to the immense amount

Paul Fischbeck specifically stated that eating lettuce is

of water it uses.

over three times worse for greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon, in terms of resources as, for

Furthermore, this links to a book called ‘When the

example, water and energy are used to produce the

Rivers Run Dry’ by Fred Pearce, which claims that by

food items per calorie. This is due to the fact that

2025 water scarcity will cut food production by more

there are more calories in meat than in vegetables,

than the current US grain harvest. This water scarcity

which means we need to consume significantly more

could be due to many factors, however the production

vegetables and non meat products, to reach the

of meat and other animal products is a large

recommended calorie intake for humans, than meat.

contributor. Pearce revealed that 5,000 litres of water

Therefore, if everyone became a vegan, the use of

produce methane, which is a highly destructive

water and energy to farm crops and vegetables, as

greenhouse gas for our environment. Methane is 25-

well as the transportation carbon emissions it would

100 times more destructive than CO2 on a 20 year

release due to certain vegetables not always being in

time frame. It also has a global warming potential 86

season in every country, would increase by a

times that of CO2 on a 20 year time frame.

potentially detrimental amount. Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide and Furthermore, there is the argument that farms are

other air pollutants (greenhouse gases) collect in the

now in fact habitats of their own, hosting many

atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation

animals that are not just the ones being farmed. In

that normally would have bounced off the earth’s

the UK, for example, there are many species that live

surface and escaped the earth’s atmosphere. These

in open environments such as farms, like the grey

greenhouse gases, which build up in the atmosphere,

partridge, skylark, lapwing, as well as many types of

are therefore making the earth’s temperature on

bees and butterflies. Even though 5000 years ago,

average warmer, which has drastic impacts on the

when animal agriculture arrived in Britain, we created

environment and climate, causing more natural

farms by destroying forests, and subsequently killed

disasters and the extinction of animals, such as polar

many species, if we were to reverse this now, it would

bears, who rely on cold ecosystems. Not only are we

again do the same.

harming the animals that we eat, but others too.

Cowspiracy suggested that animal agriculture is

In the world we live in today, with the knowledge we

responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas

currently have of the potential results of global

emissions, which is more than the combined exhaust

warming, governments and scientists should be

from all transportation. This is a huge statistic if we

looking at these facts and discussing ways in which we

consider how much transport is used nowadays, for

can reduce these figures in any way possible.

things like online shopping, which has increased

However, unfortunately due to the popularity of meat

transportation emissions by 16%, according to the

and animal products, as well as conspiracies about

United States Environmental Protection Agency. If the

meat and dairy companies paying off cancer and

animal agricultural industry is in fact producing more

heart disease charities (and the government!), it is

harmful emissions than transport, then it is

not even considered in policy as a potential threat to

undeniably catastrophic for the environment and is a

the earth.

lead cause of global warming. A journal article, entitled ‘A Leading Cause of However, livestock and their byproducts account for

Everything: One Industry That Is Destroying Our

at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)

Planet and Our Ability to Thrive on It’ highlights that

per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas

animal agriculture is too often left out of the policy

emissions, and this is without considering that cows

discussion about global warming, which is a big issue, as many governments are ignoring these facts, and

thus

could

have

possibly

have

threatening

meat and dairy needed for everyone on earth, with

consequences for the planet, due to our reliance on

the small amount of agricultural land we have. It

meat and dairy products.

would take the land space covering the whole of the US and some of Canada, to farm cows, just to keep up

In order to help our planet, we cannot simply focus on

with the amount of meat needed to feed the USA in

factories and the harmful gases they emit, we must

the present day. This is without taking into account

place our efforts into one of the biggest issue areas

the rising population of the world. This is due to the

for climate change, and is one that is arguably the

fact that 2-5 acres of land are used to farm one cow,

most significant contributor to the problems we are

as mentioned in the journal ‘The Diverse Structure

having environmentally, which is animal agriculture.

and Organisation of U.S. Beef Cow-Calf Farms’ from the US Department of Agriculture.

Of course, this is not just about not killing animals to eat them. Animal agriculture is the leading cause of

Arguably, The Paris Agreement is already a massive

species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution,

step forward for the planet as a whole, even without

and habitat destruction. This means that we are

the backing of the US President Donald Trump, as it is

indirectly impacting millions of species and animals

an agreement within the United Nations Framework

through destroying their habitats for more room to

Convention on Climate Change, to combat climate

farm, by polluting the water and air, and through

change

global warming with the impact on animals living in

emissions mitigation. However, it is a huge issue, that

the North and South Poles.

it does not mention animal agriculture or plans to

through

dealing

with

greenhouse

gas

decrease it, and its negative impact, despite it being Well, what can we do to solve this? We can take a

one of the leading causes of climate change through

substantial

its immense contribution to levels of greenhouse

problems

step

towards

simultaneously

addressing through

all

these

reducing

gases. Why is this not being dealt with?

eliminating our reliance on meat and dairy products similarly to the fact that we recycle - in order to

To conclude, there is not a clear cut answer to the

decrease our impact on the environment. It is our

question of whether eating meat is damaging for the

duty to help combat environmental issues for

environment, but there is more than enough evidence

generations to come. This is where the global

to suggest that it is.

‘Meatless Monday’ campaign comes in, which is, obviously, something that is very controversial. Finding a solution for this should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind, as it is known that both animal agriculture and dairy farming are unsustainable, as we will never be able to keep up with the amount of

ReykjanesbĂŚr, Iceland Chanel Ng, Crawfurd

Bays of Fire, Australia Callum White

Bali, Indonesia Tia Siddle, Rosebery

Cambridge, UK Nick Chong, Granville

B y : F a r i s a Wa n F a d z m i , Crawfurd Most of us have become familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe through their award winning and box office topping movies such as The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool. As we immerse ourselves into the delicate and entertaining plot of these films, we find ourselves transported into the fictional superhero world in which all the movies are based. The Marvel

Cinematic

Universe

incorporates

various

elements of reality and real cultures and countries with fictionalised regions. There are many alternate realities and universes that exist within Marvel comics, however we will not delve into that as its complicated nature will take much too long to explain. Instead, we will focus on

The Geography of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

the geography of the recent MCU movies, specifically Avengers: Age of Ultron and 2017’s Oscar-nominated the country is in a poor economic and social (and personally one of my favourites) Black Panther condition at that time. For those who paid close movie. Warning: spoilers ahead!

attention to the storyline, prior to the attacks from Ultron, Sokovia was already in an erratic state as a

The Maximoff Twins, the heroes of the Avengers sequel, result of Stark’s weapons destroying the area during are ‘enhanced’ humans (also called mutants, but again times of conflict (which led to the snowballing of the the controversial use of the word ‘mutant’ is a whole Maximoffs’ initial hatred towards Tony Stark and the other article’s worth of explaining) that hail from the rest of the Avengers). country Sokovia. But where exactly is Sokovia? Throughout the movie: It is clearly implied that the The recent Black Panther movie is set in the country country is located somewhere in Eastern Europe, due to Wakanda, which is located somewhere in Africa its similarities with the names ‘Slovenia’ and ‘Slovakia’. (there is no evidence yet of its precise location). The dialects and accents in which they speak sound similarly to other Eastern European countries. In When the character Ulysses Klaue is interrogated, he addition, adding to the atmosphere, the background is describes his business of exploiting Wakanda’s lined with graffitied walls and rundown buildings at the natural resources, specifically the fictional metal end of the movie which makes the audience assume that Vibranium which is incredibly rare. Sound Familiar ?

Vibranium is the same metal used for Captain

camouflaged country of Wakanda. African culture and

America’s iconic shield constructed by Howard Stark.

language are embedded within the futuristic and high-

The exploitation of Wakanda’s resources caused public

tech buildings. Here, we see a true representation of

outcry of the citizens of Wakanda, so the Prince of

afrofuturism: a cultural aesthetic of African culture,

Wakanda becomes Black Panther to avenge those who

technology and science fiction.

threaten his country. In Captain America: Civil War we see T’Challa wreaking vengeance against Captain

As you can see, there is intricate detail given to each

America’s ally, the Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes) for

fictional country (or planets like in the Guardians of

murdering

Wakanda.

the Galaxy). With each movie introducing a new

Henceforth, following his father’s death, he assumes

geographical setting, the future of the MCU’s

the role of Black Panther. In Black Panther, it is made

geographical patterns remains uncertain. However,

clear that Wakanda’s richest resource, vibranium,

we do tend to see an emphasis on the social and

remains hidden from the rest of the world. They are

economic impacts of the actions of superheroes as

concealed by the identity of a third world country,

shown in movies such as the Age of Ultron and Black

which refuses to participate in any form of

Panther. Before the release of the highly anticipated

international trade.

Avengers: Infinity War movie, many speculated that

his

father,

the

King

the last 'infinity stone' to be found, the Soul Stone, At the beginning of the movie, we are introduced to

was located in Wakanda. Although this was proven

the main antagonist: Erik Killmonger. Despite having

false, other speculations surrounding Wakanda proved

been born and raised in Oakland, California, he is

true. The trailer for Infinity War ended with an epic

strongly rooted to his Wakandan heritage, evident

battle scene in Wakanda with Blank Panther and the

through his obsessiveness over vibranium and his goal

likes of Captain America, Bucky (the Winter Soldier),

of overthrowing the current King, T’Challa. Once he

Black Widow, Okoye, Hulk and the Iron Patriot which

enters Wakanda, many of the problems he states

were later joined by many more. This left Marvel fans

about T’Challa’s governance resonates with the reality

wondering whether the final battle against Thanos

of the prejudiced. Erik is adamant about revealing

would take place in Wakanda, and how Wakanda's

Vibranium to the rest of the world, and using its

people and court will respond following T'Challa's

weapons to destroy countries that have either

decision to reveal the technological advancement of

colonised African countries or have prejudiced people

Wakanda to the rest of the world. From New York to

of African descent. T’Challa, and the rest of his court,

Edinburgh, a wide range of places were selected as

argue that Wakanda has been able to maintain peace

locations for a full-fledged battle. Nonetheless,

for so long because it refuses to interfere in the

whatever the future of the MCU holds, audiences can

conflicts of other nations. The audience are able to see

be certain that no other movie would be able create

the extent of Wakanda’s advanced vibranium

an impact on culture for audiences like Black Panther

technology once their aircraft (the Royal Talon Fighter)

did.

dives into the African mountains, unravelling the

St Moritz, Switzerland Haikal Feroz, Propert

Hua Hin, Thailand Pias Kaensa, Crawfurd

Perth, Australia Venesse Cheng, Rosebery

Cebu Island, Philippines Ayana Nagasaka, Rosebery

Tai O, Hong Kong Joie Koh, Rosebery

The Geography of Languages By: Sophie Hill

School trains us, as students and as teachers, to think

live in geographically remote islands with little

of subjects in very discrete boxes. Real life doesn’t

interaction with outside communities or cultures.

work like this of course and many of the topics on our

Thus the sharing and borrowing exists in parts of the

A level courses bleed and blend into one another.

archipelago where there is more trade and travel.

The study of geography and language are one such example. In order to develop our understanding of

The change of language over time and how this is

how languages and dialects emerge and develop, we

affected by location, class and social movement is a

have to understand the related physical and human

branch of linguistics referred to as sociolinguistics

geographical factors.

which

certainly

overlaps with

geographical

standpoint. Linguist Peter Trudgill identified that, in Malaysian (or Malay) is the standardised government

order to find the most unaltered form of a dialect we

form of the many different dialects spoken across

should look at the way older men are speaking in the

Malaysia and is mutually intelligible with Indonesian

area of focus. His study in Norwich in the

which is again a standardised form. The variation in

identified that young people’s use of language

what is actually spoken though is easily recognisable,

changes much more, particularly as they travel

even to a non-native speaker. With 17,508 islands

further for education at high school and then

however, Indonesia has obvious barriers to evolving

university. The study also found that mothers are

one language and, in fact, over 300 native languages

much more likely to adapt their use of language

are recognised. A history of invasion and occupation

incorporating new usage brought home by their

accounts for the similarities between ‘romance’

children (exogenous language change) whereas their

languages such as Italian, French and Spanish with

fathers are more likely to maintain the vocabulary

English but in Indonesia many of the groups who

and accent they have used since childhood.

speak these distinct languages (rather than dialects)

Trudgill also identified that our attitudes to class and thus social and geographic mobility are impacted on by our attitudes to language. He discovered that those who spoke the most formal type of English, Received Pronunciation, “scored low

traits

friendliness,

companionability, and sincerity”. It is because of these findings that Tesco adverts

now

use

‘trustworthy’

Birmingham and Newcastle accents in the UK. This understanding of the interrelation between geographical social factors and language helps us to understand some of the challenges in linguistic science. If we want to map, for example, the use of ‘Manglish’ across Peninsular Malaysia then we need to take into account rural versus urban areas, degree of education, travel, social class etc in order to produce accurate information. We cannot claim that Manglish is used frequently in a village in Kelantan just because two wealthy teenagers have returned from boarding school using it. As we travel, relocate, interact with others and various types of media during our lives, our language

changes

reflect

these

influences. Perhaps this is also a good way of approaching our movement between academic subjects?

GEOGRAPHY PUNS Why is North Korea evil? Because it has no Seoul What’s the most polite building in the world? The leaning tower Please-A Which state does the president send his dirty clothes? Washington D.C.! Why is Switzerland so great?

Which state has the smallest drink?

Minnesota (mini-soda)

How did the Geography student drown? His grades were below C-level!! Why don’t you see penguins in the UK? Because they’re afraid of Wales!!

Well, the flag is a big plus

Why is this the last pun? Because Iran out

Which city has lots of sand? Sand Francisco