WANT TO CHANGE BAD WAYS? SHOW HOW
Yong Ardinal doesn’t have to roll up his trousers and wade into the brown stream. He’s an entrepreneur employing many locals to do the messy jobs around his family’s home and business. He could just tell the workers what to do, then head back to the office.
There’d be some results. Plastic bags, soiled nappies and household rubbish would be rescued from riverbanks where they get tangled in tree roots, moved and buried in landfill.
But in a few weeks the job would have to be repeated as villagers upstream continued throwing their trash into the rushing water. This is despite signs forbidding the practice and threatening fines.
‘Even though the notices have been erected by local leaders supposedly with the backing of their communities there’s still no understanding of the reasons to protect the environment,’ Pak Yong said. ‘It’s not enough to put up warnings, you have to show by example.’
Or as Indian nationalist Mahatma Gandhi said: ‘If you want to change the world change yourself.’
In the Australian State of Victoria individuals who pollute in public can get fined $370 (Rp 4 million) just for a smoke stub or plastic wrapper. It’s double if the cigarette is still alight and the bag big, though that’s less likely as they’re no longer used by supermarkets.
Buyers have to bring their own cloth bags or cardboard boxes if they want to take their shopping home.
‘That system seems to work in the West because it’s been accompanied by an intensive education campaign backed by the public who report offenders,’ said the widely travelled Pak Yong.
Slogans like ‘Too lovely to litter’ - have been taught at schools so carried through to adults.’
The community organisation ‘Keep Australia Beautiful’ started in 1968. Its anti-pollution and sustainable lifestyle campaigns led by charismatic personalities supported by sports stars and famous entertainers, helped spread the message. The work had to be continuous - not stop-and-start to be effective.
It also needs widespread support from government, businesses big and small, industry and educators. All must believe that what they are doing is right and that they’re not involved in an contentious and divisive issue.
Container deposit regulations imposing 5 cent (Rp 500) on drink cans encouraged kids to collect and earn pocket money. Last century drivers and passengers tossed empties into roadside ditches - behaviour that’s now rare as other motorists take photos and report to the authorities.
‘Some of these initiative are worth trying in Indonesia, but they are not the only answer, and many ideas - like fining offenders - won’t work for practical and cultural reasons,’ Pak Yong said. ‘Leaders have to show they really believe the message they’re preaching by getting their hands dirty.’
And the job he does is foul as scores of families just a few hundred metres upstream use the river as a toilet and laundry. Much of the mess flows for a while and then settles on the creek floor, lifting the water level.
In turn this erodes the banks with the soil adding to the mud, so everything has to be dredged to restore the environment.
Before plastic became widely used most waste was organic. Containers were made of woven bamboo which eventually rotted, so apart from the visual pollution it mattered little if they were just tossed aside.
Now the waste problem is threatening farmers as the narrow gullies which carry water to the rice paddies get clogged and overflow.
The other danger is disease as people working in the irrigated fields handle wet plants destined for market but already contaminated by human waste.
Pak Yong is a chemical engineer, his wife Anita Januaris a chemist. Both are graduates of the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) as is their son Aditya Pratama Ardinal.
While working for major foreign oil and gas companies Pak Yong saw many innovations which he wanted to apply on a smaller scale. In 2004 the family started the own environment and management consulting business.
They called it Rhuekamp after an area in Sumatra, bought land in the village of Pucangsono about 15 km east of Malang and set about putting dreams into practice.
Solar power was an obvious installation, so panels went on a shed roof. Installers are hard to find so the family used its engineering skills to do the job themselves. China leads the world by generating 40 per cent of its power from the sun, followed by the US at 20 per cent. Indonesia uses less than one per cent.
A water-wheel to create more electricity will be installed once the river is cleaned and deepened. Feeding poultry and fish with household scraps helps create a sustainable economy.
Deep holes have been dug around the 0.7 hectare property as sumps to prevent flooding and reduce runoff from roofs and concrete.
The family’s ideas are spread to the locals by example, there’s no need to print pamphlets and get politicians to give speeches.
Cycling enthusiast Aditya opened a workshop to build hand-made bikes and set up a track and rest stop for recreational riders called Pinine. This fronts the river which the family has named Kali Resik -clean river.
‘In the past every village home had enough yard space for a fishpond and a garden,’ Pak Yong said. ‘Now modern homes are too small. We need to return to some of the old practices to preserve the environment and make kampong and towns sustainable and liveable’.
First published by Antara, 19 March 2023: https://en.antaranews.com/news/275838/want-to-change-polluting-ways-show-by-example
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