ENVG111 Geography Challenge Macquarie University 2014

1. ENVG111 Geography
Challenge
Rhiannon Absalom, Justin
Manalo and Alice Melton

2. On Friday the 21st of March three
intrepid travellers caught the train to
Sydney’s Inner West suburb of Burwood.
None of us had ever been to Burwood
before (though we were much more
aware of its geographic location than we
were to Cabramatta’s), so we weren’t too
sure what to expect. But forth we went
with empty stomachs to enjoy what we
were certain would be a delicious meal
worth leaving the comforts of home
for....

3. According to the 2011 census of
Population, there were 12,466 residents in
Burwood. In Burwood, 30.4% of people
were born in Australia. The most common
other countries of birth were China
(excludes SARs and Taiwan) 26.5%, India
4.6% and Korea, Republic of (South) 4.0%.
25.5% of people only spoke English at
home. Other languages spoken at home
included Mandarin 22.5%, Cantonese
13.1% and Korean 4.3%.
Australian Bureau of Statistics
http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_ser
vices/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/1053
51300?opendocument&navpos=220

4. We found ourselves at Anh Dao
Vietnamese and Chinese Cuisine on
Burwood’s main street.
The atmosphere was reminiscent of
the many affordable Asian cuisine
restaurants that have popped up
along the Inner West and
throughout the city, bringing
traditional cuisine that has been
modified to suit the western palate.
Nothing posh or expensive here,
just Chinese food perfect for an
impoverished but hungry university
student- delivered quickly after
ordering, with complementary hot
tea for all.

6. 2. During our fieldtrip to Burwood, we sat down with
the owner of the restaurant, Anh.
Anh was from Northern Vietnam, and immigrated to
Australia in her early 20’s following the Vietnam War
which had significantly affected her and her family.
Before arriving in Australia she spent 3 months waiting
in Thailand for a visa. She has a daughter who was born
and raised in Australia.
Anh is fluent in Vietnamese, and considers Cantonese
to be her second language. She speaks English as her
third language, though she says not fluently.
The biggest obstacle she faced in her transition to
Australia was the language barrier, as she spoke no
English when she arrived. She overcame this obstacle
by learning English through an English speaking school
and by watching television.
She says what she likes most about Australia is that the
people are friendly, and she thinks the weather is great
(and much better than Vietnam)!

8. This commodity was purchased from a local
Woolworths Stall. Coffee is a brewed beverage that is
prepared from roasted seeds that come from Coffea
shrubs.
Coffee is the second most consumed beverage in the
world behind water, and approximately 300 billion
cups of coffee are drunk each year.

9. Legend has it that coffee originated
in the highlands of Ethiopia in the
9th century. During the 14th century
the coffee plant was transported
across the Red Sea and introduced
to Arabia, where the coffee seeds
were roasted and brewed similar to
how they are produced today.
During the 17th century, coffee was
introduced to Europe via Venice,
where traders shipped coffee from
Turkey. Within 30 years to
popularity of coffee in Europe had
grown immensly.
The two main and vastly used types of
coffee bean are Arabica and Robusta. Coffee
only grows in tropical and sub-tropical
regions such as Africa, South America, and
South East Asia.

10. The Lavazza Ground Caffe Espresso is made from 100% Arabica beans where it is mainly
cultivated in South American countries such as Brazil, which is the largest coffee bean producer
in the world and has a third of the market share.
The Lavazza Ground Caffe Espresso is then roasted, brewed and grounded in Italy, where it is
also packed. After this process it is then shipped to distributers who distribute it to cafes,
restaurants, coffee shops and supermarkets around the world.

11. Your total water footprint
=
600
cubic meter per year
Components of your total water footprint
431 114 55 600
Food Domestic Industrial Total
Contribution of individual food category towards the total water footprint
55 305 4 16 14 0 1 5 14 16
cereal meat vegetable fruit dairy Stimulant Fat sugar egg Others
Your total water footprint
=
563
cubic meter per year
Components of your total water footprint
438 119 5 563
Food Domestic Industrial Total
Contribution of individual food category towards the total water footprint
0 266 5 19 48 64 1 7 10 16
cereal meat vegetable fruit dairy Stimulant Fat sugar egg Others
As can be seen, the water
footprints for two of our
group members are very
similar.
Food is the component which
contributes the highest
percentage of our total water
footprint, followed by
domestic uses.
Within the sub-category of
food it is meat which makes
up the majority of this water
footprint.

12. In order to try to lessen our water footprint, we came up with the
following solutions:
• Shorter showers- we both admitted to having rather ridiculously long
showers. Wannabe opera singers? Contemplating existentialism and
the meaning of life? Who knows. But wasting A LOT of water? YES.
• Changing to a low flow shower head
• Eating less meat- meat consumption was the cause of the highest
amount of water use. We attempted to be slightly less carnivorous
for a week
• Moving to a lower fat diet and trying to avoid fast food and
processed foods

13. When we compared our experiences for the week we discovered that we both
found it easy to cut down on the length of our showers when we knew were
aiming to try and halve our shower time. The challenge will be maintaining these
faster shower times, and convincing family members to take shorter showers too.
We both tried to cut down on our meat and fast food consumption: Considering
one of us worked at a fast food chain that proved difficult. Alice found it was
possible to cut down on some meat as she tried to bring her own food from home
or made the conscious decision to try and eat vegetarian whilst at university. At
home it was more difficult as she arrived home late and didn’t have much option in
what was cooked for dinner. Rhiannon found it easier to cut out meat and
processed food, as her sister is already a vegetarian.
We both acknowledged that we hadn’t realised how much water went into
producing the foods we eat, and that it was so easy for people living in developed
countries with access to as much fresh, clean water as they need, to forget how
important water is for our survival.

14. Artist: Bleached Academy
Genre: Rock/Pop
Origins of the genre: The style ‘Rock/Pop’ is a fusion of two incredibly broad genres of
music. The Rock genre is said to have originated in the 1950s in the UK and USA. It
mainly consists of driving backbeats provided by the drum kit, melodically and
rhythmically exciting guitar sections (with a lot of use of distortion), as well as rough
and sometimes husky vocals. Rock music is greatly contrasted to pop music, as it rarely
uses distortion.
Pop music (which also developed in the 1950s from rock and roll) is almost always in a
major key which provides a sense of happiness and joy to the music, and includes
catchy and memorable vocal lines, clean guitars with repetitive riffs, and simple drum
beats. The fusion of these two genres aims to mix the catchy melody lines and the
joyful feeling of the music with the exciting, challenging, and sometimes distorted
guitars of rock.

15. How do they produce their image and music for consumption? This band is able to
produce their image and music for consumption as they are appealing to an already existing
audience. The pop/rock genre has gained in popularity in the last few years. On the Triple J
Unearthed page they have listed their influences as Paramore, Anberlin, and Enter Shikari.
By listening to these bands as they were producing their own music, they were able to
incorporate the elements of these groups’ music they liked into their own work. By drawing
similarities between their own music and the music of more prolific and well known artists,
Bleached Academy is able to increase their listening base and give themselves a legitimate
platform and music community to work with.
How is their music connected to global change?
The pop/rock genre continues to develop and diversify, so there is a lot of room for new
bands to enter into the scene and create their own space.
One of the huge developments in music with the utilisation of new technologies is
accessing music online- which is why being able to share your music on a prolific Australian
radio website like Triple J Unearthed gets you more exposure with a local and international
audience as people search, discover, and share new music content online. In the 21st
century many artists have been able to rise to fame due to their success on the internet.

16. Thank-you
for
watching!