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or people who opt for an environmentally friendly lifestyle, Jakarta is not only hostile, but also a test ground for perseverance. There is however a growing grass root green movement in the city that is not giving up the fight, despite the difficult circumstances in the city.

Minimum facilities for pedestrians, an unfriendly traffic for non-motorized vehicles such as bicycles, bad public transportation, with long queues and meandering routes, are all quite testing for people who want to reduce their carbon footprints by not using private motor vehicles.

The rampant use of plastic and styrofoam to wrap any kind of food is also quite challenging for green lifestyle adherents wanting to avoid wrappings.

But, however hostile the city is, there are still idealists who will persevere to live an environmentally friendly life that does not harm nature, and hope their actions can bring change to the city's culture.

In a Googlegroups Internet mailing list called GreenLifestyle, moderator Armely Meiviana wrote about her experience receiving paper-bags for each of the small breads she bought at a bakery. Mailing list members responded with similar stories from different bakeries, all saying each small bread gets a wrapping, either plastic or paper.

"Considering a lot of customers buy *certain bread brands* in large amounts, I'm perturbed. Why don't they provide bags or boxes in bigger sizes? According to the staff, it was a company policy so they could not do anything about it," Armely wrote.

She urged other online mailing list subscribers to ask bakery staff not wrap each small bread and ask for a bigger bag for all the bread they purchased.

"If many people complain about the same thing, they will certainly forward complaints to the management, who will hopefully change its policy," she added.

Armely told The Jakarta Post at a Jakarta Green tour it was hard living a sustainable lifestyle in Jakarta. "It's hard because we have to change people's mindset and people have to think in a more critical way," she said.

More than once, she said, people viewed her lifestyle as weird. She works from home, takes public transport, separates garbage and manages the GreenLifestyle online forum. But, not only that, she also takes the trouble to avoid popular fried snacks sold on the side of the streets, because they usually wrap them in small plastic bags, or will not eat in a place where chopsticks are disposable ones.

Environmental consultant Marc-Antoine Dunais and Armely co-founded the mailing list as they were inspired by the chaotic city. Started in 2007, the group now has 995 members, a website and a talkshow on GreenRadio 89.2 FM.

GreenRadio is one of the rare media focusing on sustainable living. It used to be community radio Radio Utan Kayu until the 2007 flood. Radio director Santoso said the city needed a media focusing on environmental themes.

Community-based green groups in Jakarta have mushroomed in the past few years. Besides GreenLifestyle community, other groups include Bike2Work, a community whose members brave the city traffic and pollution by cycling to work; Jakarta Green Map community, a volunteer-based group producing maps of Jakarta's green areas; Jakarta Greenmonster, a community that works on conserving the city's northern coastal area.

Landscape architect, author and coordinator of Jakarta Green Map Nirwono Joga said the city was yet to accommodate sustainable living. But, he chose to live using those principals despite the inconvenience.

Nirwono said he took the bus to work every day, from his house in Cinere, South Jakarta, to the Kuningan area, South Jakarta.

"It's like the question of the egg and the chicken. Which comes first? If we wait until the city becomes friendly for pedestrians and bikers, it will take a long time," he said.

He cited Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo's comment about building a bicycle lane when the number of cyclists in town reaches one million.

"That would take a very long time. It's better we build a strong community that aspires to a more environmentally friendly city so we can push the administration to change its policy," Nirwono said.

Pelita Harapan University lecturer Elisa Sutanudjaja believes the way forward is through her students. She set up an elective course called Sustainable Development and Urban Environment to teach students the importance of architecture that accommodates sustainable living.

"I want to change the paradigm in architecture education, as this is something I was never taught when I was a student. Architects are taught to design buildings from the inside (of the building). Now I want students to examine the buildings' surroundings. It is a more holistic approach," she said.

In her blog, she criticizes developers who use the phrase green living as a gimmick, by claiming they have hectares of green areas.

In her blog architectureurban.wordpress.com she wrote many suburban housing complexes developers design areas in a way that forced residents to use private cars to reach the city. She found some suburbs had no bus stops, no adequate pedestrian facilities, no bicycle lanes, but had large parking lots with rows of shops.

"In Jakarta, buildings are designed with a space for car drop-offs near entrances, indicating the best way to enter the building is with a car. Vehicles dropping off passengers often block pedestrians. If we want to encourage people to walk, then pedestrian access to buildings should be unhindered," she said.

Elisa also posts her courses up in her blog.

"I want it *her course* to be open to everyone, so that the idea can spread," she said.