Good afternoon listeners. Well, this afternoon on Environment Today, I have Isabel Wijsen in the studio. Isabel, along with her sister, started a campaign to get rid of all plastic bags on the island of Bali when she was just 10 years old. Isabel, what made you so eager to do this?
Well, in Bali, we generate around 680 cubic meters of plastic garbage a day. That's enough to fill a 14-storey building. And plastic bags are among the worst culprits. They don’t biodegrade, and less than five percent gets recycled, causing a health hazard to animals, environmental problems and generally making the place look filthy!
So, what made you decide that you wanted to be the ones who made a change?
Well, we had just had a lesson in school about significant people, like Nelson Mandela and Princess Diana. My sister and I were walking home after that lesson, and we decided that we wanted to be significant too. So we sat down that evening and brainstormed the issues that affect our country, and we settled on ridding the island of plastic bags. That’s only a fraction of the garbage problem on the island, but it’s a start, and it’s a realistic target for two kids!
So how did you start?
We realised that we couldn’t tackle this problem alone, so we got help from schools. Together, we got people to sign petitions, we gave presentations and we distributed alternative bags made of organic material or recycled newspaper.
Did you have much of an effect?
On a local level, yes, but not really on a national level. The government doesn’t pay much attention to a petition of a few hundred signatures, so we thought, well what about if we get a million signatures? They can’t ignore that! But that’s a lot of signatures – it’s about a quarter of the island’s population. How were two kids supposed to manage that? But then we heard that the airport handled around 16 million arrivals and departures per year, so we realised that was the place to go. After a bit of persistence, the manager gave us authorization to collect signatures behind the customs and immigrations desk.
Did it pay off?
Well, we didn’t grab the attention of the governor of Bali until after a visit to India. My sister and I had gone there to do a presentation, and while we were there we learnt about Mahatma Gandhi’s hunger strikes, and how they had the power to make a change. So that’s what we decided to do!
You went on a hunger strike?
Well, not exactly. After getting some advice, we decided we wouldn’t eat between sunrise and sunset until we the governor of Bali talked to us.
And did that work?
Absolutely! We met him within three days! We told him of our mission, and he promised that Bali will be plastic bag free in the next two years!
That’s great news!
Yes! Of course, our work hasn’t finished. Now we are giving out stickers to shops that promise to be plastic bag free, and promoting them on social media. That draws attention to the shops that don’t get involved! But our biggest message is that you don’t have to wait to make a decision to change your world. If you don’t like what you see around you, do something about it! if two kids can do it, anyone can!