Earth Day celebrated in many ways

Earth Day celebrated in many ways

The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Jakarta

Indonesians marked Earth Day on Tuesday in various ways including
stopping motorists and asking them to switch off their engines,
asking smokers to put out their cigarettes and pulling down
banners in green areas.

In Jakarta, about 100 environmentalists staged a rally at the
Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, and called on people to care for
the earth and conserve water.

They also opposed the privatization of tap water distribution
in Jakarta and urged the city administration to expand green
areas to cover 20 percent of the city's area.

In Yogyakarta, students from Gadjah Mada University's School
of Geography distributed artificial flowers and flyers to
passers-by calling on them to stop polluting the earth.

With the help of the police, they also stopped motorists at
exactly 10 a.m. and asked them to switch off their engines for a
minute to create a moment free of pollution.

Other student environmentalists staged a street rally,
carrying posters and banners again calling on people to stop
polluting the earth.

They marched from the university campus in Bulaksumur to the
Post Office intersection near Yogyakarta's royal palace.

In Cirebon, West Java, around 300 student activists blocked
the 500-meter-long Jl. Siliwangi for three hours to mark Earth
Day, obliging hundreds of motorists to switch off their engines
and smokers to stub out their cigarettes.

They also demanded that the city administration prevent
coastal erosion, provide adequate trash disposal facilities and
establish more green areas to the city.

In Surabaya, East Java, some 50 activists from the
Environmental Concern Community pulled down banners in green
areas in the city.

"Green areas should be treated as the city's lungs. But they
have been converted by the city administration into business
areas for the hanging of advertising banners," Lala, the
coordinator of the rally, said.

In Purwokerto, Central Java, some 300 student and non-
governmental organization activists held an anti-water resources
bill rally to celebrate Earth Day.

They claimed the bill, which will allow private firms to
manage water resources in the country, would only benefit a few
people but cause misery to most of the people.

In Semarang, Central Java, student activists blocked Jl. Imam
Barjo in front of Diponegoro University from 9.00 a.m. to 11.00
a.m., demanding that the campus be turned into a smoke-free zone.