Indonesia's Most Urgent Environmental Challenge

Air pollution has become the most serious environmental problem in Indonesia. Why is it so? Air is a fundamental needs of human being and all of the other living things. According to an official at the World Bank office in Jakarta, "air pollution imposes costs of at least $400 million on the Indonesian economy every year." Not mentioning of inflammation of respiratory tract, which is directly linked to air quality becomes the sixth leading cause of death in Indonesia.

The terrible air conditions don't come from nowhere into existence, there are several causes of this circumstance. Firstly, carbon dioxide and monoxide production increase gradually. Deforestation, industry development, vehicles pollution are the ones responsible for it. Respiratory disorder, extinction of species are several of the consequences. The other cause, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) usages, are destroying our ozones, making the air into warmer state, creating the green house effect, and leading us to global warming; making our earth becomes hotter and hotter, raising the sea level, and finally will melt the eternal ice in the poles. Look at how serious the consequences can be!

With small effort, we can do something big to overcome environmental challenge in air pollution. Carbon dioxide and monoxide production and CFC all are not only the responsibility of industrial or government side. We can do something about it! Not only in Indonesia, we as a small part of the world will be able to make a large contribution if we get together and try to overcome the crisis that is putting the earth at stake right now. For example, we can try to reduce the usage of private vehicle as a primary mean of transportation. One million people that do so will reduce the amount of pollution of one million vehicle. Another thing that we can do is try to conserve energy by turning off electrical appliances that we do not use. Turning off one 50 watt lamp for each person in my country will be able to lighten the electricity of the whole Singapore. Protect our earth!

What has given meaning to my life?

Meeting with new occurrences. That is one thing that gives my life color and meaning. I love learning new things, meeting new people, and trying something different. I have been joining several committees from the past semester and it had given me a lot of new things to do, seeing a lot of types of persons in the universities. Even this evening, I had a chance to experience something new. I had a meeting with the tutor for my projects, IT Workshop, where I discussed and negotiated about the project. It taught me a lesson on how to negotiate, deal with another people, and all the dynamics in it.

But, will the encounters with new experiences be smooth? No, it is not. I experienced that I will be making mistakes when I encounter new things, not just 'mistakes' but 'a lot of mistakes'. There, I realized that the people I love will play their role. In fact, they bring the most of my life's meaning, more than all new things that I have encountered.

My family. They warned, scolded me when I am making mistakes, but they always give a room for me to correct my mistakes. In fact, they give unlimited chances for me to fix all of my missteps. My girlfriend, who is the one that I most often turned to, will also be there to watch my back, give me thoughts about things, and give me chances to fix the mess. Not forgetting to mention friends that are there to warn and prevent me from doing the mistakes. They altogether adds up into giving the most important meaning of life.

Meeting new occurrences is nothing without anyone that is supporting my back. The feeling that I am not alone and all the things that I encountered in life (including the mistakes) altogether create the meaning of my life.