Turning the Tide

An environment edition has been an annual staple of the WEEKENDER, starting with the July 2007 issue titled Climate of Fear. I flipped through that edition earlier today, and the statement of a confused Jakarta taxi driver about bizarre weather patterns – “Cuaca lagi error”, roughly translated as the weather is screwed up – still resonates.

Almost four years on, it’s the error of our wasteful ways that is leading to seemingly chronic environmental disasters. That article all those years ago, headlined “Indonesia’s 11th Hour?”, said that we are inching ever closer to the critical point of no return. Yet some of us are taking the lead and making a difference through our efforts, as detailed in Stevie Emilia’s Said & Done piece about the initiatives of ordinary citizens, and Dina Purita Antonio-Jufri’s cover story on green heroes.

Kemal Jufri’s photo of Harry Rusly, a young man who is helping to keep Jakarta’s waterways clear, struck me as particularly evocative and inspiring. Paying his way through university from the clearing up the trash that others carelessly throw away, he should be a shining example to those of us yet to wake up to climate change. Just like Harry, we can turn back the tide of environmental destruction, with a little motivation and the willingness to change.

Back to The top page