Earth Day 2009 Celebration The Jakarta Globe, Saturday, 25 April 2009
Earth Day, April 22, was first marked in the 1970s, initiated by the need to pay more attention to population growth. It was believed, and is still relevant today, that environmental protection is just lip service if we do not address the issue of overpopulation. But the biggest boost for Earth Day happened in 2000 when the Internet took up the cause. The world focused on the issue of climate change and millions of people got involved. And today, nine years on, it is time to assess whether the attention given to the environment has left our earth in better shape. For instance, rather than being protected, Indonesia’s coral reefs are known to be getting increasingly damaged every year. When it comes to the rainforests, although the world has praised the Indonesian government’s seriousness on matters such as illegal logging, it is estimated that 74 percent of the total forest cover has been destroyed, a 14 percent increase since 2002. Palm oil is today’s infamous alternative energy source and Indonesia is looking to become the world’s biggest producer of this commodity. Drying wetlands for the opening of oil palm plantations has been reported as causing the release of up to 1.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year through the destruction of Indonesia’s peat wetlands, a major cause of climate change. Do we, modern, urban people think that those numbers are not directly related to our lives? Developed countries are now familiar with the term “eco-debt.” This occurs the moment a country begins living beyond its natural resources and eating into nature’s “capital.” About two-thirds of the impact of all consumption is pollution caused by energy use. With our level of consumption today, we will need 1.4 earths to support our daily needs. Consumption beyond the globe’s natural resources is reducing the ability of the planet to provide clean water and food and absorb the pollution blamed for climate change. Knowing that our level of consumption is contributing to our earth being trapped in eco-debt, can we still believe that our awareness is not fully needed? Though something may be produced in Indonesia, Bangladesh, China or Africa and be consumed by people in Europe, the United States, Japan or Saudi Arabia, it still means only one thing: It is made on earth. Everything — human beings, animals, water, air or trees — are all made on earth. Exploitative projects in Asia, mega-consumptive behavior in Hollywood, greed in Europe — it is all happening on the one planet earth. As much as we like to hide behind personal denial and tell ourselves that destruction is happening elsewhere but not in our own backyard, it is important to remember that we can never win in a battle against Mother Earth. In the end, it will all come back to haunt us. At first it may hurt the poor and the weak, but it will get to us all eventually. I hope that this year’s Earth Day will be the time you decide to take action. Start from me, start from you and start today. Orchida Ramadhania Manager of the Natural Resources Division, Women’s Solidarity for Human Rights Source: THE JAKARTA GLOBE URL: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/letters/article/17638.html Akses email lebih cepat. Yahoo! menyarankan Anda meng-upgrade browser ke Internet Explorer 8 baru yang dioptimalkan untuk Yahoo! Dapatkan di sini! http://downloads.yahoo.com/id/internetexplorer ------------------------------------ http://www.SuratPembaca.net Komunitas Surat Pembaca IndonesiaYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/surat-pembaca/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/surat-pembaca/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[email protected] mailto:[email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
