Jakarta, our big dumping ground of a city

Jakarta, our big dumping ground of a city

My husband and I were busy talking in our car when the occupants of the flashy black Cherokee jeep on the right side of us suddenly lowered a window and threw out a plastic bag of garbage, its contents scattering all over the road.

As the window was wound up, and the jeep sped off, both of us looked on, speechless.

When I got to work and told a friend about what happened, she simply laughed.

"What can you expect? Jakartans are too busy to think about their garbage," she said. "But if the rate of the dollar falls, that'll get their attention."

In my humble opinion, a person who could afford to purchase such an expensive vehicle could certainly buy a small garbage can to be placed inside their car, and then dispose of the rubbish in its proper place.

That is one story.

A friend has a new habit of faithfully bringing a newspaper with her anytime she takes a public bus or train.

"Once, when I took a bus to work, I didn't know someone put gum on the seat and I sat on it. It ruined my skirt and was really embarrassing," she explained to me.

When my friend told me the story of toting the paper everywhere, I thought, well, that's a bit too much. But then, when I had to take the bus myself, I realized that all kinds of garbage were thrown under the seats -- candy wrappers, cigarette buds, plastic bags, plastic bottles, you name it. On the city streets, rivers or public places, it's all the same, even much worse than our sorry excuse for public transportation.

But the Jakarta administration has other things to worry about. The capital needs more shopping malls, statues, more herds of deer prancing around.

Proper waste management? Come, come now, let's wait a few more years.

When many countries have introduced measures to carefully manage their waste, from using simple incinerators to advanced recycling technology and facilities, Jakarta, the big metropolitan city that houses over 12 million people, still sticks to the old ways of garbage collection.

And then we dump it somewhere, hopefully far enough away not to be part of our immediate problem, letting it pile up higher and higher while ignoring the environmental and health problems resulting from such actions.

We sweep the problem under the carpet, but it's not ours, but the next guys, our dumping ground. So, when a television station recently aired a live program showing the grim condition of people living around the Bantar Gebang garbage dump in Bekasi -- drinking foul water, plagued by skin diseases, living with zilch quality of life -- I'm sure our friend in the jeep and many more did a little bit of dexterous channel surfing.

Although I can't call myself an environmentalist -- I don't separate my garbage or always use recycled products -- there are "little things" that I think everyone can do to help the environment.

I look up to the others making their own contribution to a better world, such as the colleague who always diligently collects all used paper to be reused, those who make sure to turn off lights and do not waste water. In their own way, they are little acts of rebellion against the indifference of most of us.

When my friend listened to my comments on how we can help out the environment, she was not won over.

"You forget one thing. Many people think as that as long as they have money to buy their way out of this problem, they don't care," she said.

So, despite the grim evidence of what we are doing by dumping on our world -- the water crisis, unceasing droughts, worsening floods -- we can try to move on to greener pastures, digging even deeper for water, chucking our garbage out of the window, into the river or onto the street.

It's not my problem, thank you very much.

Insteadk, perhaps we need to remember that, one day, if we continue on our merry, unthinking way, we will reach the end of a very desolate, garbage strewn road.

-- Stevie Emilia