Nature fascinates me. As a child I wandered around my neighbourhood catching bugs, marveling at the sheer diversity of their species and roles in the natural world. This was my first exposure to etymology and evolution, leaving me thirsting for more. Growing older, my expeditions brought me further afield. I studied, and on occasion had to live off, biomes ranging from Bruneian jungles to Australian mountains and Mongolian steppes. Here I learned to appreciate the way our environment shapes us, through its rugged and often beautiful ecosystems.
In pursuit of explanations for the phenomena I marveled at when outdoors, I came across Geography. The interdisciplinarity of the A-Level curriculum encompassed physical and human aspects, allowing me to intimately research scientific topics such as Tsunami Genesis. This taught us the origins and spatial distribution of tsunamis, and how to mitigate against their devastating effects through hard and soft preventive measures. At the same time, I investigated qualitatively the interplay between anthropogenic climate change and the Earth’s own Milankovitch cycles in raising global temperatures. Both scientific and human perspectives allow us to better understand the complex environment we live in. Perhaps studying this relationship more intimately would advance the sustainable development we desperately need in the face of Global Warming.
My love for the environment drove me to conserve it for future generations: I devoted my youth to finding a way to achieve balance between our modern way of life and the ancient natural processes beyond our control. In 2012, I travelled to Taiwan to design and build earthquake-proof buildings for the safety of their citizens. In 2013, I juxtaposed Temasek history and Peranakan culture against economy and technology to define the Singapore identity on a national stage. In 2014, I trained for, then competed in the International Geography Olympiad held in Krakow, presenting Singaporean population and resource management strategies to solve major urban planning issues on a global scale.
Despite the years I spent researching, I knew that my understanding remains incomplete.
Beyond the academic arena, I sought Geography once again during my time in the military. Our tactics were derived from the most strategic use of surrounding terrain. I realised that victory did not belong to the side that fought the landscape, instead it belonged to the side able to use the landscape to fight for them. This has proven true since the Battle of Thermopylae, and continued to manifest itself throughout history: Russia repeatedly defended the North European Plain against the Poles, Swedes, French and Germans, China sought the annexation of Tibet to prevent invaders from amassing on the commanding heights of the Tibetan Plateau. Truly, geographical acuity can determine the fate of nations.
As President of the United States and its Commander-in-Chief, Barack Obama hiked up Alaskan glaciers to personally come to terms with the significance of climate change today. Indeed, Geography informs our political, social and economic decisions on the highest levels, and cannot be overlooked.
Having lived in both Malaysia, a land dotted with oil palm and rubber plantations, and Singapore, a tiny island with a sixth of Malaysia’s population, I understand two paradigms. The first is that of the large peninsula rich and resources and manpower, able to craft policies to utilise them, whereas the metropolitan city-state with neither, has to rely instead on import and ingenuity to stay afloat. The choices that we make in order to cope with the environmental hand we are dealt defines us as nations and spells our future.
I wish to stand at the confluence of Physical and Human Geography to find the way forward for our societies to best work with, not against nature to achieve sustainability. This requires a broad yet intimate understanding of both Nature’s and Man’s vagaries, one which I hope to acquire through my further studies in one of the finest institutions in the UK.
No comments:
Post a Comment