No passion for
plastic
It’s the universal way adults squash kids considered too
smart for their own good: ‘You’ll understand better when you grow up.’
That’s not a line recommended for anyone planning to mollify,
patronize or divert Melati and Isabel Wijsen from their goal to rid Bali of
plastic bags.
The cynical oldies are right. Age weakens; the fire in the belly gets
quenched by downpours of reality. Yet the barely-teens already understand this dampening
of dreams.
“With our friends we’ve been running Bye-bye Plastic Bags since 2013 and it’s true that it has become
tiring,” said Melati. “There have been disappointments.
However we got encouragement after the TED talk went global this year
attracting many people.”
The sisters’ flawless
11-minute presentation in London was delivered without autocues and loaded on
the Internet. It’s had about a million hits.
The talks are based
on the themes of Technology Entertainment and Design with the slogan ‘Ideas worth
spreading’.
The pair originally launched their crusade at the Green
School near Ubud where conservation and social-change initiatives are
mainstream rather than optional extras.
Bali’s economy depends heavily on overseas tourists lured by
the island’s lush beauty. Yet many locals and visitors drop their rubbish with
minimal thought to the consequences, but maximum damage to the environment.
That hardly mattered when food wraps were banana leaves and
drinks came in coconut shells. Toss the
leftovers in bush or brook and keep conscience intact. Organic discards rot,
plastic persists.
Indonesia is reported to be the second worst polluter of the
world’s oceans, bested only by China.
The Wijsens and their schoolmates consulted Professor Google
and found this and other alarming facts about plastic longevity. Science suggests survival for centuries.
Five per cent of Bali’s plastic bags are reportedly recycled,
but only the desperately poor find scavenging pays. Black smoke and the caustic
odors of cremated trash rise with the sun over Bali beaches.
Elsewhere the rubbish is buried. You and I will biodegrade
long before our shopping bags – unless other materials are used to lug groceries
from market to pantry.
“We are paying women in mountain villages to make bags from
old newspapers,” said Isabel, 13, though she looks older than her sibling. “We
also distribute ones made from cotton; what we really want is plastic bags
declared illegal by 2018.”
The story of their eventual meeting with Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika has been well told in the TED talk.
Like many yesterday politicians
Pastika made the error of ignoring a couple too young to vote and carrying no plans
for more malls. Instead, as the former police chief soon discovered, the
petitioners had a more potent tool - social media.
The girls staged a
pseudo hunger strike, garnered enough free publicity to make a candidate for
public office weep, and set out to muster one million signatures urging change.
The police called. Something
sinister must be afoot. But two bubbly adolescents can’t be tarred with the
Marxist brush or hints of being manipulated by ‘dark forces’ – the standard smears
to destroy opponents.
Eventually Melati and
Isabel got to meet the big man, who promised to back their crusade. There you are young ladies, a quick pose for
pix and now run home to Mommy.
Another school
assignment ticked off? Not quite.
“We understand that
getting a law passed doesn’t mean it will be implemented,” said sage Melati,
15, watching helmetless motorcyclists pass by.
“Had we been boys this activism would not have worked. In any case they
mature slower. Nor would it have been successful if we weren’t
Indonesians. As foreigners we’d have
been deported.”
The girls know how
bureaucratic inertia and caution erodes promises. At one stage they got inside
Ngurah Rai Airport to seek signatures; permission has now been rescinded by
nervous officials.
The sisters were born
in Bali. Mom, originally from the Netherlands, runs a villa booking
agency. Dad, from Surabaya, builds
joglos, the traditional Javanese houses.
When they turn 18
they’ll have to choose sides – Indonesia or Holland. The latter will provide a
widely welcomed passport – the former credibility in the clean-up campaign.
Then there’s further education; Isabel favors the creative arts, her sister social
science.
Melati has already
received what she calls “reach outs” regarding a scholarship to Harvard. “I now attend school for three days a
week because the other two are taken up with responding to requests for advice
and speeches.
“We have to keep going; our friends are
supportive. So are our parents.”
The family speaks US English
at home and trots the globe. In India they learned of Mahatma Gandhi’s use of civil
disobedience. They imported his example.
Apart from overtaxing
the adjective “cool” the teens impress by spooling through arguments for
action, dropping facts like their elders, who are clearly not their betters,
litter the landscape.
The BBPB crew has
produced a booklet in Indonesian which explains the issues, and a logo designed
to be internationally adaptable.
The candi bentar (split gates) found in Bali
temples can buttress the Eiffel Tower for French campaigners or the Statue of Liberty
for Americans.
They’ve had a ‘small
grant’ from the Internet ‘campaigning community’ Avaaz. Associating with an organization that has
stopping arms sales to Saudi Arabia on its lists could be risky; the girls are
careful to qualify their activism as ‘positive’.
Their advice to
others whose idealism still flares?
“Work as a team. Define your
goals. Walk the talk.”
When a photo shoot
alongside a gutter ended, the lens capped and notebook closed, the girls
continued to collect trash though they had other pressing needs. They do get
down and dirty.
Metaphorically? Kids can start anything, as the siblings say.
The test is maintaining the ideal when they graduate to the school of hard
knocks where the grubby deals get done.
Find the TED talk
here: https://www.ted.com/talks/melati_and_isabel_wijsen_our_campaign_to_ban_plastic_bags_in_bali?language=en
(First published in The Jakarta Post 7 June 2016: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/14650398/3092138801008652963
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