I think it was when I was in my 12th grade, that I realized that I have lots of interest in the environment. I remembered that we had to do a speech for the speaking test and I chose global warming for the topic. One thing I remembered from my speech is “it is happening and it's happening fast”.
As I grew up, I got to face the various experiences of the outside world and realized that I had the tendency to choose to be a more eco-friendly person. I’ve been on this mission for a few years, but I haven’t succeeded. It took a lot of effort than you thought. It doesn’t work solely because of yourself, but a whole bunch of people. I’ve mentioned it on one of my “Monthly Rewind” videos, that my dad drink from the bottled water only. And apparently, in my neighborhood, the waste management system is not that good. We don’t have the separating system. We throw away all kinds of waste in one place. That’s why it was a huge challenge for me. Because it’s not only I had to challenge my family, but also the government.
This features’ goal is to raise awareness about being sustainable. As we know, crazy things will happen in the nearest future if we didn’t take action. I read a great piece of article on Medium about the result of an interview of the writer and her friend regarding live plastic-free. In that piece of article, the writer said “small changes that add up to a not-so-small impact”. This reminds me every change starts from small action. It changes by starting.
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| Taken in 2013 at somewhere near Anyer Beach, Banten. This kind of scenery really breaks my heart. |
I think I know why I always failed in being more sustainable. I didn’t constantly do a sustainable act. I just give a try, but never constantly doing it. Also, I still lack information and how to apply it in real life. Mostly, I read articles about this from a foreigner, which might not suitable in my country. By doing a lot of research and read more articles about being sustainable, I finally got to reflect on myself. There are also lots of wrong perceptions that I had before. To have a sustainable lifestyle, it’s not about buying “eco-friendly” or “green” products. It is way beyond that. I think I’ve been manipulated by what we called “green marketing”. It is true that lots of company and people are considering to be more sustainable, but lots of them also have the wrong concept. I’m not saying that green marketing is totally wrong, but lots of us still lack of understanding the concept. What Starbucks, The Body Shop, and many other “sustainable-in-progress” companies did was a good deed, but what we need to underline is, are those companies choose to be environmentally responsible because of they can make a greater profit (because by putting “green” label on the products, they can actually put higher price) or they really want more consumers to participate actively in this sustainable campaign?
My life in Korea for 8 months, has taught me how recycling and separating waste are making a huge difference. There was a project during my class in Korea that I have to present an invention I wanted to make. Can you guess? I wanted to make a waste bin that can separate itself according to its material. I really wish my dream invention realized. As I’m writing this, I really wish my government had a huge reformation about waste management. Honestly, this matter still has a long journey until it can be realizable. They are still occupied with coronavirus thing. But, since we cannot wait until the coronavirus disappears completely, we need a tangible action right now. It should start as soon as possible. So what we can do simple yet effective?
After reading a few articles, I came up to this:
Save water
Households used up 80-100 gallons per day according to USGS (U.S Geological Survey). Especially, with the hygiene issue raising during the pandemic, I believe the usage per day might increase drastically. I’m not saying to not wash your hands or took shower regularly, but just let’s be wise using the water and check-up regularly if there is any leak. It’s not common in my country to have a bath in the tub, but I think cutting down your bath time per week might help a lot. Cutting down your shower time might help too!
Save electricity
There is a reason why The WWF held Earth Hour every year. Electricity is formed from energy (water, gas, air, etc), which led to energy consumption. We tend to not care things we couldn’t see and rarely acknowledge the importance of it. Since Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity, our lives changes. It changes in a good way at first, but sometimes we tend to do the bad habits which resulted in huge problems in the long run. I don’t know how we came to this point, but one thing for sure, we tend to choose the easy way out. There are lots of energy-saving light bulbs in the market, so changing your light bulb to the energy-saving one is a good start. If you are afraid of the dark during bedtime, an energy-saving mood lamp might help. Again, be wise to use electricity.
Finish your food
This is might be the hardest thing to do out of this list. But, really I tried my best in finishing up my plate on every meal I have. I got a “vacuum cleaner” nickname since I really hate to see leftovers. There are a few reasons why I hate seeing leftover foods. One, because I know how hard it is to cook a meal. Two, I don’t know how to deal with food waste, so I took the easy way to clear the food waste by eating it all. I might look piggish, but I really want to be responsible for it. I used to pick food and did some leftovers on my plate before, but these habits changed as I grew up. Especially when I had my job-training in Lombok for 6 months and I have to live alone in a shared-house. I tend to clear my plate and these habits still occurring up until now. I have an idea to do my own composting food waste, but I don’t think I can do it now. I’m not ready to deal with all the possibilities of rats, flies, and smells. So, the best thing I can do for now is to finish my food.
Reduce single-use products
This is also another challenge! Though there are lots of new alternatives for this, if it is a mass product, it will still fill in the landfill. With the rising popularity of bubble milk tea and milk coffee in Indonesia, it’s getting pretty hard to give up single-use plastic cups. There aren’t many shops that allowed to use any tumbler. It is one of the reasons why I really hesitate to buy milk tea or not. I feel guilty every time. Not only the cups, but it’s also about the lid, straw, and straw wrapper (because of hygiene issues). Well, The Alley has made a reusable cup for their menus, but unfortunately, they are not available in Indonesia.
Don’t forget to use a reusable shopping bag when you run for your next errand. This simple act is a game-changing to be more environmentally-conscious. I kind of forced my dad to bring reusable shopping bag for the past few months and now my dad (sometimes) remember to bring it. Well, as time passed by, I hope that he will always remember to bring it.
With the concern of COVID-19 and its connection to hygiene, I think using your own cutleries is a good idea. I’ve ever brought my own spoon for a froyo run. My dad kind of laugh at me and said that I should be an ambassador for the environment (oh, it’s not that I’m not thinking for that, dad. But, I’m not qualified enough, yet). I’m also thinking to bring my own empty lunch box if I ever going to have some take-away. It is killing two birds with one stone. You can save the environment and stay hygiene.
The picture I took above is just a teaser of what will happen if we stay still and do nothing. I hope you wish the same wish as I do, to not let our children and grandchildren see this kind of view in the future.
Support Local Products
To reduce carbon footprints, buy things locally is advised. Especially food ingredients. Well, you can start from that point. It is not necessarily an organic product, but if it is locally produced and organic, it would be great.
The rule of thumb in living an eco-friendly lifestyle is to be as kind as possible to the earth and start acting. It’s okay if you failed, you can always try again. I didn’t write this post, because I’m already an eco-friendly person, but I made this as guidance, mission, and reminder for myself to be more caring to the mother earth. I haven’t succeeded in doing all of this. I failed a lot, but writing this helped me to be more of it. I hope we could be friendlier to the earth after what we’ve been through the past few months. Not only COVID-19 that we need to fight but ourselves. We need to fight foolishness and get away from our comfort zone to have a more comfortable home. But please remember, just focus on what you can do.
Don’t be so hard on yourself, but always try your best. It’s like doing a diet. Diet is a long-live challenge and not every diet is suitable for everyone. You’ve got to find which one is suitable for you. There will be a trial and error, but just remember to start it. It should not be happening tomorrow, but today. I believe this time is a good time to start since everything is practically canceled and you’ve got plenty of time to try. So, I hope after reading this post, you gotta get up and start doing the few things I’ve mentioned above.
Good luck, everyone!
P.S:
Following environmental-focused organizations or accounts might help to raise your awareness and knowledge too. I’ve been following Greenpeace and WWF for a year now and it kinda helps. Greenpeace has its own account for each country, so you can follow Greenpeace in your country.
If you want to challenge yourself for 52 weeks of plastic-free life, you can read this woman’s journey. She is such an inspiring person and I would like to share it with you all.
I wanted to share a few movies that are highlighting environmental issues, such as Wall- E and Happy Feet. Both of them are animation movies so it will be more fun to watch. I haven't watched many other environmental movies such as, 'Chasing Corals', 'Free Willy' (even though I've heard this movie a lot before), 'Mr. Lorax', and many more. Watching this kind of movie might help to raise awareness and got to reflect on yourself. Since we've got plenty of time nowadays, why not use it to educate ourselves? Most of the movies you can watch it on Netflix! (how comfortable the world has changed!)
