Now that more people are able to consume beyond the level of necessity, a non-critical practice of it will potentially bring more harm than good.

Besides providing a large source of global food, fueling economic development and protecting human health, the ocean acts as a massive climate regulator, emitting half of the Earth's oxygen and absorbing 25 percent of carbon emissions.

While most plastic waste in Indonesia is recyclable, Enri pointed out that recyclers only accepted about 30 percent of all types of plastic waste found in the country. The remaining share ended up in landfills.

Private equity and venture investors in Southeast Asia are betting on something new — sustainability. Bain research shows a significant increase in capital flowing to companies that contribute to environmental and social progress.

While the city administration struggles to tackle the complex problem, communities and businesspeople have shed a ray of hope by getting their hands dirty, as there have been growing movements in society where members of the public actively take part in reducing waste through numerous innovative programs.

Environmental activist Greta Thunberg urged young people in Italy on Friday to seize the next decade to fight climate change, and chastised world leaders for acting "as if there is no tomorrow".

Awed by the blue-green hues swirling across the marble-like surface of the Earth below, an Italian astronaut made an emotional appeal from space on Wednesday for world leaders to pull their "heads out of the sand" over climate change.

As they extend their power grids, build more roads and bigger cities, and cultivate forestland, developing countries in Asia and the Pacific are increasingly contributing to the global climate change problem.

Volcanic soil is a more capacious carbon sink than common soil. If all carbon stored in Indonesian soil was converted into atmospheric carbon dioxide, Indonesia would be a crucial country for the mitigation of climate change.

British musician Sting was awarded an international prize on Tuesday for his work to protect the Amazon rainforest and its indigenous inhabitants where a battle over land is becoming more deadly with a spate of killings in recent days.

Devastating bushfires that blanketed Australia's largest city with hazardous smoke this week have heightened public anger and raised political pressure on the government to do more to tackle climate change.

In September, millions of young people on every continent poured into the street to demand action. Today they march in Madrid, where negotiators from nearly 200 nations at UN climate talks are feeling the heat of an increasingly angry and anxious world. 

Countries from Egypt to Mexico could lose 95 percent of their income from coral reef tourism, and parts of West Africa could see their ocean fisheries decline by 85 percent by the turn of the century if planet-warming emissions continue to rise.

More than 50 polar bears have gathered on the edge of a village in Russia's far north, environmentalists and residents said, as weak Arctic ice leaves them unable to roam.

For a group of scientists at Columbia University, corals are a precious repository of clues about the past that may help predict future climate trends. They can also reveal how much and how fast environmental conditions have changed during a certain period of time.

A satellite assessment estimated that 1.64 million hectares burned over the period across seven Indonesian provinces, including 670,000 ha -- 41 percent of the total burnt area -- in peatland. 

Actor Leonardo di Caprio joined former US vice president Al Gore and other personalities Wednesday in backing a new initiative to seek solutions to climate change. 

Europe faces the prospect of severe heat waves every year and a halving of some of its harvests in the future unless rapid action is taken against climate change, a study said.

A video showing a polar bear daubed with painted slogan T-34, the name of a Soviet era tank, has caused alarm in Russia with experts saying it could prevent the bear hunting.

With big restaurants and hotels having a strict policy of not storing food they are unable to sell at the end of each business day, mosques in Jakarta have begun an initiative to collect the food and distribute it to the poor.  

Awareness of and taking steps to address climate change can also help manage “eco-anxiety”, a type of anxiety over the potential for ecological disasters and environmental threats that has been emerging recently.

Experience has shown that without a transparent mechanism, carbon trading will only be a way for companies or countries to escape their carbon responsibility. This is a major task for delegates and nations should they want to put the international trading system in place. There should be a transparent and accountable mechanism that assures these transactions benefit the poor, especially communities living in and around forests.

The Ionian island of Zakynthos is one of Greece's most pristine travel destinations, an environment clean enough to be a major Mediterranean nesting ground sought out by loggerhead sea turtles. But even here, plastic pollution poses a grave threat to wildlife.

American actor Leonardo DiCaprio on Saturday denied a claim by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro that he had helped fund groups allegedly linked to fires in the Amazon rain forest.

Tens of thousands of protesters, primarily in Europe and Asia, hit the streets on Friday to make a fresh call for action against global warming, hoping to raise pressure on world leaders days before a UN climate summit.

Hennes & Mauritz AB is testing out a clothing rental service as the fashion industry faces mounting criticism for waste and pollution.

The cruise industry, long criticized for polluting the environment, is slowly trying to go greener by exploring new technologies, from hybrid solutions to high-tech sails.

The “green is the new black” sustainability trend has reached the financial world as investors and financial institutions are slowly turning to invest in environment, social and governance (ESG)-compliant assets in Indonesia.

The technology for Indonesia to reach and exceed its climate action target is available. The financing can be sought. The crucial part is political will. President Jokowi should visibly demonstrate political will and aim robustly if not ruthlessly for zero carbon emissions as his climate policy legacy.

Clothes should be cherished, re-worn and even passed on to the next generation, Anna Wintour, the influential editor of Vogue magazine said, calling for more sustainability in the fashion world and less of a throwaway culture.