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The UWA Student Guild wants to complete our collection (back to 1930) because there are gaps. If you, or your parents, or even your grandparents have copies stashed away – before you throw them away, please consider donating them to the Guild Archive! Please contact the Guild Archivist, Melissa Hetherington for further information. melissa.hetherington@guild.uwa.edu.au +61 6488 2832 22
CONTENTS EDITION 3 - ECOLOGY PAGE SEVEN: CAMPUS NEWS ‘Campus Updates’ by Courtney Withers
PAGE TWENTY-SEVEN: ART ‘Nightmare Ecologies’ by Sky Edwards
PAGES EIGHT AND NINE: CAMPUS NEWS ‘Campus Ecology: A Beginner’s Guide to Stereotypes’ by Max Silbert
PAGE TWENTY-EIGHT: ART ‘Untitled’ by Ei Hnin ‘Untitled’ by Ei Hnin
PAGE TEN: FILM ‘Studio Ghibli’s Ecological Legacy’ by Amy Papasergio
PAGE TWENTY-NINE: LITERATURE AND CREATIVE WRITING ‘Her Canvas’ by Isabelle Yuen ‘Holokaustos’ by Ellie Fisher
PAGE ELEVEN: SCIENCE ‘A Shocking Collaboration: How Bees Use Electric Fields to Help Pollinate Flowers’ by John Fegebank PAGE TWELVE: DIVERSITY ‘Polyamorous Ecology’ by Merlin Hoskins PAGE THIRTEEN: LITERATURE AND CREATIVE WRITING 5.58pm by Izabela Barakovska
PAGES THIRTY AND THIRTY-ONE: ECONOMICS AND FINANCE ‘A Green Bill of Health’ by Charles Fedor PAGE THIRTY-TWO: SPORTS ‘Green Round: The AFL’s Unicorn’ by Campbell Williamson
PAGE FOURTEEN: MUSIC ‘The Ecology of Punk’ by Susannah Wong
PAGE THIRTY-THREE: TECHNOLOGY AND GAMES ‘Made to Fail: The Cost of Electronic Waste’ by Caleb Cheng
PAGE FIFTEEN: FILM ‘Vive La Baleine: Chris Marker’s Love Letter to the Giants of the Earth’ by Lachlan Serventy
PAGES THIRTY-FOUR AND THIRTY-FIVE: ECONOMICS AND FINANCE ‘Your Money’s in The Green’ by Brian Khoo
PAGE SIXTEEN: LIFESTYLE ‘Raw Passion for Sustainability’ by Francesca De Nuccio
PAGES THIRTY-SIX AND THIRTY-SEVEN: SCIENCE ‘Ecology and Extinction: What a More Potent Pandemic Might Look Like’ by Jack Logan
PAGE SEVENTEEN: COMEDY ‘A Comedy Review’ by Rose Willis PAGES EIGHTEEN AND NINETEEN: LIFESTYLE ‘Which Plant Are You?’ by Francesca De Nuccio and Courtney Withers PAGE TWENTY: ART AND DESIGN ‘Looking Back to Help the Future: What You Can Learn from Hassan Fathy’ by Riva-Jean Lander PAGE TWENTY-ONE: ART Cartoon by Holly Carter-Turner Caption by Faisal Hamza PAGE TWENTY-TWO: ART ‘Rhodanthe Chlorocephala’ by Haylee Boxall ‘Ring Neck Parrot’ by Haylee Boxall PAGE TWENTY-THREE: ART ‘Surrounded’ by Jennifer Comrie PAGE TWENTY-FOUR: LITERATURE AND CREATIVE WRITING ‘Ripple’ by Torkel Tennberg PAGE TWENTY-FIVE: ART ‘cleantrout’ by Talicia Gummery ‘fish’ by Talicia Gummery
PAGE THIRTY-EIGHT: COMEDY ‘Far From Gruntled: A Semi-Regular Column – My Chance at a New Home’ by Faisal Hamza PAGE THIRTY-NINE: LIFESTYLE ‘Mindful tourism: How to Really Help Communities and Conservation’ by Cameron Carr PAGES FORTY AND FORTY-ONE: LITERATURE AND CREATIVE WRITING ‘Everyday Magic’ by Celeste Ong PAGE FORTY-TWO: POLITICS ‘Hidden in Plain Sight: Environmental Policy Still at the Core of the Government’s Agenda’ by Lily Andrew PAGE FORTY-THREE: LIFESTYLE ‘Get Green’ by Ellenor Sibon PAGE FORTY-FOUR: COMEDY ‘I HATE Treadmills’ by Jeremy Hansen PAGE FORTY-FIVE: TECHNOLOGY AND GAMES ‘Aeroponics: Farming of the Future’ by Kyle Pauletto PAGES FORTY-SIX AND FORTY-SEVEN: DIVERSITY
‘Living Green, Dying Green’ by Annique Cockerill
PAGE TWENTY-SIX: ART ‘Untitled’ by Christine Chen ‘Untitled’ by Christine Chen 3
CONTRIBUTORS EDITION 3 - ECOLOGY
Amy Papaersgio has been cooking way too many dumplings during isolation. Aston Clarke thinks his friend’s Tom Kha soup is pretty good. Brian Khoo enjoys sharing his views with others. Caleb Cheng is wondering whether you’ve heard of 100 Gecs. Cameron Carr believes that piercings aren’t a personality - writing for Pelly is though! Campbell Williamson says “cereal for dinner? Yes please.” Celeste Ong wonders whether her body clock will ever be fixed. Charles Fedor undertook a commerce major upon realising the employment prospects of Politics. Christine Chen finds writing a sentence about herself harder than a two-page article on climate change. Courtney Withers is convinced that The Princess Diaries’ Genovia is a real place. Ei Hnin is staying at home (bored) and struggling to find content around the house. Ellenor Sibon doesn’t always go outside, but when she does, she’s barefoot. Ellie Fisher loves trees, and thinks there should be more of them around. Faisal Hamza is NOT internationally-acclaimed Colombian singer and icon, Andrea Echeverri. When Francesca De Nuccio isn’t sipping coffee, she’s drinking another caffeinated alternative. Haylee Boxall can tell you the names of forty-three of her sheep. When Holly Carter-Turner was twelve, she thought a 'camel toe' was what happened after wearing socks and flip flops… As a chronic procrastinator, Isabelle Yuen thinks this quarantine situation is a recipe for disaster Izabela Barakovska is consistently tall, tired, talkative and totally ethnic - Opa! Jack Logan is still patiently waiting for a meteorite to wipe out all life on this dumb planet.
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Jennifer Comrie does art stuff in her free time. Peace. Jeremy Hansen can’t stop saying ‘S’all good man’. The only thing stronger than John Fegebank’s caffeine addiction is his love of physics. Kyle Pauletto wants you to know that there’s a 100% playable version of Super Mario 64 at froggi.es/ mario/. Lachlan Serventy made a thing. Enjoy it. In her spare time, Lily Andrew likes to contemplate what having job security feels like. Max Silbert is cancelled. Merlin Hoskins’ natural predator is the traffic cone. Riva-Jean Lander is an architecture student with a strong interest in design research and writing. Rose Willis is a sex symbol in Israel. Sky Edwards - Artist, Scientist, Marxist, Human? Susannah Wong came here in a time machine that you invented. Talicia Gummery is a UNSW student with a penchant for drawing aquatic life. Torkel Tenberg was the editor of Jaden Smith's Twitter from 2013 - 2016. Xander Sinclair needs campus life to come back so he can get some cool poster design jobs.
SUB - EDITORS ARTS AND DESIGN: Riva-Jean Lander and Abigail Macleod CAMPUS NEWS: Courtney Withers COMEDY (he calls it ‘HUMOUR’): Rupert Williamson DIVERSITY: Elanor Leman ECONOMICS AND FINANCE: Millie Muroi and Brook Lewis FILM: Lachlan Serventy and Amy Papasergio LIFESTYLE: Cameron Carr and Francesca De Nuccio LITERATURE AND CREATIVE WRITING: Elena Perse and Isabelle Yuen MUSIC: Ella Fox-Martens and Susannah Wong POLITICS: Christine Chen SCIENCE: Paris Javid and Deni Campbell SPORTS: Campbell Williamson TECHNOLOGY AND GAMING: Caleb Cheng and Kyle Pauletto
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ECOLOGY PRESITORIAL BAYLITORIAL STIRLITORIAL
Hey all you cool cats and kittens! The campus may be closed but the Guild is still functioning! It’s been a wild ride but we are here for you if you ever need us. The COVID-19 crisis has had a huge impact on students across almost every part of their lives. We are calling on the Government to step up and #SaveOurStudents, with a series of key demands. Among them are fee reductions; parking permit refunds; and better support for international students. Head to the UWA Student Guild Facebook page for more information. We know from our #SaveOurStudents that it’s also taking a toll on our mental health. Our Student Assist team is always here to help you out with any academic, wellbeing or financial support you might need.
I feel like I’ve gotten closer to nature these past few months. I’m sure that’s surprising to hear considering that we are stuck indoors a lot, but those moments where I do get to leave are magical.
107th Guild President
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Oh, sweet! It’s that time for me to sit down once again and construct a self-indulgent monologue.
At least most times. On one occasion, I was at the local basketball court failing to make any shots (as usual), when these two kids get their frisbee stuck in a super tall tree. I decide to help them by throwing my basketball up in the hopes of dislodging it. Not only did my basketball get caught in between the branches, but two water bottles and a weighty rock also get wedged. After standing around awkwardly for a while, a man comes out from one of the nearby houses with a large metal rod used to clean his pool, attmepting to knock the various objects down from the tree.
I felt confident enough to shoot the cover for this edition. I think this cover is quite conceptually different from the ones previous because I don’t consider myself an artist, whereas both Sophie (edition one) and Ashley (edition two) are. That’s going to have an obvious effect on the cover art. I consider it artful, but not art. Sounds like a pretentious delineation – maybe it is. But you don’t study Art History for four years and not manifest a few pretentious delineations.
The metal rod gets jammed up there too. Maybe nature isn’t our friend?
The lighting is right; the lines are there; and I think the tones are spot on. But there’s not much behind it – no real concept. I invite you to compare this to other edition covers, and consider whether you feel the same.
Bayley
Stirling
Stay well!
Bre Shanahan
POV: you’re my dog and I just walked in on you boot-scootin on the carpet
CAMPUS UPDATES
ANY CAMPUS UPDATES?
BY COURTNEY WITHERS
I’ve never really been very good at keeping plants alive. I lose interest quickly, and forget that they’re not just something that makes my room look aesthetically pleasing, but actually need to be looked after. However, you know what I am good at? Keeping up with campus news and writing this regular article for print. Nice segue, I know. Although it’s been a while since many of you might have been on campus physically, including myself, I still have a few updates from the virtual campus to relay. As most of you are aware (I’d be quite concerned if you weren’t), there have been no physical classes on campus over the past couple of weeks, due to the virus that shall not be named. This has drastically changed campus life as we know it, but has also brought out a lot of good within the UWA community. Without the pressures of everyday life and the constant need to be doing something, a lot of development and productive work been achieved. UWA announced that they are changing the admission requirements for school leavers wanting to attend university in 2021, advising that there will be three pathways. The first - if everything still goes ahead – is ATAR-based entry. The second is for school leavers to apply for acceptance through their predicted ATAR, based off of results from the end of Year Eleven. The last admission option for is through a Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT). The University made this change to accommodate Year Twelves in this extraordinary situation, hoping to allay their fears about the future slightly. One of the warmest updates I have to offer this print edition is that even though these are unprecedented and unusual times, campus culture has very much still been kept alive through the hard work of various clubs, societies, and individuals. The proactive Guild SOC team took matters into their own hands, and created a group called ‘Clubs in Quarantine’. The purpose of this Facebook group is to keep campus culture alive by interacting with other clubs, and posting about club activity in quarantine.
Various clubs around the ‘virtual campus’ have adapted their regular activities to fit this new online setting, keeping members interested and campus culture alive. Initiatives include Zoom yoga sessions, watch parties, digital launches, Discord games nights - the list goes on and on. There is no concrete comment from the University surrounding the status of when students will be allowed to return to campus, although Government schools have returned for the commencement of Term Two, following the State Government’s instruction. UWA has announced that exams will be online this semester, unless they hear otherwise from the Federal Government. Search ‘coronavirus’ on uwa. edu.au for more information surrounding exams, results, and graduations. There has also been more movement in the great parking debate of 2020, through the Guild’s ‘Pay and We Go UWA’ campaign, which is hoping to gain more momentum before the commencement of Semester Two. There haven’t been any more updates as to whether the PAYG parking will be going ahead for Semester Two at this stage. The campaign states that if the Pay-As-You-Go parking initiative does go ahead, it will gravely effect campus culture, as well as clubs and faculty societies. You can sign an online petition at uwastudentguild. com. With Semester One of uni coming to an end soon, it’s a great time to reflect on, and be proud of, how everyone has handled themselves in the past few weeks. We may not be physically on campus at the moment, but University life, spirit, and culture, is very much alive and well. So, plant that seed of hope for next semester; water it, care for it, and love it. And, if anyone has any tips on successfully keeping plants alive, please let me know. - Courtney
Being Guild President gets you one genuine get of jail free card.
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CAMPUS ECOLOGY: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO STEREOTYPES BY MAX SILBERT
Remember what it was like on campus? Dodging the Socialist Alternative like they were an ex you wronged; constantly interrupting friends trying to do meaningful study on the ground floor of Reid; and coming into Uni only to skip class to go get lunch with mates‌ God, those were the days. A favourite pastime that has taken up much of my tenure on campus is people-watching, and before the isolation madness sets in, I’d like to impart my observations of some of the characters I’ve come to study. And you know what? I think I miss them.
THE PARTY CLUB You probably know them from high school. You also probably remember that they were as big a loser as you were. Except they’ve got it figured out; they’ve realised that they can substitute drug and alcohol abuse for any semblance of an interesting personality. If you have the displeasure of talking to them outside of a party context, you realise they must all drink that much just to put up with each other.
THEATRE KIDS First you hear them a distant cackle; a poorlyharmonised show tune, an obnoxious quote from a pretentious drama. And as they approach, you feel your life force drained from you... No one should ever be this peppy.
STUDENT POLITICIANS These sickos are as authentic as ScoMo during fire season, and also they are the only type of person who adds you on Facebook after meeting you once at a sundowner, and then consistently wish you a “Happy birthday !! đ&#x;™Œ, have a good one Chief!!â€?. With personalities as monotone as their flyers, Student Politicians are more full of shit than their own impeccable CV’s. Their cheery demeanour changes, however, after they realise that you, like most people, don’t give a shit about getting a Nandos on campus, and did not vote for them. After that, your basically dead to them.
MATURE AGED STUDENTS I’m all for people of any age pursuing their educational dreams, but if you’re over 25, please don’t do it near me. Notably, mature age students are the only people that write pen and paper notes, besides that one sub section of white girls that run ‘aesthetic study blogs’. Mature age students love a chat, no matter how hostile, head-phoned and hungover you look; they’ll still ask your opinion on this week’s readings before class. I didn’t do them Paul, and as the tutor hasn’t arrived yet, I’m not going to start pretending like I did. It’s great that you’ve just had a child, and are still pursuing an education, but if you are sitting next to me in my tute at Alva with no aircon and your child soils themselves, instead of pretending like nothing is wrong, please for the love of god change that baby.
Through the overuse of four inside jokes that no one else will ever understand, “theatre kids� have managed to convince themselves that they’re the gods gift to comedy; that they’re the next Tim Minchin (without the talent or self-awareness, of course). You can only hope that in their delusion they leave us be, and waste their money and time doing the diploma course at WAAPA.
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Ducks of UWA to form their own Legislative Council group ticket.
ALVA STUDENTS
LAW STUDENTS
If someone tells you they’re an Alva Student, what it means is that they spend one to two hours each morning coordinating an outfit that makes it look like they could be in a band, only to go and smoke in a carpark. I thought I was relatively proficient in ‘bullshit’, but then I did a fine arts broadening unit. If you don’t smoke menthols, listen to Joy Division, and have a personality based around the most basic aspects of ‘alt’ culture, you simply won’t fit in with these radical non-conformists.
THE BUSINESS SCHOOL Have you ever wondered what a Narc looks like? Have you seen inside the Business School? Well, there you go. You’ll notice that Business and Law students will often form large roaming packs along with student politicians. This privileged circle jerk serves as the precursor to the revolving door of politics, which will allow for years of corruption and ministerial scandals. After being babied through private school and achieving a sub 90 ATAR, they have the RM Williams, awful personality, and a guaranteed job at “Daddy’s firm”. All they need is whatever you get from the Business school; which I assume is some sort of morality draining procedure, that ensures you fit into an awful looking suit, and the entire Country Road catalogue.
ARTS STUDENTS Ah, the most embittered of all the students. This is predominantly because by their fifth (and a half) year of their three-year undergraduate, they realise that their degree isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.
ANY AND ALL SCI/MATH/ENG STUDENTS Running out of word space and witticisms. Boring nerds that probably have job guarantees after this; get stuffed.
Now, you might read this and think that I’m an asshole. That’s correct, I am. But in an attempt to alleviate all the mean things I’ve written, I’ll say this: I’m grateful for each and every one of these characters. They’ve made my time at uni exceptionally entertaining.
A world without these jokers, odd-balls, and rougelike operators would be mind-numbingly boring. So, if you’re a bitch, a lover, a fresher, a mother, a sinner, or an even worse sinner - do not feel ashamed. You know, I wouldn’t want it any other way. Author’s Note: I’ve purposefully forgotten about music students, like everyone else.
Despite all this, they feel a deluded sense of selfimportance; possibly because subconsciously, they realise that this is well and truly the peak of their entire life, as they stand on the precipice of a life as a barista. Turns out no matter how good your GPA is, if it’s built on Netflix and Drum Circles, you’ve been majoring in disappointment.
Kim Beazley runs for Guild, gets defeated again.
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STUDIO GHIBLI’S ECOLOGICAL LEGACY BY AMY PAPASERGIO
Studio Ghibli is well known for its breathtaking animated landscapes and detailed environments. This fame is decidedly well-deserved once you behold the meticulous detail ingrained into every hand-drawn frame. Alongside these environments, Studio Ghibli has established an ecological legacy through its compelling narratives, which acknowledge the current environmental concerns our own society faces. Nearly all of Studio Ghibli’s films tackle ecological problems, and hopefully you have watched at least one of their masterpieces. Otherwise, here are the few of the need-to-watch classics which discuss pressing environmental issues. The following films are educational masterpieces that have stood the test of time, and it’s heart-warming to see that they’re now available either on Netflix, or for free on SBS World Movies (which, believe me, is extremely underrated).
PRINCESS MONONOKE (1997) follows young Prince Ashitaka as he becomes involved in a struggle between humans and forest spirits. The film acknowledges the impact of industrialisation on luscious forests, and the animals which live there. This is represented by the antagonist, Lady Eboshi, who seeks to expand ‘Iron Town’ by destroying those who oppose its construction - including the spirits of the forest. POM POKO (1994) follows a family of Japanese racoons who endeavour to defend their habitat from the development of a new residential area in Tokyo. The film even breaks the fourth wall in an urgent appeal for the audience to protect their local wildlife.
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SPIRITED AWAY (2001) features Chihiro, a girl who navigates the spirit world to free her parents. It includes a scene highlighting the rising level of pollution in our oceans and waterways, where Chihiro encounters a river spirit who has suffered from the human pollution in its waters. The POST-APOCALYPTIC NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (1984) follows Princess Nausicaa as she becomes involved in a war against giant insects. She recognises the importance of using renewable, clean energy sources, such as the wind energy displayed in the film; NotVotW, therefore, offers solutions to the environmental problems we have introduced. These animated classics are crucial, especially at a time where there is a heightened awareness of our urgent climate catastrophe. And we need more like them. Sadly, Hayao Miyazaki - a co-founder of Studio Ghibli - has been in and out of retirement, raising concerns about future projects, and maintaining the quality of environmental narratives. Hope for the future of influential environmental media could possibly lie with Studio Ponoc. Founded in 2014 by Studio Ghibli’s lead producer Yoshiaki Nishimura, Studio Ponoc is already making a name for itself in the film industry. Nishimura stated in an interview that “[whilst] there are so many animation studios out there…Studio Ponoc inherits the heritage of Studio Ghibli.” Having seen their early works myself, Studio Ponoc’s landscapes and environments are certainly equivalently breathtaking. It will be interesting to see where Studio Ponoc will take us, and whether it will follow Studio Ghibli’s ecological legacy.
In bureaucratic mix-up, the UWA Senate is now the federal Senate.
A SHOCKING COLLABORATION: HOW BEES USE ELECTRIC FIELDS TO HELP POLLINATE FLOWERS BY JOHN FEGEBANK
What’s interesting are the various different ways pollen is moved: from sticking on the beaks of birds feeding on nectar, to simply being carried by the wind. One of the most fascinating, however, is the way in which bees act as pollinators. The act of pollination itself is mutually beneficial to both bee and flower. The benefit to the flower is obvious – the ability to reproduce – but not all is left to the flower. Pollen, along with nectar, is a vital part of bee nutrition, so the bees take what they can from one flower, and let excess pollen fall off to pollinate other flowers. What’s important to understand is that, as both species are reliant on this process, offspring of both species which develop evolutionary changes that favour the efficiency of this process will be more successful, and better spread their genes. Now, you may be wondering: what it is about bees that makes them so important? Don’t all pollinators do this? Yes, but bees have a unique advantage that makes them much more efficient at pollinating. If you’ve ever seen a bee close up, you’ll notice they’re actually covered in very fine hairs. These are very sensitive, and have a weak positive electric charge. As such, bees actually generate their own positive
electric field around them. What’s useful about this is that flowers are, in contrast, negatively charged. When a bee flies near a flower, the two fields interact and cause these hairs to vibrate, allowing the bee to detect the strength of the flower’s electric field. Then, as the bee flies in for nectar and pollen, the negatively-charged pollen is attracted to the bee’s positively-charged hairs, and becomes attached to the bee. This flow of charge means that when the bee leaves, the flower’s negative charge is weakened. What the bee has effectively just done is mark that flower as ‘visited’, so when it or another bee comes by the electric field of that flower, it recognises that it has recently been visited, and has no nectar or pollen. And of course, when the bee goes near a nonvisited flower, the now positively-charged pollen on the bee will be attracted to the negatively charged flower, allowing for easier, and a higher likelihood of, pollination. In this way, both the bee and the flower gain a significant advantage. The bee now knows which flowers do and don’t have food, as well as being able to gather it with less effort. The flower receives more consistent pollination from bees. The process of evolution has allowed them both to optimise this important behaviour. IMAGE CREDIT: ASHLEY BROWSE
One of the many vital biological mechanisms in nature is that of pollination – the process through which plants reproduce, by transferring pollen from ‘male’ to ‘female’ parts of flowers and hence creating seeds for offspring. Effective pollination is the key to maintaining the global plant ecology, and subsequently the food supply of all animals – including us. Suffice it to say, it’s incredibly important.
BEES ARE OFTEN FIRST TO COME TO MIND WHEN THINKING OF POLLINATION, BUT THE WAY IN WHICH THEY ACHIEVE IT IS WHAT TRULY MAKES THEM UNIQUE. Through co-evolution with its environment, the bee shows us just how creative nature can be in its workings.
Our new chancellor, Professor Palpatine, assures students that democracy is not under threat.
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POLYAMOROUS ECOLOGY BY MERLIN HOSKINS
You are polyamorous. Your partners bring a wonderful balance to your life: all three of them linked to you, turning and spinning so that you never have room to implode in upon yourself. People like to think of your relationships in the same way that a detective thinks about a murder case: a clumsy polaroid of you with strings in bright scarlet pointing to your darlings. A festering hole of jealousy and spite - that you insist on maintaining for attention and indecisiveness. No one you date has autonomy. A better way to think of things is thus. Nature keeps itself in delicate balance. A big circle of energy being recycled over and over. Relationships work similarly, and polyamorous ones even more so. Each one is a dance of both reaching and being reached for, loving and being loved. You exist in an environment. Just as frogs eat flies, you and Ca---- are deeply in love, and recently engaged. The fly provides the frog with nutrients and calories, and the frog in turn makes sure that the fly population remains stable, and allows flies as a species to continue evolving. No one can say which service is of more use. You have just the ring in mind for him. Overwhelmingly, being alive feels like swimming through concrete, but when the two of you are together - when you can turn your head and stare dreamily at his burnished gold curls - it all turns to crystal water.
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Monitor even those relationships that do not concern you. Ca---- and Al---- play Magic: The Gathering together, which prevents you from having to spend money on Magic cards. Al---- and Au----- are on a committee together. Ca---- thinks that Au---- is the funniest person alive, and you are both in complete agreement on this. You have, in the past, tried to date two people who were each on terrible terms with each other. Do not do this. This is very stupid. All these connections are nested. There is each permutation of someone you’re dating. You and Ca---; you and Al----; you and Au----. But also, take into consideration the six different combinations of three of you. Even the one for which you are not present. Ca---- and Al---- and Au----. The sun shines down upon you and makes the grass grow and blossoms bloom along your skin and in your heart and on your eyes. The frog shoots out his long, sticky tongue, and wraps it around the fly who can see in three hundred frames per second. This is your nature. You are in balance.
The peacock population on campus is the result of escaped test specimens from Biology.
5:58PM, APRIL 23RD, PERTH BY IZABELA BARAKOVSKA
“Albeit cherubs absent, the divine glow of pink, lilac and tangerine hues slips through the slits of my bedroom blinds, painting my eastern walls to mimic a fraction of the unparalleled beauty of the dusk tonight.” – Barakovska, 16/12/18
I think skies are masterful - ethereal and majestic. They are undoubtedly my favourite part of an otherwise mundane ecosystem. There is something special to be held in each dawn and dusk - even if they’re not pretty enough to spam everyone’s Insta stories, or drive people off their phones to view the commanding glow. How is it that something renowned for the grandeur of its fast changing, inconsistent and artistic nature, provides such a feeling of permanence? Curious, isn’t it… The collaborative sky-painting series by Molly Stanko (@mollystankoart), a student at the Victorian College of the Arts, has inspired me to write. Her project seeks to paint as many global skies as possible from the period between the twentieth and thirtieth of April, during COVID-19. In her recent Instagram post, she asks for a photo, timestamp, and a brief description of the pandemic situation in the area. My photo is of a Perth sunset from 5:58pm on April 23rd. The colour of the sky, a cotton-candy wisp of pink, purple and blue, was one of many that I’ve seen spread across Perth’s horizon. The soft skies here have an enchanting sweetness about them, but undoubtedly, still have a capacity for the kind of infernal glow that brightly bases this sunset. Personally, I’m not much of a painter. But I think paints, pencils, and photographs alike struggle to capture the feeling of clean, deep breathing that comes from dropping everything and taking a moment for yourself and your surroundings.
IMAGE CREDIT: IZABELA BARAKOVSKA
Writers have long looked to the weather and sky for confirmation of their own mistaken beliefs. The arrogance in this is the same of the pre-Galilean Catholic Church; the world revolves around them. Truth be told - perhaps with the exception of pollution (of the light and chemical variety) - the sky is indifferent to human existence. It can be disruptively stormy and dark on the most joyous occasion, or stubbornly bright and beautiful on a day you feel most hopeless and lost.
It’s enchanting. The state borders may be closed, and the population within it self-isolating, but my goodness – sometimes the simple things are enough. It is human nature to get caught up in chaos, and to forget ourselves in our commitments. Major life events have a way of teaching us how much we take for granted – good health, freedom of movement, supportive communities, stability, routine, and even our skies. We look to the same skies as great artists, musicians, philosophers, leaders, writers and creators. The world beneath those skies constantly shifts and changes, but in their brilliant way, they stay the same. They give us hope, and keep us humble. On behalf of the sunsets, rises and the skies that hold them – look up a little more often. It’s good for you, I promise.
Music School student finds full-time employment within a year of graduating.
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THE ECOLOGY OF PUNK BY SUSANNAH WONG
While the study of ecology may seem completely irrelevant to the safety pins, shredded tees, and general anarchy of punk, the two fields actually have more in common than first appears. Put simply, ecology is the study of how one entity relates to another. While any genre of music can be pulled apart this way, the ecosystem of punk is particularly unique; unlike mainstream genres of music - which are usually developed through advancing technologies - punk has always been motivated by people and events, rather than new instruments and effects. The genre was not created for commercial gain (although it did get there), but as protest in an artistic form. It began in 1964. The Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was watched by an estimated seventythree million viewers. Though it was far from punk, the event became a catalyst for the genre, inspiring thousands of awestruck teenagers to start bands in their garage. Ten years later, this raw, unproduced sound would hit America, with The Ramones taking stage at the CBGB – a live venue which fostered the likes of Blondie and Talking Heads. The Ramones was distinguished by short songs that rarely lasted more than two minutes, and simple but energetic electric guitar work. The band never did all that well on the charts, but are retrospectively seen as punk pioneers. In London, a young John Lydon (later Rotten) walked into a store sporting green hair, safety pins, and a shirt reading ‘I hate Pink Floyd’. The Sex Pistols had found their frontman. The band stormed the charts with controversial hits like Anarchy in the UK and God Save the Queen, their success only encouraged by the BBC’s (and greater Britain’s) attempted censorship of their work.
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Punk soon became known for DIY fashion, noise, leather jackets, and an anti-establishment attitude: a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree flip from the perceived excesses of 70s prog (progressive) rock. These bands were reacting against a world they believed dealt them a rough hand - and they did it with a certain style. The 1980s saw punk diversify and split into dozens of subgenres, with many of the former decade’s best punk outfits subsumed into the new mainstream. Subgenres ranged from fairly unremarkable (pop punk, hardcore) to downright bizarre (deathrock, cowpunk – look it up). The most popular of these by far was new wave; the term was a catch-all, and barely had any meaning. From 1976, the label ‘new wave’ was thrown around liberally by radio and record executives - people who saw the word ‘punk’ as commercial suicide. Seymour Stein, the founder of Sire Records and the man who signed The Ramones, Madonna, The Cure and The Smiths, aggressively picketed for the term’s demise. “Don’t call it punk,” one advertisement urged. “If you’re still calling new rock and roll by the old name, you may need some wising up.” It was a clever (but patronising) move. New wave artists adopted the punk ethos, but dropped the name, adding synthesisers and production values, as well as toned-down lyrics to make the music widely accessible. By the end of the decade, punk had all but vanished from the forefront. That didn’t last. In February 1994, Green Day burst onto the scene with their seminal album Dookie, shortly followed by The Offspring’s Smash two months later. Punk had sold well enough before, but this new breed was completely different. While previous punk record sales were arguably only ever fuelled by controversy, these bands had widespread appeal. Smash sold over fourteen million units, and Dookie twenty million, both reaching the top ten in the charts. Panned by the hardcore punk community for churning out formulaic, radio-friendly hits, the introduction of pop punk seen with bands like Green Day and Blink-182 was the first time in history the genre was ever really mainstream. Disaffected teenagers around the world embraced it eagerly, and eyeliner, skinny jeans and Hot Topic became a way of life - only dying down in the mid-2000s. Since the start of the twenty-first century, the genre has been in continual decline. With bands going back underground, punk is once again being neglected by the mainstream, and thriving as an alternative scene - perhaps how it was meant to be.
Remember - lecturers are more afraid of you than you are of them.
VIVE LA BALEINE: CHRIS MARKER’S LOVE LETTER TO THE GIANTS OF THE EARTH BY LACHLAN SERVENTY
The natural world we live in has its kings. The kings of our seas are the whales. No other animal has seemed so alien to us, so awe-inspiring, so dominating, as the whale. Chris Marker understood that, and asked us to consider the whale in his 1972 documentary short Vive La Baleine (Three Cheers for the Whale). In his signature way, Chris Marker creates an image of the whale as something psychic. Something that has shaped the way that we live; something the detached, modern consumer (of commodities and of culture) seems to be entirely unaware of. Marker always viewed memory as the focal point of his work. From La Jetee (1963) through to his work with digital media, the nature of memory and how to represent it was a preoccupation. In La Jetee - Marker’s most well-known work - we see the protagonist travel through time using memory, eventually meeting his end in a memory he’d had since he was a child. How does memory relate to something natural? Marker relates the mythic whale to the collective human memory. On the surface, Vive La Baleine appears to be something more akin to a run of the mill educational film, meant for purely informational purposes. However, Marker uses his sense of memory to appeal to more emotive thoughts in the viewer. The narration, provided by counterpointing voices, begins with a straightforward lecture about the whales. The lecture is overlaid with an almost stream-of-consciousness monologue of the whale. The stories then blend legend and history to create a mirror of the cultural view of whales in eras and cultures, stretching from ancient Pacific hunting parties, through to the steamers of Nantucket in the US. It is here that the myth and importance of the
whale is spelled out for us. The whale floats through our history, providing food, artistic inspiration, spiritual impetus, and finally, in the industrial era, the fats, meat, bone and oils necessary for the markets of the time. In all of this, even in the moments of necessity and dependence, Marker shows the violence of our relationship with the whale, an inherently peaceful animal. The industrial whaling ships in the closing footage of Vive La Baleine, seemingly prepared for war, create an image of perfect mechanisation. No longer is the myth of the whale present in the mind of those who interact with it. Now it is no more than another commodity. Marker’s unique style and ideas highlight the worst in us in Vive La Baleine.
NO MATTER HOW MUCH WE MAY BE AWESTRUCK BY THE NATURAL WORLD, WE WILL INEVITABLY TURN AGAINST IT. However, Marker - ever an optimistic commentator sets Vive La Baleine as a testament to the possibility of change. The respect Marker has for the world and its inhabitants shines through in all his work. Vive La Baleine takes the relationships we have with the world on which we depend and pushes them into the front of our minds. Marker asks, “Is this what we are happy to do and be?”. According to Marker, the answer to that question must come from the collective human memory of what we owe to the world.
Young Labor students can now book in a time to view Bob Hawke’s old desk in the Pelican office.
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RAW PASSION FOR SUSTAINABILITY BY FRANCESCA DE NUCCIO
Set in an original 1920s warehouse in Fremantle, The Raw Kitchen is committed to the concept of healthy, sustainable living. Serving bio-degradable take-away packaging isn’t their only stand out feature. The unique venue brings together a plant-based restaurant; a zero-waste store; a kombucha microbrewery; and a yoga studio space. Every aspect of the business - from the design, through to the implementation - has been evaluated for its greater ecological impact. In 2019, The Raw Kitchen was the winner of the City of Fremantle’s ‘Sustainability Initiative Award.’ “Heath and I were both involved in the health and wellbeing industry, and we were individually very interested in plant-based and raw food nutrition,” The Raw Kitchen co-founder Emma Daly discussed. Daly thins it’s great that people have the motivation in wanting to jump all-in when they come across the concepts of reducing their waste, and living more sustainably. “It’s all about picking a thing or a handful of things to change sequentially until they become habit and then move onto the next thing.” Daly continues that this “is definitely the way that we have seen the best results.” “We are really lucky in that we get to chat to a lot of customers about the habits that people find easy to adopt, and the things that are a little bit harder to adopt.”
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Their retail shop, the Zero Store, stocks Perth’s largest range of plastic-free lifestyle products to support those looking to minimise their personal waste production, whilst also being practical, affordable and accessible. Zero Store assistant store manager Britt said it was really hard for her to find a job that aligned with her personal values. “Working in this great communal space allows me to align my own ethics, and I get to meet to many likeminded individuals,” Britt said. Customers have enjoyed the delicious plant-based food and environmental awareness of The Raw Kitchen for almost ten years. Long-time customer Chrissey said she loves the concept of The Raw Kitchen, and the many meal options that cater to every individual. “My core values align with veganism and not doing harm to any living being, and I believe that The Raw Kitchen’s values are aligned with that as well,” Chrissey said. If you come to The Raw Kitchen, it is not just about the venue or the menu; it’s mostly about the experience, and the movement towards conscious living. In response to COVID-19, The Raw Kitchen have launched pick-up and delivery services. With community support, they hope to survive.
If you get pecked by the campus ducks, UWA is legally obliged to pay your HECS loan.
A COMEDY REVIEW BY ROSE WILLIS
John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch is offbeat and sweet. It’s a self-declared homage to live musical children’s TV specials. I’ve never seen a show like that; they seem to belong to 1980s America. I only have a vague awareness of them, which I think I’ve picked up in the wind. Cultural osmosis, you know? Anyway, being unfamiliar with the genre isn’t a problem. In fact, it’s oddly appropriate for The Sack Lunch Bunch, which skews towards weird without ever being ironic. Mulaney shepherds his precocious ‘bunch’ through a loose hour of sketches and musical numbers, but he’s often in the background. The spotlight is firmly on the kids and guest stars. The kids? Uniformly brilliant – but not in a Dance Moms way. These kids eat sandwiches for lunch, I’m sure of it. Extremely talented, but also normal kids. Of the guest stars, Jake Gyllenhaal and David Byrne are good, but Andre De Shiels leaves the biggest impression in his jazz-tune about how his bad algebra cost him an eye. A cyclops song and dance man with a passion for maths. In between the skits, singing, and dancing are interviews where kids and adults alike ponder the question: ‘what are you afraid of?’ Some say spiders, others say being murdered in their sleep. Offsetting these candid conversations against the exuberant set pieces gives the show its theme and its heart.
In stark contrast, Richard’s Famous Food Podcast (RFFP) is self-indulgent and infantilising. I’ve tried to listen to different episodes on three separate occasions, but never lasted more than five minutes. From what I gather, it’s a mashup of a classic foodpodcast and surreal world-building. I was promised outlandish ‘Pythonesque’ absurdism in audio form, but in fact, it’s little more than over-produced and under-developed sound bites. It makes me dislike Americans, and if I was being unfair, I would say it was probably a form of cultural ADHD. Where The Sack Lunch Bunch plays the tropes of a children’s show against real world fears and absurd digressions for comic contrast, RFFP’s whole engine appears to be: ‘look, a silly sound! Now something else! Aren’t I random!?’ Likewise, I object to the implicit nihilism of RFFP. The Sack Lunch Bunch has a point, even if it doesn’t execute it fully. RFFP has nothing of the sort. If it was entertaining, I could forgive it. But it’s not. It’s the comic equivalent of jingling your keys at a baby. Now, then, which are you more likely to go and stream? The show I gave reserved praise, or the podcast I outright detested? Please don’t indulge in a ‘guilty pleasure,’ watch The Sack Lunch Bunch instead. You’ll at least be more likely to hug your parents afterwards.
Unfortunately, the variety-hour format doesn’t leave a lot of room to develop these ideas, and after a while, some of the big musical numbers start to feel a bit pointless. It also doesn’t help that the cleverest writing feels crammed into the first twenty minutes. But while it’s a bit lopsided, The Sack Lunch Bunch is redeemed by its kind-heartedness and inventiveness. It’s whimsical, sporadically brilliant, and ultimately hope affirming.
The admins of ‘UWA Love Letters’ are officially allowed to write ‘Cupid’ under previous experience in their resume.
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WHICH PLAN
BY FRANCESCA DE NUCCI
ASPARAGUS FERN •
Tolerates a lot more than the regular person
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Likes getting outdoors every so often, but also enjoys a stark pitch-black bedroom to watch Netflix
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Despite their title in the group, will never really be considered ‘one of the gang’
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Often found hanging in a hammock
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If people get too close, they often feel pricked by your personality
FIDDLE-LEAF FIG •
Needy as fuck and requires way too much attention
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Mummy drives a Range Rover and Daddy is a member of the local Yacht Club
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Described as a bit of a ‘princess’
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A bit like Goldilocks - everything in life has to be just right
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Can never figure out how to work their audio in a Zoom call
CACTUS •
Comes across as a bit of a prick
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Is actually very brave
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Surprisingly good at comforting people
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Always at least an hour late
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Not afraid to leave people on read
BOUGAINVILLEA
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Loves Ugg boots, tattoos and thongs
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Rough round the edges, until people get to know you
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hat person at a party who takes up too much room on the dance T floor
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Has quite a loud presence and overpowers conversations with ‘bits’
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Claims they’re going to be the next TikTok star
Addressing other students by their student number is a sure-fire way of establishing dominance over your fellow peers.
NT ARE YOU?
IO & COURTNEY WITHERS
SUCCULANT •
Laid back and carefree most of the time
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Adapts to environments easily and is described as a bit of a ‘player’
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Looks for arguments on YouTube threads and changes sides and colours easily
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Adds that pop or spark to a room
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Always leaves a ‘Yes, Queen!’ or ‘Slay’ comment on a friends Instagram
DEVIL’S IVY •
Tends to overthink a lot
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Has an aesthetical theme for their Instagram
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Fails at being a functional adult
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Gets drunk from two, potentially even one, Vodka Cruiser
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Blames their mood swings on their daily horoscope
MOTHER IN-LAW’S TONGUE •
Gives great advice that people end up ignoring anyway
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Will take care of anyone when they are drunk
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Does not understand what a ‘Tiger King’ is
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Says they hate drama but lowkey loves it
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Spends the day shaming people on social media for leaving the house
PALM TREE •
Bit of a freeloader who promises to pay people back but never does
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Is always the lankiest in the room
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Dabbles in poetry and song-writing
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Only listens to music on their antique record player
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Part of the squad but is totally chill about it
The campus peacocks are enraged the student magazine is called Pelican.
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LOOKING BACK TO HELP THE FUTURE: WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM HASSAN FATHY BY RIVA-JEAN LANDER
Sustainability the aim of the game for many architects and designers. Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, sustainable architecture has become an articulated value in the industry, with many architects striving to consider and use the environment to benefit their designs. There are ways this can be achieved through new technology - such as solar panels, and energyefficient lighting - but sustainable architecture can also be created without new machinery, or reliance on technology. Instead, carefully considering the climate of the building site can add distinct improvements to the heating, cooling, lighting, and liveability of a building. One person who understood the value of lowtechnology in design is Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy. His work flew under the radar for much of his lifetime, and he only became recognised outside of Egypt in the 1970s as an architect for the poor and a postmodernist. In his designs, Fathy embraced the material and climatic logic that could be found in ancient Egyptian techniques. He appreciated their vast geometric knowledge, and how pharaonic theocratic belief was manifested. Using such vernacular architecture, Fathy designed buildings for people in poverty with limited funds in Egypt and Greece. While European Modernism started out with a similar social intention in mind, it soon drifted into different aesthetic styles that could be applied haphazardly to any part of the world. Criticising this notion of universality in architecture, Fathy instead promoted an architecture that considers the social, cultural, and natural environment in which the building will inhabit. While his architecture was predominately focused on the social outcome, rather than the environmental one, his work influenced architects working with low-impact materials and developments worldwide.
and humidifies the air, creating a system of air conditioning without new technology or the AC we use in our buildings today. Such windcatchers can have many expressions, provided the basic principles remain. One of Fathy’s most expressive examples make up part of the roof of the University of Qatar, featuring multiple windcatchers at differing heights, with covered and perforated geometrical patterns. Following the increased awareness of environmental issues in the 1960s and 1970s, Hassan Fathy’s ideas and philosophy opened up new opportunities and inspired architects both in Egypt and worldwide. He found low cost ways of using vernacular forms that have environmental functions, such as courtyards, windcatchers, and low-cost, sustainable materials. Japanese architect Kengo Kuma promotes the use of sustainable materials in relation to his buildings designed with timber. He makes the point that “you can replace one part of timber when it needs to be repaired, unlike concrete buildings, where you would have to replace the whole building.” These techniques have great value as environmental designs, and can be adapted to various aesthetic desires. Architecture not only has the capacity to respond to the natural environment and climatic conditions; it can also be a catalyst for change. Looking back to examples from the past, and from around the world, can help us design buildings appropriate to the environmental conditions and concerns of the place where it will be built.
His most well-known project, and one that still stands, is his design of the village of New Gourna (1945). The village was made from locally available “nocost” mud brick. Fathy also looked back to Arabic windcatchers (badgir) for inspiration, making them an integral part of his designs for natural ventilation. In hot, dry locations, a tower with openings at the at the top catches the passing breeze and circulates air through the building. A porous clay pot cools
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People studying the Bachelor of Philosophy still don’t know what it is, and at this point, are too afraid to ask.
“UH, I THINK YOU MISUNDERSTOOD WHAT I MEANT BY STAND-UP.” - CREDITED TO FAISAL HAMZA
CARTOON BY HOLLY CARTER-TURNER @SLEEPY_ALVA_KID
RING NECK PARROT BY HAYLEE BOXALL @HBOXALLPHOTOGRAPHY
RHODANTHE CHLOROCEPHALA BY HAYLEE BOXALL @HBOXALLPHOTOGRAPHY 22
SURROUNDED BY JENNIFER COMRIE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHARLES NG
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RIPPLE BY TORKEL TENNBERG
Drain blood from legs = Toes still pointed _ A chameleon on display in Dorchester It’s easy to skin sheets from a mattress
The magnificence of unspoken compromise - in the face of need a pleasant mask of what it is [ I don’t wear caps so often anymore in this Australian; climate-change - intensified - sun ] But I act as if I own 22 different, yet similar fedoras from places I cannot recall / A trip to Indonesia used to be cheap still it leaves the belly a bad way ~ Wash the stains away like ribbons of decay ~
guide me to my home * Under the velvet black robe - fireflies flicker __ I’ve perhaps had too much beer to appreciate this majesty inherited by force
IMAGE CREDIT: TORKEL TENNBERG
I let the southern cross
FISH BY TALICIA GUMMERY @TAAAALICIA
CLEANTROUT BY TALICIA GUMMERY @TAAAALICIA
UNTITLED BY CHRISTINE CHEN FB: CHRISTINE CHEN PHOTOGRAPHY
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NIGHTMARE ECOLOGIES BY SKY EDWARDS 27
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UNTITLED BY EI HNIN @HNIN_EI96
HER CANVAS BY ISABELLE YUEN
HOLOKAUSTOS BY ELLIE FISHER
A quiet peek from behind half-parted curtains let loose, slender, she slips by smooth, supple, and warm to the touch
shrugging off a shawl of shrouded mist to tuck a strand behind her ear a hidden half-smile poised for a golden premiere
wind-chimes tinkle in a dainty dance and she sheds her figure, readily a collective sigh from cement and gravel the world beams upon her from below
Not even the coldest tundras remain untouched No greater beauty save an act of god
IMAGE CREDIT: PEXELS - RAHUL PANDIT
dead dead dead _ the funeral pits _ were not as black as this _ the crematoriums _ dachau auschwitz belsen _ thoughts remain below _ souls fly up _ crashing blank against cadaver skies _ they went up too _ the trees _ unwilling offerings to a non-existent god _ pure chemical reaction _ purifying the sin _ vaporising _ quick & dry as spirits _ made for annihilation _ for rebirth amongst squeaking carbon _ they flame & expire _ never mind _ the sun will finish the prayer _ in a few billion years _ all will turn & burn _ nothing will be left of _ your lives _ & we _ oblivious _ still watch dry fields _ unyielding paddocks _ waiting for the errant harvest _ the wages of hunger _ are paid out of the ash _ an empty hand & _ empty lung _ the benediction of dust
IMAGE CREDIT: PINTEREST - JIMMY NELSON
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A GREEN BILL OF HEALTH BY CHARLES FEDOR
What a truly interesting time we live in. The ash had barely settled after our continent was set alight, when we were faced with an unprecedented global pandemic. Amongst the hysteria, the Reserve Bank of Australia joined a number of other central banks in reminding businesses and consumers that “refusal to accept payment in legal tender banknotes and coins is not unlawful”. When coupled with government advice, several businesses swiftly banned the use of physical currency for transactions. Though this recommendation was made for the good of public health, as a novice economist, I begged the question, “what good is physical currency generally?”. At a cursory glance, the usage of physical currency is not only anachronistic, but also causes significant environmental depredation. Physical bank notes come in two main types: a cotton linen note, or the more modern polymer note. Cotton linen notes are the most common type of bank note and are used by the US Treasury and European Central Bank. Though simple to produce, these notes lack a range of advanced security features that prevent counterfeiting. Further, the cultivation of cotton has significant environmental impacts. Cotton requires wide fields to be properly cultivated; unfortunately, this means cotton has contributed to the destruction of natural habitats. In addition, to make just one kilogram of cotton requires more than 20,000 litres of water. As a result, cotton not only destroys the physical environment but also leeches life-sustaining water that could be more productively used. Cotton notes are inferior, environmentally damaging, and only last sixteen months before they have to be retired from circulation.
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Polymer notes have a more complicated environmental impact that is difficult to measure. Australia, since 1988, has been on the cutting edge of currency security and production, with the introduction of polypropylene bank notes. These ‘poly’ notes utilise polypropylene - a by-product of petroleum refinement - as the primary material. Now considered the golden standard of physical currency, polymer notes have enhanced security features that have now been adopted by countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom. From an environmental standpoint, poly bank notes have a lot of benefits. Bank notes taken out of circulation can be recycled into a number of PVC products including PVC piping. In addition, though it costs double to produce polymer notes, they can survive four times as long as their cotton-linen counterpart. In addition to accommodating more security features, the surfaces of poly bank notes are less conducive to bacteria growth. Though more environmentally friendly, the need for petroleum refinement to produce these bank notes does raise questions as to the long-term viability of these notes once petroleum becomes de-emphasised in the economy. The other half of the currency equation is, of course metallic coins, that are usually in smaller denominations such as two dollars down to five cents. Metallic coins are sturdy and are useful in facilitating non-whole number transactions by providing change. Though there is no data as to how many coins are in circulation in Australia, in the United States there are twenty-eight billion.
1 Boost juice = $7.50 = 1 point on your vibe card = oh my fucking god I’m broke.
Coins are hardier than bank notes, typically lasting thirty years before being pulled from circulation, and are a pivotal facilitator of cash transactions. However, coin production is both subject to fluctuations in market values of commodities, and ecologically devastating. On an economic level, coins are made up of semi-precious metals which are traded on the global commodities exchange. Due to this trading status, the values of the composite materials of coins can vary widely during the business cycle. It has been noted multiple times throughout the last decade, that the ‘face value’ of a coin can actually be lower than the combined materials that make up the coin itself. In 2014, the Royal Australian Mint noted that it in fact costs six cents to produce a five-cent coin. Before you start excitedly melting down coins and turning in a sweet profit though, it is worth noting that the government overcomes this economic quirk by making it illegal to melt down Australian currency, with a $5000 fine and/or two years in jail. For the government, the production of coins can be economically draining. In addition, the demand for these coins is predicted to decline by twenty-five percent over the next four years. From an economic perspective, the production of Australian coinage seems to act as a confidence trick, specifically designed to assure the citizenry that “business is booming”, when in fact, it is economic nonsense.
The production of coinage continues to provide steady demand for minerals such as nickel and copper. Major copper exporters include Chile, Peru and Indonesia, which have historically had lax occupational health and safety standards. This has contributed to copper poisoning in the environment by leeching into the water table and threatening the lives of workers. In addition, the opening of new mines has contributed to widespread deforestation and wildlife displacement. Australia is lucky in that we have strong occupational health and safety standards that mitigate these effects; however, this does not stop the continued degradation of our environment, or the violation of First People’s sacred places. As the environmental movement begins to capture more of our country’s zeitgeist, why should we continue to mortgage our future on a currency system that is inherently reliant on the petroleum industry, poisons our water, and may not even be worth what it purports to represent? Leave currency where it belongs - at the bottom of wishing wells.
The Tav is a front for UWA’s underground Lithuanian poker scene.
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GREEN ROUND: THE AFL’S UNICORN BY CAMPBELL WILLIAMSON
Ok, so in the past few days, I’ve become a little obsessed with the weird, fever-dream that was the 2009 AFL Green Round.
with Lowy Institute data suggesting that around 70% of Australians supported taking action - even if it came at “significant costs.”
I can sort of remember it. I think. I’m pretty sure I saw it publicised on that ABC show Behind The News, where they mentioned something about football and taking a stand for the environment and ‘the future of our game.’ I can remember a beaming Kevin Rudd, rosy-cheeked and full of optimism, and Chris ‘The Traitor’ Judd both doing a presser. I would have been ten.
It’s hard to know when Green Round went into planning, but I would estimate that it was somewhere around this time.
In hindsight, the whole scene was so full of optimism that from the cynical vantage point of 2020 - where I currently sit, brooding - it all seems surreal, almost mythological. The AFL Green Round was like a unicorn: inspiring, beautiful to behold, but only glimpsed briefly - and then never again. By 2010, it had vanished - but such was the 2000s.
Unfortunately, by 2009, the same Lowy Institute data suggests that support for climate change had fallen by 20%, probably due to the effects of the Global Financial Crisis. The environment could wait - we were in the middle of something more pressing. So, Greens and Rounds were swept under the carpet, and old Kev was forced to suspend his Reduction Scheme for the foreseeable future. That was that. History became legend, legend became myth, and Green Round passed out of all knowledge. I never thought I’d see the likes of it again.
So, what happened? Why did the AFL drop Green Round like a sack of mouldy potatoes? Well, I’ve concluded that they either must have solved climate change, or that it was political.
But, since 2012, it seems that public support for climate change action has been steadily building steam, and in the last two years, it has neared those lofty heights reached in 2007. Could it possibly happen again? Another Green Round in my lifetime?
Cast your mind back to 2007 for me. A Fresh-Faced Kevin ‘07 was elected, partly on the promise of tackling climate change with his Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. At this time, support for climate change action was at an historic high,
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Setting Kevin’s ruby cheeks aside, I’d say that it’s looking more and more possible. I just hope there’s no GFC-type crisis to knock the wind out of our sails this time.
UWA has a secret Kalgoorlie campus they’ve since forgotten about and has prospered as a home for the local zumba scene.
MADE TO FAIL: THE COST OF ELECTRONIC WASTE BY CALEB CHENG
Apple’s newly-released iPhone SE 2 marks the beginning of yet another smartphone life cycle spelling the end for older generation iPhones this year’s model sets out to replace. Yet, unlike an actual lifecycle, there will be no glorious rebirth after the death for the millions of soon-to-be discarded, once-loved, screen-cracked, iPhone 6s. Planned obsolescence - combined with the growing consumer classes in China and India - means electronic waste stands to inflict major damage to the environment, without a clear solution in sight. If you’re reading this on an iPhone 8 or earlier, you’re doing better than the three years that the average individual keeps their phone. But at least a phone is something used pretty much every day – a recent EU study found that the average lifetime of a desktop printer is a mere 5 hours and 4 minutes of actual printing time! ENDS Europe found that planned obsolescence has overtaken defective products as the reason why consumers replace their devices. However, the idea of forcing consumers to buy new items by purposefully decreasing the lifespan of products is hardly new. The Phoebus cartel, which operated between 1925 and 1939 in Geneva, artificially reduced the life expectancy of light bulbs to 1,000 hours. General Motors surpassed Ford in 1931 by adopting yearly design changes, encouraging car owners to buy a new replacement each year. Part of the problem is the extent to which companies make their products impossible to repair. iPhone are held together by proprietary Pentalobe screws, which can only be loosened by specialised tools. Amazon goes a step further, and fills their Kindles
with glue to make it impossible to replace the battery – all in an attempt to force consumers to buy a new Kindle after a few years. And although convenient and magical, wireless headphones like Airpods are another culprit, as the tiny batteries die quickly and cannot be taken out. The main problem with e-waste, and what distinguishes it from regular garbage, is the high concentration of heavy metals and toxins. The unique properties of elements like cadmium, mercury, lead, and cobalt have allowed circuit boards to become as advanced as they are - but can have serious consequences for both human health and the environment. Guiyu, China, has become the e-waste dumping ground of the developed world, with over 75% of the city involved in waste processing. Once a rice village, the water of its river is now undrinkable, and the soil is too toxic for crops to survive. A STAGGERING 80% OF GUIYU’S CHILDREN SUFFER FROM LEAD POISONING, YET WITH THEIR ECONOMY SO DEPENDENT ON WASTE PROCESSING, IT’S HARD TO SEE THAT CHANGING ANYTIME SOON. Wealthy countries – very much including Australia – send 23% of their e-waste to places like Guiyu, despite the European Union and one-hundred and eight-six countries ratifying the Basel Convention, prohibiting the transfer of hazardous waste from developed to developing countries. Entrepreneurs, investors, academics, businesses and lawmakers are all going to play a part in the complex solution. We need to see e-waste as not pollution or waste, but an untapped market waiting to be disrupted. Mega companies like Apple and Samsung need to start designing devices without planned obsolescence, that are made to be durable, and then start taking responsibility for the waste their products create. Consumers need to fight for the right to repair the tech that they own, extending the life of the devices to slow down the rates of consumption. And with studies showing that, on average, each household has two or three phones sitting around in a drawer, there is a clear consumer e-waste space that is waiting to be occupied by the next opportunistic business.
Marriages at UWA that don’t invite the peacocks to the party are 76% likelier to end in divorce.
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YOUR MONEY’S IN THE GREEN
BY BRIAN KHOO
For many years now, substantial attention has been brought to issues such as climate change and sustainability. This has opened up a large number of opportunities for investors and corporations to increase levels of profitability, and for governments to gain popularity amongst their citizens. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors have seen a rise in popularity recently, and many firms are being encouraged to incorporate sustainability issues into their key performance indicators (KPIs). This may include accurate and transparent disclosures of energy usage; carbon emission levels; and initiatives made to better relationships with stakeholders. Charted Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) have recently pushed for international accounting standards boards to make the disclosure of these issues mandatory. CAANZ feels that many investors now recognise the impacts of climate change, and take them into account when choosing an investment. This has resulted in a spike in popularity of sustainability ETFs by fund managers and individual investors alike, including the AXA 1M Sustainable Equity Fund, and BetaShares’ Global Sustainability Leaders ETF. Last year, the share prices of companies on Barron’s “America’s Most Sustainable Companies” list provided investors with a 34.3% average return. The S&P500 only rose 31.5%. Losses on the most sustainable companies were also significantly lower than traditional funds in March this year. Furthermore, reports such as that published by McKinsey & Company in 2017 indicate a strong positive correlation between a firm’s financial performance and strong ESG principle implementation. Crunching the numbers prove that these ‘sustainable’ investments can be more profitable for investors than holding shares in larger multinationals, several of which we know exploit workers in the developing world through poor working conditions, whilst selling their products to consumers at extremely high prices. Governments could also support the rally for good sustainability practices by subsidising the adoption of renewable sources of energy: for instance, the
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UWA Peacocks set to form a coalition for upcoming student election.
installation of solar panels. However, this has not often been the case, especially amongst developed nations. The Paris Agreement requires countries to submit their plans to curb climate change, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), in 2020. Up to now, only Norway, Moldova, the Marshall Islands and Suriname have been able to boast stronger NDCs, whilst rapid industrial growth in emerging economies such as China and India has led to a significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions. The result is the second-warmest northern-hemisphere winter recorded last year, with average temperatures in December being three-point-one degrees Celsius above the average between 1951 to 1980. In Australia, the Great Barrier Reef has had its third mass bleaching in just five years, according to The Economist. Furthermore, it was the first time that corals in the southern part of the reef were bleached, despite the cooler temperatures of these waters. It’s impossible to deny the detrimental impacts of such events on the economy. The mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef is only one example in Australia’s tourism sector - one of the nation’s most heavily relied-upon industries. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, tourism alone accounted for 3.1% of national GDP, with direct tourism GDP growing by 3.4% in that period, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. There is a silver lining to all this, however. As unlikely as the source of hope might seem, lockdowns and social distancing measures implemented as a result of COVID-19 have significantly lessened levels of greenhouse gas emissions globally. In China, carbon emissions were reduced by 25% in February, from 2019 levels. A 13.5-26% reduction in peak hour traffic in New York, the city that never sleeps, has also led to an 8-10% fall in CO2 emissions in March. COVID-19 might have given us the opportunity to focus our attention back onto our climate change targets, which were quickly getting away from us. Governments can use this opportunity to invest in more climate-friendly industries, and the development of new sources of renewable energy. Doing so might also save levels of productivity from hitting zero. Since the end of the Third Industrial Revolution, productivity across the globe has fallen, and in the past ten years, economic growth in America has failed to rebound to levels they were pre-GFC (Global Financial Crisis). Any short-term economic damage caused by COVID-19 might present a chance for us to restructure resource allocations, and target industries that can provide us with new solutions that are sustainable for the planet. Investments in such technologies could be the key that unlocks the path to accelerated economic growth, and higher levels of productivity once more.
Pyramid schemes exist in UWA, except they’re repackaged as ‘BNOCs’ and ‘student elections’.
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ECOLOGY AND EXTINCTION: WHAT A MORE POTENT PANDEMIC MIGHT LOOK LIKE BY JACK LOGAN
Our global population has increased exponentially in the last century, in large part thanks to our ability to withstand infectious diseases through vaccination, sanitation, and antimicrobial treatments. We no longer expect children and siblings to succumb to outbreaks of scarlet fever, typhoid, or other such looming threats.
from a known class of microbes would, by definition, have family members that could serve as models for countermeasures. Secondly, a long incubation period would be necessary, meaning a high rate of transmission before symptoms occur. No recent high-profile pathogens, like COVID-19, influenza, or Ebola, have exactly met these criteria.
But as current events have emphasized, pandemiclevel pathogens are not a thing of the past, and they impact not only the human population, but also our global ecology. COVID-19, in grinding the world to a halt with the threat of infection, has already produced significant ecological effects in just a few short months, with city-choking smog vanishing and fish appearing in waters previously too polluted to sustain life.
Sexually transmitted infections are more likely to have severe effects on the population and possibly cause extinction. The spread of STIs is frequencybased, not density-based, and would primarily affect fertility rather than mortality. Whereas a high mortality rate disease, such as Ebola, inhibits its own spread by rapidly removing infected persons from the population, in the case of an STI, the infected host may remain in the population for an extended period and continue to spread the disease. A notable example is the sexually-transmitted HIV/AIDS, which has infected thirty-seven point three million people as of 2018. However, its spread is limited by simple yet effective prevention strategies, such as barrier contraceptives and needle exchange programs.
WHAT WOULD AN EXTINCTION-LEVEL PANDEMIC LOOK LIKE, AND HOW WOULD OUR GLOBAL ECOLOGY SHIFT IN THE AFTERMATH? Such a pathogen would have to possess two key characteristics. Firstly, it would have to be so unfamiliar that no existing treatment or vaccine could be applied to it, since any pathogen deriving
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There is no lack of similar “failed” pathogens; between 2011 and 2018, the World Health Organisation tracked one-thousand four hundred and eighty-
Breaking news: student claims first tutorial wasn’t awkward.
three epidemics worldwide. This is not a testament to these pathogens’ ineffectiveness, but rather to humanity’s resilience. Besides modern innovations in vaccination and other public health measures, our long-term evolutionary journey has given us a robust immune system to adapt to invasive microbes. This underlies the requirement for an extinction-level pathogen to possess near-alien novelty. The ecological effects of such a pathogen would be unique in the scale of its destruction compared to other apocalyptic scenarios. While it would not destroy civilisation like a nuclear war, or render it uninhabitable like climate change, the pandemic’s effects would be felt all the same. The balance between the natural world and the man-made one would tilt considerably. Nature, for so long tamed by human civilisation, would enter the urban jungle. The effects of our civilisation grinding to a halt would be almost immediate, with litter collecting in the streets, blocking drains, causing water to pool, and accumulated debris to rot into mulch. Even in the absence of pounding car tyres, cracks in roads will slowly widen into crevices, commencing a process of weathering and erosion that creates more and more niches for small opportunistic weeds, and then shrubs, to become established and further disrupt the surface. The gradual accumulation of leaves and other organic matter from this burst of growth will decay to an organic humus, and mix with the windblown dust and grit of crumbling concrete and bricks to create a genuine urban soil. Not unlike the green bin in your yard, this composting collection of organic material in an undisturbed environment would lay the fertilising foundation for a succession of larger plants to take root, and within two decades, trees will have become firmly established in an ecology once dominated by houses and skyscrapers. Such constructions would fare less well in this postpandemic environment; as loose vegetation mixes
with rubbish cascading through broken windows, piles of perfect kindling collect in the streets, and the chance of raging urban forest fires increases. Water, too, will do considerable damage – corroding metal, rotting wood, and causing floors to fall through and roofs to collapse; the majority of our houses will last, at most, a hundred years. Waterlogged foundations caused by unmaintained drainage, blocked sewers, or recurrent floods will prompt an unprecedented decay that will ultimately lead to the collapse of much of our skyline.
WITHIN A GENERATION OR TWO, THE URBAN GEOGRAPHY WILL HAVE BECOME UNRECOGNISABLE. Yet the problem of climate change will not go away, even with the population-altering shove of a highly virulent and extremely deadly pathogen. We have released carbon into the atmosphere at a rate far faster than our planet can reabsorb. Even with emissions completely ceasing following the pandemic, the Earth would continue to respond to the vast amount of carbon dioxide our civilisation has already released. We are currently in a lag phase, with our global ecology reacting to the sudden hard push we have given to its equilibrium. This momentum could possibly produce a cascade of ecological effects, with a rise in sea levels having the potential to prompt widespread melting of glaciers or thawing of methane-rich permafrost. It is therefore important to note that while the ecological effects of an extinction-level pandemic on the relatively small scale of our towns and cities would be quite dramatic, it would not halt the gradual impacts of climate change. While the former threat is, thankfully, only a hypothetical situation, the imminent menace of the latter is quite real.
Random young children on campus are encouraged to use low hanging tree branches as see-saws.
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FAR FROM GRUNTLED: A SEMI-REGULAR COLUMN
MY CHANCE AT A NEW HOME BY FAISAL HAMZA
I was invited to write an article on behalf of sub-editor Rupert Williamson, who normally writes this column. I soon discovered Rupert had already prepared a biting exposé on the irresponsible environmental practices of the production team of the American sitcom, Cougar Town. The people of Cougar Town were not pleased with this, and Rupert has since disappeared.
Fearing I may be considered an accomplice, I’ve retreated into hiding. With no time to prepare an article of my own, I found myself having an emotional Microsoft Teams call with my Bolivian pen-pal, Ernesto. Ernesto, keen to one day come to Australia, asked if I could share his resume on the esteemed Pelican Magazine in the hopes that the powerful elite whom consume this magazine can pull the necessary strings to bring him here. As a gracious friend and committed philanthropist, I agreed.
ERNESTO’S SUCCESS RESUME:
ADDRESS: 32B SERAFIN RIVERO, VILLA SERRANO EMAIL: ERNESTOEMAIL@ROCKETMAIL.COM SKILLS
Proficient with Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook (2007). Fluent in Italian, German, French & Mandarin (after lessons provided). Works well in leather. Ernesto fun fast fact #one: I am famous in my village for translating the famous game ‘rock, paper, scissors’ into Aymaran!
EDUCATION
Khan Academy graduate. Read Infinite Jest at age of seven and fully comprehended it. Memorised the Bible, Torah, Quran fully. 50% Kamasutra. Graduate of a school. Ernesto fun fast fact #two: Perth, Brisbane, Darwin, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide are my favourite cities!
WORK EXPERIENCE
Four-times Platinum album called The Streisand Spectacular: Ernesto Sings. Successfully calculated contents of Pulp Fiction briefcase. Accredited Pitbull cover artist. Mathletics world number one on afternoon of Saturday the 27th, 2011. World’s first internationally recognized (online) foosball grandmaster. General jack of all trades and all-around good lad.
REFEREES
God (has seen all my work). Contact: Prayer. r/Hydrohomies. Contact: The World Wide Web. My dad refused to be on this because he detests the commonwealth, but he has occasionally expressed fondness for me.
I hope the reader finds it in their heart to accept, or at the very least consider, Ernesto for work of any kind. I apologise for not writing an article myself. I promise next time I am invited to fill in on Rupert’s behalf, I will write the greatest funny article of all time. At least close to it.
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I would also like to state, for the record, that Cougar Town’s environmental practices are industry consistent and any issues/ hypothetical exposés should be systematically orientated as opposed to unfairly spotlighted on innocent Courtney Coxstarring and executively produced sitcoms.
Student understood entire lecture; left confused and doubting.
MINDFUL TOURISM: HOW TO REALLY HELP COMMUNITIES AND CONSERVATION BY CAMERON CARR
Eco-Tourism - the process of travelling, combined with the ‘aim’ of conservation - is regrettable in many ways. It involves a demographic of predominantly rich, white people, who over-value their (frankly) minimal environmental contributions. The trend of flying to the other side of the world to plant trees, often with additional ‘Voluntourism’, is a waste of money that could be spent better, and shows disregard for local cultures’ best interests. While it’s important to note that tourism is often great for developing areas and distributing wealth, things get tricky when you add that element of volunteering. Eco- and Voluntourism take away jobs and opportunities from locals who want the ability to work, and preserve their cultural and spiritual sites. Tourists take away the employment opportunities for locals when they train as volunteers; they’re also much less knowledgeable about the area compared to locals. Locals are much more likely to stay at eco-centres in protected forests, which are costeffective, and provide wages to locals. Tourists are far less likely to stay in these places, and therefore have increased associated food and housing costs. You only have to look at the awful defacement of Indigenous Australian artwork in the Blue Mountains to see that outsiders simply don’t always respect these sites. Authorities in areas that are trying to create work for these minorities and Indigenous groups can struggle to keep sites protected and open due to this defilement. So, even if there are local workers in these areas, their numbers plummet in the face of site disrespect.
I also think it’s worthwhile looking at Youth Voluntourism. Many of us like the idea of helping vulnerable communities - and why not combine that with some overseas travel? I urge people looking to volunteer - particularly with children and the vulnerable - to do so at home. People in developing countries experience an increased risk of living in extreme poverty and trauma, and often, this is only made more significant with Voluntourism. Experiencing a revolving door of volunteers puts children through a vicious cycle of emotional attachment, and eventual desertion. On a less emotional level, volunteers are also woefully underqualified. Just because these communities are underprivileged does not mean that providing low-quality services is justifiable. For example, building structurally-unsafe housing that needs to be demolished isn’t helpful for anyone; and running classrooms with ineffective lesson plans has the real potential to put locals even further behind, and create unproductive learning patterns. The clear alternative to all of these harms is to simply support local efforts - ones that have a lasting and meaningful impact - where you can. Sponsor overseas efforts; petition governments to step up their international relief efforts; and acknowledge that locals know what’s best for themselves. There’s a reason most of the global companies running Voluntourism and Ecotourism getaways aren’t based in the countries they claim to ‘support’.
People choose Accounting as their major and find it interesting. Who knew?
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EVERYDAY MAGIC BY CELESTE ONG
There’s a line in Harry Potter and the HalfBlood Prince that has always resonated deeply with me: “…let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.” If you know me, you know I have this everywhere: on my Twitter bio, on a post-it note in my room, and pinned on Pinterest. I love adventure. I used to read a lot of books, and threw myself into different worlds, even if only for an hour. From living life in Ancient Egypt, to climbing Mount Everest, I believe that reading is really the best way to travel on a budget. All you need is a thirty-dollar ticket to see the world - and more. Sometimes, though, this isn’t enough. You might be sick of the word ‘wanderlust’, but I think it perfectly captures my love for adventure and travel. My best memories of travelling include beach resorts, hilarious inside jokes with my family, and riding a toboggan down a snowy mountain. These are memories that I hold very close to my heart. I think that my love for adventure came from my dad. My father always had a love for running and hiking in nature reserves, and I recall, when I was much younger, the numerous adventures that we would have as a family, exploring hiking trails around
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Singapore every Sunday morning. We would find joy in discovering spider webs, helping caterpillars get back on leaves, and following an ant trail. While smelling the fresh air and enjoying the walk we could disconnect from the fast pace of our island city. As my sister and I got older, our priorities changed. We would be found splayed on our beds till the afternoon, only waking up to grab brunch, before continuing our day on the internet, either rushing to complete our homework, or with YouTube and funny Instagram videos, relaxing before Monday rolled in. It’s so easy to just go with the flow as time passes. We’ve always got work ahead of us, and with the internet right at our fingertips, there is always something to do. There’s so much content available online, and we have the freedom to choose to do nothing but scroll on our phones the whole day. The mundane of the everyday was suffocating to me, especially since it was exam season in November. At that point, I was getting burnt out from studying. My birthday was around the corner; I vowed that I would do something special, for myself. I decided that I would head to Lions Lookout and attempt to capture the sunrise, as a way for me to reflect on my year so far, a chance for me to connect with nature, and a great opportunity for me to see a
Interrupting the lecture every five minutes to ask a question is a great way to make friends.
bit of Perth. I had never gone on a hike on my own at this point, and this was both exciting and terrifying for me. Driving up Perth Hills before sunrise was intimidating, considering I had only ever driven there during daylight. The moment I stepped out of my car, I was greeted by strong winds and darkness, with the exception of a few lights. However, the illuminated cityscape captivated me, and I enjoyed the view of the city skyline while waiting for the sun to rise a little before beginning my walk. The silence, with the exception of the howling wind, was the peace that I had been searching for. I took out my camera and snapped a few pictures. Savouring a few moments to myself, I closed my eyes and took in the fresh air as the wind whipped my hair across my face. Seeing the sky turn grey, I picked up my torch and began walking. As the sun began its daily ascent, the scenery around me changed, and the sky flourished from a sleepy grey to a vibrant mix of orange and pink. The shadows around me morphed into colour, and flowers and bushes waved at me as I walked past. I photographed an ant searching for food, and hunted for interesting rocks, bushes, and trees. Enjoying the rustling of the leaves and the chirping of the birds, I felt a peace that that had been missing from my life for a while. Nothing prevented
me from halting in my tracks to follow a beetle as it strolled the same path I was on. Work was far from my mind. In that moment, I felt a calm wash over me, and a warmth spread through my body. I walked around for a while after the sun rose, taking in every sight and smell, not really knowing where I was going exactly, but loving that I got to spend this time with myself, without distraction.
BEING AWAY FROM THE CITY GAVE ME AN ENERGY THAT I HADN’T KNOWN THAT I NEEDED. It gave me a chance to connect with myself, and with my dad, knowing that he would love to watch more sunrises together. I think it’s so important for us to take a break from the rush of the city life, and enjoy the calmness and nature of our Earth - something that we sometimes forget to appreciate. I took a vow to try and hike more often, in search for the same peace, knowing that while sights and views can be captured, every experience is unique and too personal to be captured. After all, as a cheesy Pinterest quote would say, we should all “be seekers of everyday magic”, and journey forth in our quests to find the magic in our world and connect with ourselves.
All the ducks at UWA are actually up for adoption and free for you to take!
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HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY STILL AT THE CORE OF THE GOVERNMENT’S AGENDA BY LILY ANDREW
UNGI (not fungi) is a Morrison Government scheme with seemingly little to no constitutional or legislative authority. Short for ‘Underwriting New Generation Investment’, UNGI is an initiative under the portfolio of Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor. It was introduced in 2018 after an inquiry by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) found that competition in Australia’s electricity sector needed to be stronger. UNGI set out to increase competition by providing financial support, and underwriting new dispatchable electricity generation projects—with the potential to oversee the allocation of millions of taxpayer dollars towards problematic energy initiatives. The program is still yet to be finalised. However, notable developments have occurred just recently—at the end of January, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the NSW and Commonwealth Government. Included in this memorandum was $2 billion dollars’ worth of measures, some of which, if implemented, would weaken environmental protections and facilitate the continuation of coal-fired power generation. Most peculiarly, Schedule F in the memorandum provides three power generation projects with Commonwealth funding through UNGI. One of these power projects is funding for an old coal-fired power station, owned by Delta Energy, whose CEO is one of Australia’s most generous political donors (especially for the Liberals and Nationals). The funding of this project is controversial, because not only is this the only coal-fired power station that has been offered Commonwealth funding, but the funding is also delivered through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). However, as the Executive Director of the Australia Institute points out, it is unlawful for money from CEFC to be used in coal-generated power projects. Similarly, there are questions to be raised regarding the role of politicians in influencing the projects that CEFC funds. The CEFC was set up as an independent entity, separate from any ministerial or departmental directives. However, this memorandum and the shortlisting of projects suggest Commonwealth ministers, or perhaps the UNGI program, have the capacity to supersede this.
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As the recent sports rorts scandal has demonstrated, the lack of oversight and public accountability on funding measures can lead to the gross misuse of taxpayer funds. Due to this, it is even more crucial that the selection criteria for such large energy projects is made available to the public. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has overshadowed these key developments, reflecting the way in which crises or controversy can enable a covert repeal of important environmental regulations, under the public’s radar. For example, in late March, the NSW Government green-lit Peabody Energy’s application to mine coal from underneath Sydney’s Worona reservoir - the first approval for such a project in two decades. Since Worona provides water to Greater Sydney, a petition of over ten thousand signatures was collected by concerned citizens to call a debate in Parliament on this issue. However, due to COVID-19, Parliament was shutdown, and along with it, the debate on the issue. Five days before the NSW Government approved the mine, the Victorian Government also ended a five-year moratorium on the restriction of offshore gas exploration—however, fracking remains banned. It has been suggested that Angus Taylor made the lifting of the moratorium a prerequisite for Victoria to be able to access funding for other energy projects. In Western Australia, the McGowan Government has also given major financial breaks to companies who deal with minerals and petroleum, while exempting them from temporary closure, citing the need to mitigate the economic impacts of the crisis. The COVID-19 crisis is creating ripe conditions for lobbying groups like the Minerals Council and the Business Council to call for less environmental regulation; greater investment in coal and gas; ‘smaller government’ in the form of company tax cuts; and greater bargaining power in employment relationships in the form of changes to industrial relations laws. It is difficult to hold our governments to account while our democratic institutions are halted or preoccupied. But it is essential, because we need to preserve and improve our ecological environments, before the damage done becomes irreversible.
New research suggests studying at the ground floor Reid is actually high IQ energy.
GET GREEN BY ELLENOR SIBON
Maybe you’re stuck at home with noisy siblings and demanding parents, or you’re living alone and growing bored of prolonged Netflix binges. Whatever the situation, you will likely benefit from getting some nature exposure. Here are a few (slightly unorthodox) suggestions to brighten your day.
EARTHING/GROUNDING Earthing, also known as Grounding, is the relatively self-explanatory term for physically connecting to the earth. It includes walking barefoot, sitting, or lying on natural surfaces, such as grass, sand and dirt. By directly touching the ground without the barriers of shoes or carpet, one forms an electrical circuit and can thus discharge the positive charge in one’s body.
TREE-HUGGING AND FOREST BATHING The hippies were on the right track – research into tree-hugging has suggested significant health benefits! These include lowering the heart rate and blood pressure; stimulation of oxytocin, the ‘bonding’ drug; and a decreased production of stress hormones. Peter Wohlleben, a German forester and ecological author, outlines the startling new science of trees in his book The Secret Life of Trees. He affirms that trees have families, feel pain, and communicate by emitting slow electro-magnetic pulses. Humans can absorb these by touching trees, and by simply being in their presence. The Japanese have long since practiced a form of forest immersion called shinrin-yoku, which literally translates to ‘forest bath’, or taking in the forest with one’s senses. The Icelandic Forestry Service has also recently recommended tree-hugging and nature walks to improve mental and physical wellbeing. It may look odd, but it’s an effective way to de-stress.
Experiments suggest that Earthing can help regulate cortisol; improve sleep; reduce stress and inflammation; and even help control pain. It also gives you an excuse to go barefoot if you’re too lazy to put on shoes.
LOOKING AFTER A PLANT Plants are amazing. Not only do they physically brighten up spaces, but they connect us to nature, and make us feel better. Horticulture therapy is the practice of cultivating plants to improve mental wellbeing. It has been traced back to Ancient Egypt, where physicians ordered patients suffering from mental disturbances to walks in the garden. For those of us who don’t have access to a garden, indoor plants are an effective alternative. Modern studies have suggested simply being in the presence of plants may enhance job satisfaction; stimulate the release of dopamine and serotonin; improve productivity; and reduce stress levels. Some lowmaintenance plants that also function as air-cleaners are the snake plant; the spider plant; the Ficus/ weeping fig; the Boston fern; the peace lily; and the bamboo palm. Plants also react to how you treat them in terms of touching and talking. If you have the kind of disposition that seems to kill every plant you touch, get a snake plant. They are pretty much indestructible, and you can still talk to it when no one else will listen. Added bonus; it can’t talk back or disagree with your opinion.
Life wisdom: when in doubt, remember it’s okay to start drinking at 11am because that’s when The Tavern opens.
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I HATE TREADMILLS BY JEREMY HANSEN
Many people don’t understand why I like running, and to their credit, it’s not something that can be perceived as enjoyable. It hurts. A lot. But despite the brutal pain in the legs, lungs and limbs, it is incredible. The wind flowing by you; the beautiful Perth scenery; and the fulfilling sense of satisfaction after you complete that final stretch. What I don’t understand, however, are the freaks that use treadmills. It baffles me why people trade the fresh air in the great outdoors for sweat-covered gyms, filled with horny teenagers snorting ‘Precision Whey Protein Powder’, and Janice from the local knitting club is there too for some reason. Not only that, people pay prices that would even make ‘Franking Credits Fred’ fearful. And then you’ve got the abhorrent act of running on the treadmill itself. When I go for a run, I mean business. And not funny business - serious business. The private school mentality of ‘you are God’s greatest gift and can do anything,’ combined with some hard bass and AC/ DC, means that when I run, I go until I am an utter mess. Just like the stinky boys who wear a jumper and skinny jeans on a night out, I’m covered in sweat, continually dry reaching, and have a deflated red face. So why the hell do I want to be looking like that in a gym, surrounded by strangers and potential tinder matches? Flexing my ability to run like the Road Runner is hardly attractive when I’m looking like Taz the Tasmanian Devil.
And then we have the satanic machine itself. If I want to change the pace when I’m running, I just say the magic words, “We’re going to Bonnie Doon,” and I am filled with a rush of adrenaline. On the treadmill, however, I am forced to hit buttons that refuse to work, leading me to spam them in a rage. Then after a substantial lag, the speed increases by a ludicrous amount and I face the danger of becoming an internet meme by flying off the damn thing. Finally, the placement of treadmills is nothing short of idiotic. Everyone seems to place treadmills in front of televisions, meaning that instead of seeing the sun glisten off beautiful Herdsman lake, I’m in a staring competition with Grant Denyer’s shit-eating face. The serenity that makes running outside so intoxicating is utterly obliterated when I’m forced to look at yet another screen. So, if you’re a treadmill user, please go outside for a run. I guarantee you that getting out in the fresh air to fill your legs with lactic acid will epitomise the wise words of Mr Dale Kerrigan: “How’s the serenity.”
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The Somerville Auditorium is the best place to nap on campus because the ghost of Mr. Somerville will appear and spoon you.
AEROPONICS: THE FUTURE OF FARMING BY KYLE PAULETTO
There was a time when a trip to your local hydroponics store meant one of two things. You were either preparing your bomb shelter for the impending apocalypse, knowing that fresh kale is the thing you’ll miss the most when IGA is blown to oblivion, or you were about to start growing the dankest buds the kids at your local high school had ever smoked. But while populations grow and global warming shows no signs of slowing, how we farm our plants is going to have to adapt to a drastically changing world, and as a result, indoor grow-rooms are becoming more appealing to both individuals and farmers alike. Because of this, some believe that the future of farming plants is indoors, inner-city, and soil-free, with aeroponic technology at its core. We millennials don’t ask for much when it comes to the farming of our food. We would like the processes to be environmentally sustainable, the purchasing to be convenient for the consumer, and ideally for the produce to not contain any poisons designed for killing insects. Oh, and it would be nice if we could have our favorite greens available regardless of the season. Luckily, with aeroponics, all of this is achievable. Aeroponic farms have replaced the need for soil, pesticides, and excessive water usage. They can also be set up within metropolitan areas, reducing travel emissions. Instead of soil, a growing medium - often made from coconut husks or cloth - is used to plant the seedling, while the roots hang freely in a chamber underneath. The roots are then misted with a nutrient-rich solution, keeping them fed without the need for soil. Aeroponic systems have been shown to use just five percent of the water that a traditional crop, and produce almost 400 times the overall yield per square foot of land used. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization, a third of the world’s soil is either moderately or highly degraded, and it is
estimated that 30 – 40 percent of crops are lost to insect damage with traditional farming. Pair these issues with a growing population estimated to reach nine billion people by 2050, and it’s easy to see why there is such a demand for innovation within the industry. Two major roadblocks are keeping Aeroponics from making the jump to the mainstream. Cost is the first hurdle, as new technologies are expensive for farmers and a gamble for investors. That hasn’t stopped IKEA, along with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid of Dubai, from investing heavily in the concept. Singapore airlines have even begun using produce from the farmers at AeroFarms for their inflight meals, in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint, as these farms can be set up exceptionally close to airports. The second obstruction is traditional thinking. Changing the way humans do anything in a significant way has never gone down well with the masses. After all, we still have those opposed to vaccines, but I guess some people just can’t wrap their heads around the idea of living in a world where 2.6 million people don’t die from measles every year. While the farming industry has mostly embraced new technologies to optimize their efficiency, with the cab of a modern combine now resembling that of an airplane cockpit, a complete departure from the open fields is a big step for an industry that has been doing things a certain way since 9500 BCE. But the world has changed a whole lot since then, and it will continue to do so. And while those in the farming industry do their best to keep up with it, the time will shortly come when the environmental and economic viability of the sprawling, soil-covered farm will come into question. So perhaps it’s time to start rethinking what a farm looks like, because before you know it, one might just pop up next door.
When a Guild hack asks you out to coffee in August, they have zero ulterior motive.
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LIVING GREEN, DYING GREEN BY ANNIQUE COCKERILL
So, you’ve got your KeepCup, and you try to cycle to uni where possible. You’re doing what you can to live green. But have you ever considered how to stay green after you’re gone? No one really wants to think about death, but the culture of death avoidance is having some pretty awful consequences for mourners and the environment alike. Funeral homes give you two options: cremation or burial. If you’ve just lost someone, you’re not likely to delve any deeper than that. But when funerals are as commercially driven as any other industry, how do you know what the best option is for you or your family? What consequences does your decision have for those who are grieving, and for the world you’ve left behind?
CONVENTIONAL BURIAL Conventional burials still have their place in the Australian funeral industry - but if you care about the environment, you might want to re-think it. Commonly, bodies are embalmed - which involves filling the body with carcinogenic fluids, such as formaldehyde, that then leach into the soil. Animals (and people) exposed to formaldehyde have reduced fertility and lifespan. Then, there is the resource use. Caskets must come from somewhere. Wood and metal components; cement for the burial vaults; and the synthetic materials often used to line caskets aren’t particularly eco-friendly. Some even have a rubber seals. The gravesite itself is marked with either a plaque in a manicured lawn, or a large monument. So, with a conventional burial, you have the option of either lawn, with all the fertilisers, insecticides, and water consumption that this entails; or a gravesite, which is absolutely pristine and free of life. Not to mention that most of these components are not built in Australia - if you include the effect of the shipping, using a conventional burial can be shockingly bad for the environment.
CREMATION Direct cremation cuts down on a huge amount of the resources that are required for conventional burials. In Australia, it’s required by law for you to have a casket for cremation, but they tend to be made of simpler materials, like wood or cardboard, and must be small enough to fit inside the crematorium. Not only does this reduce environmental impacts, but also dramatically reduces the price. In Australia, cremation is, on average, about a third of the cost of permanent internment, which makes a huge difference in Perth - where funeral costs are the highest in the nation. However, cremation does have its own environmental issues. The process releases carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide - amongst other carcinogenic gases - and, in some cases, mercury vapour. Modern crematoriums have filters that help to reduce the released pollutants, but it’s not a perfect system. When my grandfather passed away, my mother had power of attorney, and oversaw funeral arrangements. It was a complicated period. By the time he died, she was exhausted and numb. She opted for cremation, not for environmental reasons, but because the separation of the funeral and the spreading of the ashes allowed us all to come to terms with the loss in our own time. He was an Olympic yachtsman, and we ended up scattering his ashes by the river near where he trained, about two months after the cremation. If you’re put on the spot, don’t compromise your grieving process for a split decision. Cost: ~$4,000
Cost: ~$15,000
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First year of uni? The second floor of the Law Library is actually a great place to chat with mates!
BURIAL AT SEA Yes, you can be buried at sea in Australia. It’s by no means common, nor is it cheap, but it is possible. Burial at sea is regulated by the Environmental Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981, and therefore requires a permit which is usually only granted to those with a demonstrated connection to the sea. So, fisher-person who spent her life married to the sea? Yes. Management student from central Australia? Maybe not. Realistically, my grandfather might have been able to be buried at sea, but the process would have been exceptionally laborious. If the permit is issued, there are a tonne of other regulations to follow. Everything from depth of the burial site to shipping pathways needs to be considered, and the body itself should be sewn into a tough shroud (not a casket), which is weighted enough to permanently submerge the body. No one wants a stray foot washing up on Cottesloe beach. Because of the protections in place, the burial itself is pretty environmentally sound. The same cannot be said about getting the body out that far, but if you’re willing to sink the costs, and you have a reason, it’s a better option than a classic burial. Only about four people are buried at sea in Australia each year (usually long-serving navy personnel).
WATER CREMATION, OR ALKALINE HYDROLYSIS Okay, so we don’t have water cremation in Perth yet, but this is something to keep an eye on. Water cremation is widely considered the greenest way to go, and involves essentially using alkaline water and heat to rapidly decompose a body with about oneeighth the emissions of cremation. In New South Wales, currently the only state in which water cremation is offered, the nutrient-rich byproducts of the process are spread over forests as fertiliser, and what remains is ash-like substance to be returned to your family, like a regular cremation. There’s still a lot of back and forth about this process, mostly due to what professionals call “the ick factor,” but when you’re talking corpses, it’s hard to stay ickfree.
Cost: You’d better not be paying the bill. So, for those of us who want the most environmental option, but don’t necessarily have the natural burial budget, this is your best option (when it gets here). Cost: ~$8,000
NATURAL BURIAL “Don’t worry about all that funeral stuff, can’t you just bury me in the ground to feed the trees?” This sort of sentiment is probably the most common alternative funeral model I see people ask for. It’s becoming more popular to actuate, and increasingly, funeral homes are offering this as a visible and ecofriendly option. Natural burial - in which the body is interred in a biodegradable coffin made of natural fibres, and essentially laid to rest with minimal disturbance to the bushland environment. There are two natural burial grounds established currently in Perth: one in Fremantle Cemetery, and one in Pinnaroo. To the casual observer, this portion of the cemetery looks like any other patch of bush undergoing restoration.
In these burial locations, you are forbidden from using unnatural grave markers. Instead, the graves are marked by an uncut stone, a natural plant species, or even not marked at all. A GPS location, accessible through the metropolitan funeral board, can let friends and family visit the place of internment. The best thing about natural burial is what it means long-term. The cultural significance of natural burials guarantees political - as well as environmental protections for the restored bushland, enabling permanent green spaces in urban areas. The more people who opt for this funeral option, the higher the demand for these green spaces! Cost: ~$10,000
The peacocks are actually just very sophisticated surveillance drones.
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ISSUE FOUR
MEMORY
UNTITLED BY ASTON CLARKE (@MISFITTING_ILLUSTRATIONS)
SUBMISSIONS DUE BY THE 25TH OF JUNE E-MAIL PELICAN@GUILD.UWA.EDU.AU FOR MORE INFORMATION