Innholdsfortegnelse for 1/2020 i ASIAN Geographic

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”— Rabindranath Tagore My father was a chief engineer for over a third of his life, and spent months at a time on voyages around the world. He and my mother moved from Rajasthan to Mumbai, and eventually to Singapore in the nineties, and I always guessed it was because my father had a vision so far and wide he could never establish a home in one place. While he has stopped sailing, he still works closely with the waters, whether it is regarding ship consultancy, ocean governance, or maritime environmental concerns, and home to him is vast – like the tides he revels in. The ocean does this to us. I’ve never been out at sea, but…

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the fifth largest, and covers an area of 15.6 million square kilometres. The ocean has an average depth of 1,205 metres and a total volume of 18.8 million cubic kilometres, which is 1.4 percent of the Earth’s waters. Despite being the world’s shallowest and smallest ocean, it is the second biggest drainage basin, after the Atlantic Ocean basin. The ocean’s coastline has a length of approximately 45,389 kilometres. Oceans of the World Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean covers an area of 85.1 million square kilometres, making it the second-largest ocean in the world. The ocean’s area is about 23.5 percent of the Earth’s total surface area. The Atlantic is divided into two parts, the North and South Atlantic Ocean, which are separated by the…

OCEAN SURFACE EPIPELAGIC ZONE  (SUNLIGHT ZONE) MESOPELAGIC ZONE  (TWILIGHT ZONE) BATHYPELAGIC ZONE  (MIDNIGHT ZONE) No sunlight reaches this deep. Many of the creatures found here cope by creating bioluminescence, their own light. Many deep sea creatures also have long life spans. Deep sea creatures can go years without eating. ABYSSOPELAGIC ZONE (THE ABYSS) We have passed by the average depth of an ocean (3686 metres). But some go deeper. Only a few creatures can survive the low temperatures and extreme pressures here. HADALPELAGIC ZONE (THE TRENCHES) More people have been to the moon than here. Conditions are extreme and life is sparse here.…

1987 INDIA Sundarbans National Park The park supports threatened mammals such as the Irrawaddy and Ganges River dolphins 1991 INDONESIA Ujung Kulon National Park The park is home to amphibians including the vulnerable estuarine crocodile 1991 INDONESIA Komodo National Park As well as its famous dragons, the park is rich in marine, from whale sharks, manta rays, and ocean sunfish to blue-ringed octopuses, pygmy seahorses, and nudibranchs 1993 PHILIPPINES Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park The site is a pristine coral reef with a 100-metre perpendicular wall, lagoons and coral islands. 1994 VIETNAM Ha Long Bay The exceptional scenic beauty is centred around the drowned limestone karst landforms, displaying spectacular pillars with a variety of coastal erosional features such as arches and caves 1997 BANGLADESH The Sundarbans Adjacent to the border of…

The ancient Greeks believed that there were six main rivers that flow from the living world into the Underworld. Like the river Styx flowing from Feneos, Greece, into the dark bowels of Hades, some rivers that once provided food, water, transport and trade to all living creatures have now turned dark – transporting waste from the cities to the oceans, and with it, death and disease. A recent study on the amount of plastic polluting our oceans revealed that close to 80 percent of the pollution comes from rivers in Asia. According to the 2017 study conducted by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany, about eight million metric tonnes of plastic debris are carried into the sea by large rivers every year. According to the UFZ…

In the ancient Hindu scripture Matsya Purana, Lord Shiva says, “Varanasi is my most sacred place, the cause of liberation. All sins, which may have accumulated in thousands of previous lives, disappear if one dies here.” Varanasi is a city of contrasts. Death and life, asceticism and hedonism, learning and ignorance – all exist side by side here. Following age-old traditions, many people move to Varanasi towards the end of their lives. It’s strange, but only here can you find hotels that are targeted at dying enthusiasts. Such establishments have a unique policy, which typically reads: “Welcome to check-in at no cost, but should you not die in a few days, we will ask you to leave.” Then there are the sadhus, the ascetic holy men that, having given up…

Vishnu’s Balancing Act Picture a country. For it to run smoothly and successfully, there are establishments and departments in order, in which most people have a designated role to fulfil. These could be in the military, police, or even the teaching sector. In the chain, there are thousands of individuals that carry out these responsibilities at different levels– and each person or group of people in charge has powers that enable them to lead. Now multiply this number of people by a continent. That’s well into the millions. Multiply this by the entire world – tens of millions of people are employed to keep the planet running. Now take this strategy into the spiritual realm, and even the vast number of deities in Hinduism start to look like an understaffed…

China’s Attempt at Mitigating Plastic Waste Text Sitaraah Joshi Imagine looking over an endless sea of overcrowded, cluttered waste. Such is the plight of the heaps of rubbish that have been accumulated and recklessly dumped in the landfills of China. The incessant uses of plastics by China’s 1.4 billion citizens in the forms of bags, cutlery, and containers have plagued the environment. However, 2020 marks a significant change in China’s attitude towards dealing with plastics. https://bit.ly/316Oqbr Eight Astonishing Asians that Hold Guinness World Records Text Shreya Acharya People all around the world have been fascinated by Guinness World Records. And why not? Each record category proves more interesting than the last. Here are some Asians who hold unique, extraordinary records around the globe. https://bit.ly/2RBhLHU Yangtze’s Chinese Paddlefish: Declared Extinct Text…

The five phases that the elements represent are around 72 days each and are used to describe a colour, as well as state, in Nature. – Water/Blue/Winter: a period of retreat, where stillness and storage pervades – Wood/Green/Spring: a period of growth, which generates abundant wood and vitality – Fire/Red/Summer: a period of swelling, flowering, brimming with fire and energy – Earth/Brown/Transitional season: the in-between transitional seasonal periods, associated with levelling, dampening (equalling to moderation), and fruition – Metal/Silver/Autumn: a period of harvesting and collecting The concept of wu xing is central in Chinese thought, including the fields of science, philosophy, medicine, astrology, and feng shui. The principle of the five phases describes a creation cycle and a destruction cycle in any sort of interaction between the phases. Creation cycle:…

If you’re in a cafe or a lounge, chances are that water babies are all around you. Water babies love hanging out with friends and chatting – the deeper the conversation, the better. They are creative writers, musicians, and philosophers, aptly labelled as they enjoy delving into the depths of life. Water babies are the ones at art galleries observing a painting for hours, and the ones that enjoy slow walks and stopping to smell the flowers. Water babies take their time; they don’t rush as they take in everything around them. Water babies like convenience and expect to be served. Doing things themselves and following through with ideas is not their strong suit. Their ideas are unique and inspiring, but putting those ideas into action proves a challenge. Life…

Oceans provide humanity with many goods and services: They are a crucial source of food and livelihood for millions of people and they produce more than half of the oxygen we breathe. However, the marine environment is under severe stress from multiple anthropogenic pressures that are acting together in unexpected ways. The deteriorating health of the oceans, the over-exploitation of living resources, irreparable damage to biodiversity and the new emerging challenges of climate change are serious concerns for genuine stakeholders in ocean governance, welfare and sustainable management matters. Climate change and the unsustainable use of natural resources, resulting in the degradation of ecosystems and leading to biodiversity loss worldwide, are clear signs that today’s humanity is living and consuming at the expense of future generations. We therefore need to develop…

While the definition of a sea is not completely set in stone, a sea is generally defined as a portion of the ocean that is partly surrounded by land. In some cases, a sea is completely landlocked, such as the Caspian Sea, which lies between Russia and Iran, and which is also referred to as the world’s largest lake. The Aral Sea and the Dead Sea are also surrounded by land and contain saltwater, but many oceanographers consider them lakes. This leaves dozens of water bodies that fit the traditional definition of a sea despite being quite different from one another. A sea can be more than 2.6 million square kilometres in area, such as the Caribbean Sea. Or, it can be as tiny as the Sea of Marmara, a…

Great poets all over the world have written about rivers, and why not? On their epic journeys from mountain to sea, they nurture and provide, shaping both our landscapes and our cultures. Irrigation has allowed for agriculture to flourish and provides hydration for millons. Rivers are also a mighty sight to behold, often carrying with them great cultural and religious significance, and history that is encapsulated in every drop. This natural flowing watercourse usually flows towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water. A river begins at a source (or several sources), follows a path or a course, and ends at a mouth, or several mouths.…

VIETNAM The Mighty Mekong River Around the Mekong River, 70 million people throughout Southeast Asia live and thrive – more than the population of France. Thais and Laotians who share the Mekong River have similar cultural traditions and have maintained close exchanges. Fishermen on the riverbanks even make a short stay at the opposite shore without a passport or visa. Whether from the Thai side or the Lao side, the fishermen all know each other, and greet each other warmly every day when a boat passes. Dragon boat racing, which originated in China, has also spread to the middle and lower reaches of the Mekong. The Greater Mekong has been called Asia’s “fish basket” and “rice bowl”. It produces 4.5 million metric tonnes of fish every year, contributing about 80…

The unique geography of island nations enable them to bank lucratively on tourism. These places have stretches of coastlines, tropical climates, and historical and cultural significance – some of the factors that drive tourism. These nations are also strategically located for maritime trade as their economies mostly rely on imports and exports. Some of these nations boast natural resources such as fisheries, arable land, minerals, and forestry. However, many island countries are more affected than other nations by climate change, which produces problems such as reduced land usage, water scarcity, and sometimes even resettlement issues. Some low-lying island countries are slowly being submerged by steadily rising sea levels. Other adverse effects linked to global warming that have been witnessed in these countries include typhoons, cyclones, tides, floods and droughts, which…

Bruce Lee famously said, “You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water, my friend.” Water is one of the five elements in the Chinese philosophy of wu xing. This theory first appeared in the studies of Taoism, during the spring and autumn period sometime between 770–476 BC. It rapidly expanded with its use in Chinese medicine, philosophy, fengshui, fortunetelling, and martial arts – and is still prevalent to date. The five elements – wood, fire, earth, metal, and water – are generated by the interaction between yin and…

QIANDAO LAKE, CHINA The Lion City The Lion City, otherwise known as Shi Cheng, is an ancient submerged city that lies at the foot of Wu Shi Mountain (Five Lion Mountain), now located about 25 to 40 metres beneath Qiandao Lake (or Thousand Island Lake) in China. Despite more than 50 years underwater, the entire city has been preserved completely intact, transforming it into a virtual time capsule, thanks to its well-preserved architecture and carvings that date back 1,400 years. The Lion City was built during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–200 AD), and was first set up as a county in 208 AD. It was once the centre of politics and economics in the eastern province of Zhejiang. But in 1959, the Chinese government decided a new hydroelectric power station…

INDIA 01/01–29/02/2020 KUMBH MELA The largest of the water festivals are India’s various Kumbh Melas, which take place alternately in Haridwar, Ujjain, Nashik and Allahabad, and celebrated in each place every twelve years. This festival, which dates back to Vedic times, is one of the most sacred of all pilgrimages for Hindus, and literally tens of millions of sadhus and saints come from all over the country to participate in the festival. The story behind the Kumbh Mela is found in several of the Hindu texts. According to the story, the devas (gods) desired to churn the primordial ocean of milk in order to procure the pot (the kumbha) of the nectar of immortality (amrita) which lay at the bottom. In order to do this, the devas enlisted the help…

Dolok Tinggi Raja Average elevation: 450 metres One such colourful site is Dolok Tinggi Raja (freely translated as the King’s High Ground). It is situated halfway between Medan and Lake Toba in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, in the limestone hills and close to the “spine” of Sumatra, in the chain of volcanoes named “Barisan Range”. Since 1924, it has been designated a 167-hectare Nature reserve. It is well-known for its sinter formations, such as terraces on a mound in orange and red, as well as black and snow-white on fine grained column-like forms from which hot water steadily flows or trickles down if the terrace is close to the water pool on top of the volcanic mound. The snow-white terraces and other flatter parts of the mound are the “tropical…

Mother, the folk who live up in the clouds call out to me –“We play from the time we wake till the day ends.We play with the golden dawn, we play with the silver moon.”I ask, “But how am I to get up to you?”They answer, “Come to the edge of the earth, lift up your hands to the sky, and you will be taken up into the clouds.”“My mother is waiting for me at home,” I say, “How can I leave her and come?”Then they smile and float away.But I know a nicer game than that, mother.I shall be the cloud and you the moon.I shall cover you with both my hands, and our house-top will be the blue sky.The folk who live in the waves call out to…