Jakarta and its not-so-green festival

Tue, 04/29/2008 12:39 PM

Finally, Jakarta has put on an event providing the public with knowledge about the effects of global warming and what is happening to our beloved earth.

Last Sunday, the last day of the Green Festival, with much hope and anticipation, I decided I needed a change from my usual hangout in Kemang, South Jakarta, and went to Senayan's east parking lot in Central Jakarta with a friend and our children.

Driving to the festival, I felt nothing was green about the city whatsoever as I watched all the cars passing ours. As usual, when something entertaining is on in the city, Jakartans swarm the place.

It was jam-packed; we took 30 minutes to find a parking space. I wondered why the organizers did not hold the event as part of, say, Car Free Day, so Green Festival's visitors would not use private transportation, which would mean reducing carbon emissions in Jakarta for a day.

The car issue is just one of many. Entering the festival area, we were greeted with a miniature earth model and a thermometer showing how our earth is becoming increasingly hot. The model was accompanied by sound effects resembling a collapsing iceberg in the South Pole and a freezing cold room temperature, powered by an air-conditioner. I wondered what temperature the air-conditioner was set at to give us the impression we were in the South Pole. I wondered how much carbon it was emitting. We had not entirely left the iceberg area when my son stepped on something that made a crushing sound. Oops. A small used plastic spoon.

"Mommy, someone littered." We immediately picked it up and threw it away. We were at the Green Festival yet we were still throwing away our garbage wherever we felt like.

It got more interesting the further we went as we learned how to reduce carbon emissions in our daily lives, from our activities in the workplace to our bathrooms at home, complete with models and explanations using easy to understand images.

Again, unfortunately, the posters and signboards were lit by halogen lamps. I wondered, again, how much carbon this festival was emitting. There was also a flash photo poster lit by not only one, but several bright spotlights. These spotlights could be found at almost every corner of the exhibition.

The organizers tried to create a green atmosphere by ornamenting the venuse with the leaves of Chinese perfume plants and breadfruit trees. It was a pity those green leaves had to be plucked out of their natural habitats to simply create an impression of a forest. Couldn't they have just used real pot plants?

Leaving the Green Festival, we visited the stalls set up near the venue, including Kidzone. And what did we see? Styrofoam containers and garbage, mostly plastic, scattered everywhere.

To us it seemed the festival organizers simply wanted good publicity to attract sponsors as climate change is the sexiest issue at the moment.

Can't the committee regulate exhibition participants and say if they wanted to open food stands, they should not use styrofoam, plastic cups or plastic bags? And that they should put garbage in its proper place? Such commitment should also be required from visitors.

I think the festival would have cost a lot and it is unfortunate so much money went toward paying for the power bill of the festival's spotlights, halogen lamps and freezing room temperatures.

Let's not ignore that this event would have added to Jakarta's already high piles of garbage. And this festival calls itself green.

-- Nia Damayanti Wirya

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