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Students add pedal power to green movement
Ega Geovani, a second grader at a state junior high school, could not hide her glee as she received a new bicycle Saturday during the commemoration of the World Environmental Day in Jakarta
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Ega Geovani, a second grader at a state junior high school, could not hide her glee as she received a new bicycle Saturday during the commemoration of the World Environmental Day in Jakarta.
The student of the state junior high school SMPN 2 Karawang, West Java, usually has to walk three kilometers from her grandmother's house in Kampung Kalem, Bojong Sari, to school due to expensive transportation costs.
"I never dreamt of having a new bicycle. It is the greatest present in my life because now I can cycle to school," she told The Jakarta Post.
Ega, whose mother works as a farmer, is one of more than 1,000 students granted free bicycles under the Bike to School program.
The program was officially launched in Jakarta on Saturday with a target to provide one million bicycles to elementary to junior high-school students across the country.
The program is jointly run by a consortium of the Centre for Betterment of Education (CBE), the Bike to Work (B2W) community, alumni from the University of Indonesia and a teachers club.
"We first provided bicycles to 20 elementary students in Gunung Kidul three years ago, when many students had to drop out of schools because of the expensive transportation costs following the 2005 fuel prices hike," consortium chairman Ahmad Rizal said.
"However, with the rising issue of global warming, we then enlarged our program by involving companies to donate bikes as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programs.
"We will choose students eligible for bicycles. The priorities are those from poor families," Rizal added.
State oil and gas company Pertamina has provided 1,000 bicycles to the consortium.
"We target to donate up to 5,000 bicycles for distribution to poor families, mainly those living near our operational offices around the country," Pertamina corporate secretary Sudirman Said said.
Eddy Widiono, chairman of a national team on energy saving, said cycling would form part of a new lifestyle for people concerned with global warming.
"If more children cycle to school, it will be good for the environment. It will lead to less traffic congestions, less pollution and fewer emissions that cause global warming," he said.
Experts have said the burning of fossil-fuels is a main contributor to global warming.
"Cycling is one way to reduce emissions from the transportation sector, but the government needs to support the program by providing special lanes for bikers, parking areas or special bathrooms," said Eddy, also former president director of state electricity company PT PLN.
He said the energy saving team was currently formulating a plan to reduce energy consumption in the country, mainly in state offices.
The move aims to tackle the high prices of energy and the world's global warming problems, he added.
"We will publicly announce which state offices are the biggest consumers of energy."
