Earth Day observed with calls for actions<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta\/Makassar\/Semarang<\/p>\n
Buried beneath the political headlines about a certain party in
\nmustard yellow, the 34th annual Earth Day on Thursday came and
\nwent without much fanfare in the media, but environmentalists
\ncalled for more concrete action.<\/p>\n
Mother Nature also seemed to be sending us all an Earth Day
\nmemo with her angry storms that resulted in more flooding and
\nlandslides. The Cililin, West Java landslide left at least 12
\npeople dead.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) in Jakarta
\nlamented the fact that neither the current administration nor the
\npresidential hopefuls had environmental problems on their
\nplatforms.<\/p>\n
\"We haven't seen any significant efforts from the government
\nto remedy the worsening destruction, additionally, none of the
\ncurrent candidates have brought these issues up,\" said Ridha
\nSaleh of Walhi after opening a four-day commemoration of Earth
\nDay here on Thursday. It features a photo exhibition and
\ndiscussions finishing on April 26 at Blok M Plaza, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the executive director of Pelangi (Rainbow) Agus P.
\nSari said that this year's commemoration was a good time to
\nremind the public to vote for future leaders with an educated
\ninsight on the environment.<\/p>\n
Also on Thursday, activists from environmental organizations
\ndemonstrated in front of the World Bank office in Central
\nJakarta. They blamed international financial institutions'
\npolicies of privatization and liberalization for the destruction
\nof Indonesia. In Makassar, South Sulawesi, environmentalists
\ninsisted that the government cut off its dependency from the
\nWorld Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).<\/p>\n
At the United States Embassy, the University of Indonesia
\nmedical students conducted lead tests for several staffers,
\nincluding Ambassador Ralph Boyce. All were found to have normal
\nlevels of lead, or under 25 micrograms per deciliter for adults
\nand under 10 micrograms\/deciliter for children, said Budi
\nHaryanto of the University's School of Public Health.<\/p>\n
Antara quoted Budi, who led the team, as saying that this year
\n200 students from 20 elementary schools in Jakarta will be
\nexamined to measure lead levels in their blood. Children under 12
\nare the most vulnerable to lead poisoning, 85 percent of which
\ncomes from the air, he said.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta administration started a phasing-out lead movement
\nin 2001. \"We want to see what the effects have been so far,\" said
\nBudi when asked about the aim of the testing. Past studies have
\nshown high lead levels among bus terminal workers, who breathe a
\nlot of bus exhaust.<\/p>\n
In Semarang, West Java, around 30 Diponegoro University
\nstudents cleaned streets and held an exhaust-free campaign by
\nblocking all vehicles from entering the campus compound.<\/p>\n
Earth Day was first marked in 1970 by Californians Gaylord
\nNelson and Denis Hayes. They buried a giant gas-guzzling Cadillac
\nautomobile in Santa Cruz, California to symbolize the movement.
\nTheir website (www.earthday.net) claims the network has grown to
\ninclude at least 5,000 organizations in almost 200 countries.<\/p>",
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