Every time I fly into Jakarta I
realize—well really remember would be a better way to word it—how strikingly
bad the level of pollution and environmental damage there is in this country. I
don’t notice it so much when I’m in Surabaya to be honest. I mean, Surabaya is
polluted as well but not on the scale of Jakarta. I dare say Surabaya is clean
compared to the capital but as with many things, clean is relative.
I was here just last week and when I
landed, the air was somewhat clear. You could see the buildings clearly and the
infamous yellow cloud of who-knows-what wasn’t wrapped around the landscape.
The time before was just atrocious. The whole place was just covered in
pollution. There are really no other words to describe what it was like.
Today it was back to business as usual. I
thought we were flying into a storm but then there was no rain. I then thought
that must be smoke due to the color but when we got closer there were no fires.
I then thought that maybe, and I mean just maybe, that is fog and haze but no,
it was just nasty, polluted, discolored air. Disgusting really but it’s an
everyday affair I’m afraid.
Honestly though, it really hammers home
just how much damage we’re doing to Earth—our planet, our home—and I just can’t
imagine this will somehow fix and reverse course naturally. Nothing can handle
being constantly abused and misused and I believe our planet is the same. Yeah,
you can now bust my balls for flying since that’s a huge contributor but I do
the best I can otherwise. At least I’m trying. I can’t say the same for a large
proportion of people here.
I know it isn’t just Indonesia but there
are some rather bad things going on here. You’ve got rampant deforestation with
a big percentage done by simply burning it down, dubious environmental
practices, non-existent waste management, a whole host of other things and
corruption as bad as you could ever imagine keeping the whole system rolling
right along. It’s fucked beyond all belief but that’s the state of affairs as
well as the status quo.
Not too many people seem to really give a
damn either and that’s the worst part. It’s the whole “it’s not mine so I’ll
turn a blind eye” attitude that really just boils down to pure fucking sloth.
Layabouts don’t do much of anything except lay about. I guess trying to get
them to toss their garbage in a bin is about like getting them to stop lying
about—impossible.
Anyway, I digress. I’ll never change one
culture let alone the entire fucking world. I hate to say it but I do actually
give a damn. I didn’t use to care all that much but that’s changing. I guess
living around people so lazy they can’t be bothered to toss their candy wrapper
in a bin will do that to you. The list goes on and on but surely you get the
point. “Sparkling Surabaya” and “Keep Surabaya Clean”: words not to live by really.
No comments:
Post a Comment