NJ March 2011
Going Green
1,921 words for 3FP
Text by Kindra Cooper; Photos courtesy of Green Radio, WTM, GEMASH JAK
It's difficult to imagine that in our traffic-plagued,smog-filled, garbage-swamped city, communities are lobbyingfor sustainable living practices. Too many people passively complain yet take no initiative - many under the pretext that theproblem is out of control. These communities, however, representbrave, driven folks who have their eyes set unswervingly on one goal.
Green Radio 89.2FM
Founder Santoso pinpoints Jakarta’s garbage, pollution andcitizen’s ignorance as the cause of the city’s floods, which occur with almost clockwork regularity and each time destroy infrastructure and roadsstill recovering from a previous hit. Incited into action by the devastation ofthe 2007 floods, Santoso started ‘Green Radio’: a station transmitting dailysmidgens of advice and caution concerning climate change. Eradicating ignorancecan only be achieved by spreading the message far and wide – even as far as thearchipelago’s most remote islands – hence the use of the radio as acommunication medium; and the broadcasts are delivered in a formatcomprehensible to the layman. The advice is simple: practical feats that can beintegrated into daily practices with minimal time and effort, such as replacingdisposable plastic items with reusable counterparts, composting organic waste,and minimizing electricity use and household waste by using only what isneeded. Green Radio regularly advertises the use of biopores, a relatively new method involving the vertical boring ofholes into the soil, which are then filled with organic waste. The fertilityand quality of the soil is thereby increased, as the soil’s indwellingorganisms then have an extra energy source, increasing plant’s anchorage in thesoil and the soil’s infiltration capacity – and thereby conditioning it forheavy rainfall. Green Radio’s listeners are referred to as ‘Green Friends’ andtoday reach 200,000 people, 70%of whom tune in for more thaneight hours per week. Some 40% of thelisteners are involved in Green Radio’s off-air initiatives, such as theadopt-a-tree program at Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park.
The organization’s mission is to achieve “publicparticipation”, as only cooperation can bring about large-scale change. GreenRadio regularly transmits messages from the Government concerning basic issuessuch as health and sanitation. Particularly in the country’s far-flung regionssuch as Sumba and Papua, the radio is the people’s only connection to the restof the world.
www.greenradio.fm/
(021) 8573 388
Greenmap Indonesia
Greenmap is an international, non-profit organization consistingof member ‘mapmakers’ who chart greensites in their local vicinity that have social, cultural, or educationalmerit, yet also support the concept of sustainable living – places that wouldotherwise be unknown or unrecognized for their potential. This can includepublic parks or playgrounds, secondhand shops where items are reused (asopposed to being discarded), scientific research sites, or establishments whereorganic produce is sold. The potential of Jakarta city to support sustainableliving is highly underestimated – all we see is the smog, pollution and trashthat clog the cityscape; however, Jakarta’s Green Map features a surprisingnumber of green sites. The green sites vary with the needs,problems, and existing potential of the given area. For example, in Jakarta,where garbage disposal is the biggest environmental issue, many of the green sites on Jakarta’s Green Mapinclude composting facilities, reuse shops, and inorganic waste managementsites. Inorganic waste is not the nightmare we perceive it to be – manydiscarded electronic items are actually still within repair, and if not, theconstituent materials can be broken down and remade into something else.
Green sites are identified by an icon that pictoriallyrepresents the site’s purpose – in the digital map format, mousing over theicon elicits an explanation box, and in the paper format an explanatory key isaffixed. Green Maps are available for purchase in newsstands and bookstoresnationwide.
www.greenmap.or.id
Anindito Dodi: +62 818 612 736
Komunitas WikenTanpa Ke Mall (WTM) – ‘Weekends without malls’ Community
‘KomunitasWiken Tanpa Ke Mall’, or WTMfor short, organizes weekend activities for people of all ages that haveeducational, cultural, or social value to show people that, contrary to popularbelief, Jakarta is a juicy, succulent fruit bursting with things to do. Thecommunity was founded by a group of friends, who realized that the popularityof the omnipresent malls isowed to people’s reluctance to brave Jakarta’s traffic, and the poor marketingof Jakarta’s tourism and cultural sites. There is no membership system, nocommitment required, and the fees you pay cover only admission, transportation,and meal costs. Many of their activities are outdoor-based, and whereapplicable, involve eco-conscious community efforts. An example was their first‘outing’ to Ragunan Zoo, where members converted unused drums into trash bins,painted them in bright colours and situated them around the zoo so as todiscourage littering. Their fourth outing, to Taman Suropati, actuallyculminated in the publishing of a book! Guided by Pak Sapardi Djoko Damono, apoet and professor at the University of Indonesia, members learned the art ofpoetry writing. Over 100 people courageously chipped in their pieces, whichwere published a year later in a volume called ‘Menuai Sajak di Kebun Raya’,meaning “Reaping Rhymes at Kebun Raya”. Participants are of all age ranges –some children even bring their grandparents! Finding activities that span theinterests of the generations is surprisingly not difficult, because the thirstfor education and exploration never wanes. Group leader Mas Iwan, asserts, “Weare a movement, not an organization.” The point is to “infect” people with thedesire to make the most of their weekends, to give them the simple push theyneed to start their own revolutions, minus the mall.
www.wikentanpakemall.multiply.com
Mas Iwan: +62 818 08171945
Gerakan MasyarakatPeduli Sampah Jakarta (GEMASH JAK!) – ‘People’sMovement for Jakarta Garbage‘
GEMASH JAK comes at environmental protection from a publicrelations angle by initiating dialogue with businesses, schools and othersimilar-interest communities, in a bid to acknowledge Jakarta community of thegravity of climate change and how it ties in with uncontrolled garbage disposalmethods. Their tack involves the use of slideshows showing diagrams, photos andcartoons that explain, in plain terminology, the fundamental science behindglobal warming - which most people initially know very little about.Periodically ‘prodding’ people to assume sustainable living practices isanother GEMASH JAK tactic; because in Indonesia, ‘living green’ is still ahobby to most; not a lifestyle.
GEMASH JAK perpetually seeks to form alliances withinterested parties such as businesses or schools that show eco-consciousinitiatives. Aligning voices,ideas and potentialities is the intention, as there are many communities thatengage in overlapping activities, and whose efforts would be far more centralizedwith collaboration. GEMASH JAK is currently angling for governmentalcooperation in dispersing knowledge concerning climate change to thelargely-ignorant population. Although Indonesia is now hailed as a democracy,the notion is still so new that only the voices of those in political power aretaken seriously; GEMASH JAK hopes that riding on the coattails of thegovernment will help the understanding penetrate.
GEMASH JAK’s agenda this year consists of the new “BiotifulRiver Project”, a venture with the long-term view of improving water sanitationand reducing flooding, by teaching civil society the consequences of garbageaccumulation in the city’s waterways; whereas last year’s focus was oncomposting and recycling waste. GEMASH JAK created the Sekolah AdiwiyataCompetition that recognizes schools that engage in environmental conservationpractices such as recycling or eradicating the use of disposable drinkingvessels on campus. Last year’s winner was Sinar Mas School. GEMASH JAK’sproudest collaboration to date was with Coca-Cola, when the two companiesjoined forces to increase the number of garbage bins in public places.
www.pedulisampah.multiply.com
Jakarta GreenMonster
Our world’s ecosystems are so inextricably linked that thedisruption of one has a ripple effect on the entire biosphere. JGM recognizesthis relationship; hence it is starting with the conservation of Jakarta’sprecious wetlands: the rivers, lakes, and shore ecosystems that affect not onlybiodiversity, but also the accessibility of clean water in cities and theincidence of flooding. JGM represents an all-rounder community that somehowmanages to engage in an enormous array of environmental conservation activities,and yet remains loyal to this focus.
JGM prioritizes the planting of mangroves in the shallowwater surrounding Jakarta’s shores, as their high nutrient productionreplenishes the water and indwelling organisms with energy; and the mangrovesact as natural water filters by promoting the deposition of silt and nutrientstransported by the tide that would otherwise contaminate rivers.
JGM heads up two reserves: one at Muara Angke, the other onthe Thousand Islands; a surrogate-habitat to thousands of bird, amphibian andreptile species. JGM members keep tabs on these species populations to learnhow biological factors (ie the conditions of their habitat) affect theirnumbers. Members are instructed in the in-depthbiology surrounding wetland and climatic issues, and, for a shot at becoming anEnvironmental Education Facilitator, must undergo strenuous training to beassigned this eminent title. EEFs act as communication intermediaries betweenJGM and the public, and whose job it is to guide civil society to adoptsustainable living alternatives.
Every three months, JGM combs the reserve for garbage, withparticipants wading waist-high in mud; in the hope that they will form theirown impression of the impact of thoughtless littering on their surroundings.JGM maintains that the protection of wetland will have cumulativereverberations in reducing flooding, a natural phenomenon now occurring moreand more frequently due to the land’s poor infiltration capacity. Jakarta’sland comprises too much impermeable concrete and too little vegetation – andwith the added dilemma of mounting garbage, JGM has its hands full!
www.jgm.or.id
(021) 780 0981
Jakarta Teens GoGreen
Teenagers are today the chief agents of change, astechnology now allows them to be more wired than ever to what is going on in the world, and theirinvolvement in and grasp of global issues is more sophisticated than that ofprevious generations. Teens Go Green (TGG) recognizes that teenagers have influenceover the households, schools and communities of which they are a part, and aretherefore effective publicists of climate change matters. TGG is a teens-ledcommunity of high school students who are active practitioners and promoters ofsustainable living practices such as using less Styrofoam, sorting waste forcomposting and minimizing waste production. The teens are taught these andother methods that cause the least compromise to the daily regimen of the oftenenergy-guzzling urban lifestyle. TGG has in the past organized workshops andtraining courses, field trips, and public campaigns, to stamp into people’sminds the notion that ‘living green’ does not require a complete uprooting ofcurrent habits – just selflessness and a perspective of the long-term. TGG’s annual event, ‘Ajang Kreasi’ was lastyear themed “Gaya Hidup Tanpa Banjir” or a ‘Life without Flooding”. The eventwas attended by nearly 500 teens and illustrated to Jakartan society the linkbetween unchecked littering and serial flooding in the city.
www.teensgogreen.multiply.com
BOX:
Did you know?
Recycling was not widely publicized until the 20thcentury, but it has long been embedded in the Indonesian culture. Take noticeof the scavengers you see prowling the city’s streets. The loot they collect isturned over to a ‘lapak’, a personwho arranges for the items to be reused or repaired, or for items such as usedwater bottles and tin cans to be cleaned, crushed and remade into somethingelse. Though their purpose is lucrative, they are unknowingly doing a lot ofgood for our world!
