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Bushfires
and floods in Australia; civil war in Mali and a deadly hostage crisis in
Algeria; persistent floods in Jakarta and northern Java; horrific air
quality in Beijing and northern China; what do they have in common? All of
them have been caused by climate change.
Certainly, it
is easier to talk about climate change and global warming in Indonesia than
in the West. We do not have high-profile skeptics who maintain that extreme
weather conditions have always been there, even before human activity.
Indonesian media agree that there are such things as global warming and
climate change — and that they are caused by countries, including America.
A newspaper
article is not the best place to debate the validity of global warming
theory, and science is not my strength. But, these two facts stand.
First, being a
ball revolving in space, the Earth has experienced episodes of climate
change from the deserting of the Sahara at the dawn of history to the
Little Ice Age from the 16th to 19th centuries.
Second, every
spot on the planet now pollutes water, air, and land through industrial
waste and carbon emissions from factories and motor vehicles.
Only a minority
of major cities in the world have working waste management programs, decent
air quality and clean rivers. For most of the world, safe and open public
parks, vibrant public transportation and pristine riverside promenades are
pie in the sky.
Most readers of
this newspaper are concerned with the regular flooding of Jakarta.
Certainly, rain is always intense in tropical Southeast Asia but,
fortunately, most of the region does not have to deal with typhoons, as
does the Philippines.
Thailand
experienced heavy flooding in the second half of 2011, while any case of
flooding in Singapore would cause uproar from its citizens.
The Malaysian
state of Johor also experiencing flooding, but it is the case of Jakarta
that has attracted world attention, along with the brown, smoggy air of
Beijing.
Most Jakartans
agree that flooding is caused by human activity. The most cited cause, to
the point of being a cliché, is trash. Unfortunately, by next month, we can
expect people to start throwing away plastic bottles and papers anywhere
they want.
The more
depressing fact is when people do dispose of garbage in a responsible
manner and yet it is not collected on time or in an adequate fashion.
Well-sorted
garbage from your bin can sit in a cart for a week, then in a square for
another month, before ending up somewhere by the river — or even in the
river.
Nobody denies
that Jakarta’s environment is damaged — possibly beyond repair. It is the
only major Southeast Asian capital without a mass transit system (and with
significant gaps in its bus rapid transit system).
Malls could
boast indoor parks and yet their front yards are adorned by sewers, piles
of garbage and clogged roads. The floods have proved that many skyscrapers
do not have adequate drainage systems.
While its
waterfront location naturally carries the risk of water hazards everywhere,
the severity of the flooding in northern Jakarta is due to the lack of
trees and the overconsumption of underground water for industry, residences
and businesses. Japan and Singapore show that land reclamation is
manageable as long as there are plenty of trees, dikes and floodgates.
Residents in
closed-gate estates tell stories of public parks and green spaces being
converted into gas stations and office space. Greed kills trees and, in the
end, nobody grows richer.
Even the
terrible situation in Mali is connected to climate change. High levels of
carbon dioxide have changed the movements of air streams over tropical West
Africa, dropping rain further south and, thus, making the southern fringe
of the Sahara Desert, including northern Mali, drier.
The
impoverished Tuareg people and the Arabs have rebelled, and joining them
are a weapon surplus and Islamist fighters from the Libyan civil war.
While the
Tuareg demand independence to become the state of Azawad, the Ansar Dine
and MOJWA groups want Mali to become an Islamic state and, in the process,
African Islamic heritage sites in the city of Timbuktu are being destroyed.
They firmly argue that both drought and floods are divine punishments.
The inability
of the African military, both in Mali and Algeria, to deal effectively with
the rebellions, follows a long historical pattern on how climate change can
spark rebellions and invasions.
It also changes
the behavior of governments. The Chinese government used to dismiss
pollution data released by the United States Embassy in Beijing as a smear
campaign, but now acknowledges that things are really not okay or normal.
The dusting of
northern Chinese cities is not merely caused by seasonal winds carrying
dust and sand from the Gobi Desert, but by unchecked industrialization and
the increased use of heavy vehicles and trucks.
Both the
bushfires in Australia and heavy snows in Europe during January are
realities of life. But the extreme temperatures are due to deteriorating
environmental health. The path to recovery is extremely hard since both
developed and developing countries blame each other for the pollution.
Many developed
nations have abandoned their environmental commitments for fear of economic
hardship, while many developing countries argue that they need to keep the
home fires burning — they do not want to remain impoverished.
Indonesia must
do what it can. We can start, for example, by consuming less food and goods
and determine our shopping priorities based on personal necessity rather
than group mentality or personal vanity.
More
importantly, we should stop promoting environmental awareness for the sake
of following a fashionable trend and start to practice it for the sake of
ourselves.
That, of
course, is a tall order. Many ideas that are still a challenge in developed
countries, such as riding bikes and walking, shopping locally and
recycling, are almost impossible to implement here.
But, if you can
do something by yourself or with your loved ones, to make Jakarta or your
hometown a little more environmentally friendy, please do it. A little
change is better than nothing. ●
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