Let's Plant a Tree in a Unique Way

One might not appreciate the importance of a tree until he realizes the beauty of it.

http://www.lushland.co.uk/content/image/love-tree.jpg

We all know that the very well known living thing called ‘tree’ has great benefits both for the world and all that exist on this earth. But we do not need to mention the irresponsible actions that humans do to worsen the conditions of tress and forests.

You might say, “At least I’m not the one who does it or who cuts trees illegally.”

True. Well, at least, you are using things that are composed of tree substances—which involves (the cutting of) trees.

Here, you are not expected to make a campaign to stop illegal logging, or to suddenly stop buying products that are made of wood, or even telling sellers of wood products to stop creating things from wood. Simply, using your belongings wisely and effectively will already help conserve the environment. By understanding the importance of forests, we are hoped to be more aware of our own everyday actions.

Who doesn’t agree that trees are very vital in our lives? They absorb rain water and carbon dioxide, and produce oxygen. But the fact is, ‘actions speak louder than words’. Although humans are aware of the importance of conserving forests, their actions do not show their appreciation of them and the environment. Conservation is somehow forgotten.

Forests have mainly been used to produce materials for houses, papers, and tissues. Woods are extracted to produce papers for writing, printing, packaging and other uses. If we use 20 papers/day, we will use 600 papers/month, which means 7200 papers/year. A ream of paper is equivalent to a 5-year-old tree. For each ton of pulp requires 4.6 cubic meters of wood. One hectare of forest can produce approximately 160 cubic meters of wood. According to World Wide Fund (WWF), the use of a ream of paper has sacrificed two square meters of natural forest. 

Humans, animals, and plants need the functions of forests for their survival. Besides its role as water soil and oxygen source, forests also function to absorb carbon dioxide, which is needed by plants to complete the photosinthesis process. Not only that, its existence as part of the environment also functions to prevent floods and landslides. But deforestation has caused environmental damage. High paper production has devastated forests. High use of paper has led to high paper waste.

Indonesia has been facing many losses on forest lands in which many of them are caused by illegal logging. The effect of this are natural disasters like flood and erosion. The government has actually made laws controlling the illegal logging and forest fire, but perhaps, “laws are really made to be broken”. Another effect that we can feel in our daily lives is the changing weather which can be said as ‘extreme’.

The quality function of forests decreases. Forest lands are diminishing because they are used for the building of shopping malls, new living homes, and office buildings.  Another case about the damage of the forests area and the decreasing of forests function is the illegal logging, that still happens in Indonesian forests. This causes disturbance to the existence of living things.

Years ago, Indonesia used to be the world's top 3 largest forest. It was believed that 84% of Indonesian land is forest. Today, Indonesian forests are suffering severe damage. It has become the country with a high rate of forest destruction. Forests in Indonesia are reduced the width of 500 times the size of a football field, everyday-, according to Food and Agriculture Organizations (FAO). 

Some interesting facts about Trees that can make us appreciate them more!

-          Longest living organisms and one of the earth’s greates natural resources

-          Functions:

-       Keep the air supply clean

-       Reduce noise pollution

-       Improve water quality

-       Help prevent erosion

-       Provide food and building materials

-       Make the landscape look beautiful!

-        Their shade and wind can reduce annual heating

-        A single tree produces about 260 pounds of oxygen per year

-    Water from national forests can provide drinking water for over 3400 communities and about 60 million individuals

-        A single tree can absorb as much carbon as a car produces for driving for 26,000 miles

-       Forests cover one third of the earth surface and play a vital role in our lives

-    1.6 billion people depend on forests, to prevent climate change, release oxygen, and store carbon dioxide

Now, the question is, how can we conserve if there are more people today and there is an increase in consumption? Besides from our simple everyday actions that we could also educate to others, there is one way you can contribute in conserving the environment by planting a tree in Indonesia. 

How?

http://greenleafindonesia.co.id/  This is by far what we have found in Indonesia. Simply, one chooses the number of trees on a certain amount of area and pays for that category and the company will do all the job. It is quite unique way of investing as well as conserving the environment, and moreover, you help upgrade the farmers' lives.

http://greenleafindonesia.co.id/produk-kami/

Maybe you are inspired to be involved or you are inspired to do such business yourself in the future :)

(Note: This is purely for an editorial content.)

clean€uro Workshop

by: Rasmi Silasari
photo: Evi Mulyani

Hi everyone! Since autumn is finally starting and the leaves are turning yellow and brown, have you managed to live green the whole summer? (sorry for all the puns, intended or not) If yes, GUT!! If not, come finish this sentence and go to the second paragraph; I'll force show you how to live greener in an easy way!

Look how cute the poster is~

So earlier this month, 5th of September to be exact, PPI Austria in corporation with the NGO 'SOL - Menschen für Solidarität, Ökologie und Lebensstil' arranged a short workshop about 'How to shop the clean€uro way' (yep, you have to write that with the €) . You know that we, human, require so many resources to satisfy our needs. We need clothing, housing, education, recreation, and the most basic of all: food!

PPIA clean€uro workshop with Vera from SOL!

Now, have you ever thought about the way you do grocery shopping? Do you plan it carefully to 5 different shops to get 5 different items at the lowest cost? Do you just buy everything that comes in bulk so you won't have to shop for another 10 years? Do you buy the ones advertised by the ethereal, beautiful-looking people with their seductive voice? Or do you simply go to the bread & cheese shelf and that's it? (I swear it's not me). Well, what I'm about to tell you might make you want to consider more what's inside your shopping bag!

Vera showing us what to look from a product

In the beginning of our 2 hours workshop, Vera our wonderful mentor told us about the goal of clean€uro, which is to reduce our ecological footprint. Basically, this ecological footprint is how the scientists measure the natural resources that a person needs every year. The common way to measure it is to measure the productive land and sea area required to fulfill the needs; since it's an area, the unit is in global hectares per person (gha/pers).

So, the person that needs to eat meat would need more hectare than the person who eat vegetables, since the cow aside from needing space to live also needing space to grow its feed. In 2007, research found that the average ecological footprint of people on Earth is 2.7 gha/pers, while the Earth can only supply 1.8 gha/pers; it means that we have 0.9 gha/pers that keeps deteriorating every year! Well everyone can argue that: 'that's such a rough calculation', or 'it's the rich countries' fault', or 'the Earth looks fine to me', or 'who cares as long as I can eat my bread & cheese' (swear again, it's not me), etc., etc... but it won't hurt to be a nice citizen of the Earth and help our lovely planet to sustain better, right? =D So let's try to reduce our ecological footprint by shopping the clean€uro way!

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The steps of implementing clean€uro in your shopping routine is simple, you just have to remember these 3 points when stepping into the supermarket fully armed with shopping basket ready for the 'stock-the-fridge' mission:

1. FAIR!

Forget about buying stuffs that were made/grown/assembled by workers that aren't treated fairly! Please do look for the 'fair trade' logo on your items. This point strives for a more humane working conditions and improve social standard around the globe. And Vera made a good point on how funny it is that the 'fair trade' gets its own logo. Like, what, so the other items are allu from 'unfair trade'? HOW UNFAIR!

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2. ECO!

It's time for you to visit those green bio products shelfs! (or just visit a bio supermarket, why not) Please do look for the 'bio' logo on your items. When displaying the bio logo, the product actually has made lots of ecological improvement such as less waste and less harmful substance. There are lots of bio logo in this universe as many as the stars the supermarket, but you may want to look for the 'starry leaf' one as it's published by the EU with pretty strict standards. If you make excuse that bio products are more expensive, I dare you to compare the fruits' prices! You will find that it's actually just 30-50 cents/kg higher than regular ones!

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3. LOCAL!

I think it's not necessary to eat cheese shipped all the way from Italy when they produce the same cheese here in Austria, right? (and nope, I'm not talking to myself) Please do look for the 'made in ....' or something similar on your items. Actually this locality is more about the mileage, the goal is to use less resources to bring the item from the producer to your hand. So as the clean€uro website gives an example: if you live in Wien it might be better to drink milk from western Hungary that's quite close, rather than that from Tirol. So you know what you should do~ Learn your world map right!

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If all these rules make you dizzy and don't have place anymore to hang in your head among the periodic table or music score or economic equations, you can simply head to the alternative. It's easier, and will save you lots of money as well ;) It's the 'cut your consumption' way!!

1. Buy nothing
2. Buy less
3. Lend and Share
4. Favor services (as in just call the plumber instead of buying new tools and other resources and do the acrobat to fix that broken pipe by yourself)
5. Use second-hand (WILLHABEN RULEZZ!!!)
6. Reconsider shopping methods
7. Inquire

The more you buy the more item to check... so let's just buy less!

Perhaps you'll wonder if these simple acts will bring any difference. Oh, don't underestimate the force of demanding buyers, my friend. Vera told us the story of how Starbucks started to sell fair trade coffee just because the consumers pressured them to do so! Imagine if this happens to McDonalds and their burgers, it must be pretty interesting~ Anyway, that's all I have for 'How to shop the clean€uro way'! Next time you're in the supermarket, please consider being a nice Earth citizen and do at least one point to at least one of the item you buy. You might think it's nothing... but since you already think so, let's do this anyway! =D Cheers!

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Go green: Think Globally, Act Locally

by Arko Jatmiko Wicaksono

Populasi penduduk dunia, dari tahun 1700 – 2011 (Sumber: Worldometrics, 2015)

Kenaikan populasi penduduk dunia pertama kali mengalami peningkatan signifikan dimulai sejak terjadinya revolusi industri. Mengutip pernyataan dari worldometers (2014), “The world population (the total number of living humans on Earth) was 7.244 billion as of July 2014 according to the medium fertility estimate by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division and it is projected to reach 7.325 billion in July 2015”. Dengan populasi sebanyak itu persebaran penduduk yang terjadi, paling banyak terdapat di benua: Asia, Eropa/Amerika, Afrika, terakhir baru di benua Australia.

Kiri: 20 negara dengan populasi terbesar di dunia (2015. Kanan: peta penyebaran populasi manusia (2014)

Sumber: worldometrics (2015)

Bertambahnya populasi, berarti bertambah pula jumlah kebutuhan sandang, pangan, papan dan kebutuhan primer/sekunder lainnya. Sementara itu, luas lahan pertanian per kapita, sejak tahun 1961 hingga tahun 2009 telah mengalami penyusutan hingga kurang lebih 50% dari 14.000 m² menjadi 7.000  m² dan diprediksikan masih akan mengalami penyusutan di masa depan. Data yang penulis ambil dari IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution), menunjukkan bahwa dari bulan Aug 1994 – Sep 2012, diperkirakan telah terjadi kenaikan harga beras dan gandum mencapai lebih dari 50%, adapun di Indonesia sendiri dalam 3 tahun terakhir fluktuasi komoditas pangan relative tidak terprediksi mengingat fluktuasi harga pasar yang semakin tidak terkontrol.

World agricultural area (sumber: US Census / FAO / IGD Research, November 2012) 

Guna mengantisipasi hal tersebut, maka inisiatif penataan lingkungan perlu dilakukan, namun harus secara kolektif dan terkoneksi satu sama lain. Masalah bersama haruslah diselesaikan secara kolektif. Kebutuhan manusia akan pangan (misal) tidak bisa hanya diselesaikan oleh 1 bidang/segelintir orang saja, karena untuk menghasilkan bahan pangan diperlukan berbagai sumber daya alam yang secara umum juga diperlukan oleh banyak orang, seperti: air dan tanah. Efisiensi penggunaan sumber daya alam serta peningkatan efektifitas pertanian pun perlu dilakukan. 

Salah satu contoh menarik yang sudah dikembangkan (dan berhasil diterapkan) ialah penerapan Mina padi di suatu kelompok pertanian di Jogjakarta. Dengan menggunakan pupuk kompos (organik) yang ramah lingkungan, memungkinkan petani (pada garapan sawah yang sama) untuk menanam padi sekaligus beternak ikan dalam jumlah yang besar. Dalam 1.000 meter², selain bisa panen padi 8 kwintal, petani juga dapat memanen ikan 5 kwintal dan udang 2 kwintal. Sehingga disamping meningkatkan keuntungan finansial, hal semacam ini juga berguna dalam memberikan jaminan terpenuhinya stok kebutuhan pangan bagi masyarakat. 

Pertanian system Mina Padi di Sleman, Yogyakarta (sumber: Tempo.co, 2015)

Pemanfaatan limbah (hasil buang hajat) manusia sebagai bahan baku biogas pun sudah dimulai di Australia. Dengan membuat saluran yang mengkoneksikan saluran pembuangan sapiteng wc dari tiap rumah di suatu wilayah, maka tinja yang terkumpul secara kolektif dapat dimanfaatkan sebagai bahan biogas. Pemanfaatan limbah kotoran ternak untuk menghasilkan biogas juga sudah diterapkan di Indonesia, hanya masih terbatas pada skala rumah tangga.

Pembuatan sumur resapan untuk menangkap air hujan, tentunya juga harus mulai disahkan dengan perda/UU dan perlu mulai perketat implementasinya oleh pemerintah. Berkurangnya areal tadah hujan, membuat sebagian besar air hujan yang jatuh ke tanah, langsung tergelontor ke sungai tanpa banyak terserap ke dalam tanah. Hal ini terjadi karena pertumbuhan perumahan yang kian hari kian menjamur tanpa diiringi oleh tata kelola ruang yang baik di Indonesia.

Sumur resapan di setiap rumah (sumber: Agus Maryono dan Edy Nugroho Santoso, 2006)

Pada skala laboratorium, penelitian terkait guna meningkatkan hasil pertanian pun banyak diusahakan. Namun dalam skala mikro, pada dasarnya setiap orang mampu melakukan upaya guna mendukung terciptanya produktivitas lahan, seperti menanam buah dalam pot (tabulampot), pemanfaatan solar cell di setiap rumah (mengingat intensitas matahari yang sangat tinggi dan ada sepanjang tahun), memodifikasi kebun agar berdaya guna, dan sebagainya, yang pada akhirnya, setiap manusia dapat memberikan kontribusi setidaknya bagi keluarga/lingkungan terdekat tempat ia tinggal. 

Farming Farm (pertanian di kebun rumah sendiri), Sumber: wikipedia

“Revolusi Sembako” Bikin Tempe Laris Manis

by Syifa Nurhanifah

Ketika kita masuk dalam supermarket, tak asing lagi jika kita menemukan produk-produk yang berlabelkan "Veggie".

Hal ini tak lain disebabkan oleh pemenuhan kebutuhan para vegetarian dan vegan yang jumlahnya tiap tahun selalu meningkat. Di Austria sendiri jumlah masyarakat veggie sampai tahun 2013 berjumlah 760.000 orang atau 9% dari keseluruhan penduduk.

Berdasarkan EU-Eurobarometer, angka ini meningkat dari 2,9% di tahun 2005 (sekitar 238.000 orang) atau mencapai peningkatan sekitar 200% dalam kurun waktu 8 tahun (Sumber: österreichische Vegan-Gesellschaft).

Wow...! peningkatan yang luar biasa.

Kadang hati kecil ini bertanya-tanya, eh trend banget yah makan tanpa daging disini? Hmm.. penyebabnya apa sih?

Setelah berbincang-bincang dengan teman-teman yang veggie dan juga baca sana sini, akhirnya saya pun mengerti kenapa mereka memutuskan menjadi bagian dari masyarakat Vegeta (Veggies).

Jika dilihat dari definisinya sendiri, kita pun semua tau bahwa yang di maksud dengan Veggies adalah orang-orang yang hanya mengkonsumsi tumbuh-tumbuhan dan tidak makan daging. Atau mereka lebih dikenal dengan masyarakat Vegetarian. Namun bagi sebagian komunitas, menolak untuk mengkonsumsi daging sendiri tidak cukup untuk bisa dikatakan sebagai masyarakat Vegeta, yang secara hakikatnya memang harus benar-benar bebas dari kandungan hewani! 

Jadi segala makanan yang mengandung unsur hewani, apapun itu, haram hukumnya untuk di makan! Contohnya telur dan susu.. (wuah.. lebih susah nyarinya dong, dibandingkan makanan Halal untuk kaum muslim :D) Makanya komunitas ini membedakan diri dengan Vegetarian, dan menamakannya sebagai Vegan, yaitu pengerucutan dari kata VEGetariAN.

Jadi segala makanan yg mengandung unsur hewani, misal telur dan susu, entah itu kue, es cream, ataupun coklat harus bebas dari kandungan telur dan susu. Bagi sebagian besar masyarakat (seperti saya misal) mungkin hal ini tak bisa dibayangkan karena saya suka makan kue.. Apfestrudel, Topfenstrudel, spetzle, Mie kocok/goreng,  Sacher Torte, Marlenka, nutella, suka coklat, suka dadar gulung, suka... aaah pokoknya banyak deh yang mengandung telur, susu dan madu  and I can't live without it :D

Tapi jujur sejujur jujurnya, saya pribadi sangat salut dengan orang-orang yg memilih hidup sebagai Vegan. Bukan hanya alasan kesehatan saja mereka memilih hidup sebagai Vegan, namun juga sebagai rasa solidaritas sosial yang tinggi terhadap sesama makhluk hidup, yaitu sebagai bentuk respect mereka terhadap hewan; menolak exploitasi hewan, menuntut adanya keadilan pangan bagi petani dan juga peduli terhadap lingkungan dengan mengurangi jumlah kosumsi daging. 

Btw, berdasarkan studi aktual dari Uni Wien  dan Netherlands En-vironmental Agency, 1Kg daging sapi yang diproduksi di Brazil mampu memproduksi 335 Kg CO2, yang bisa mecemarkan lingkungan sejauh 1.600 Km (hitungan ini berdasarkan Life Cycle Assessment). Atau sama saja dengan jarak antara Jakarta – Denpasar. (Wuidiih baru aja sekilo, efeknya buu, lumayan gede.)

(Sumber: https://vebu.de/themen/umwelt/klimawandel/1316-1-kg-rindfleisch-so-klimaschaedlich-wie-eine-1600-km-lange-autofahrt)

Oleh karena hal-hal yang disebut diatas tadi, masyarakat Vegan lebih mengutamakan untuk mengkonsumi produk-produk organic yang regional dan fair trade demi menjaga kelangsungan ekosystem dan mendukung sustainable development. Alasannya dikarenakan bahwa produk-produk organic bebas dari bahan kimia, memiliki kualitas tinggi, lebih menyehatkan daripada produk non-organic dan ramah lingkungan. 

Produk regional berarti produk lokal dan bukan import, alasannya untuk mengurangi polusi udara akibat transportasi dan distribusi produk-produk tersebut, dan fair trade-produk untuk mendukung adanya kedaulatan pangan bagi petani lokal dan keadilan sosial bagi buruh dan pekerja.

Kadang memang kita berfikir menjadi Vegan itu adalah hal yg extrem, karena tantangannya (bisa dikatakan) langsung terhadap pola dan nafsu makan kita, karena menjadi Vegan berarti kita harus merubah semua komposisi makanan yg mengandung unsur hewani dan menggantinya dengan komposisi yg berunsur nabati. Yaaa bisa kita katakan hal ini sebagai Revolusi Sembako. ;-)

Tapi berdasarkan pengalaman teman-teman yg menjadi Vegan,  semua tantangan ini (menariknya) malah menjadikan mereka lebih kreativ, khususnya dalam menciptakan alternativ makanan pokok. Untuk semua bahan makanan yg mengandung telur, mereka ganti dengan tepung kedelai, susu sapi mereka ganti dengan susu kedelai (bahkan ada juga rice milk! Aha...), madu diganti dengan marple syrup, daging diganti dengan tahu bahkan Tempe!! Ya.. iya tempe!! Tempenya orang Indo, he’eu!

 

Selain tahu, tempe yang dulu hanya bisa ditemukan di Asia Shop kini bisa ditemukan di segala supermarket yang berlabelkan Biomarkt. Apakah itu Denns, Veganz, Reformhaus, PLAN-Bio dan lain-lain. Lebih terpukaunya lagi, tempe ini diproduksi dan diolah secara regional di Austria dan Jerman oleh (ehm) orang eropa!! Wow bgt kan?! (siapa yang ngajarin, hayo..??!)

Tempe kini bukan cuma terkenal dan laris manis diburu oleh para Veggies di Eropa Tengah. Tempe juga (oleh orang sini) diolah dengan berbagai macam kreasi, apakah itu ala orang Asia atau juga Western style.  Dari mulai gemüse-Wok, tempe goreng sampai smoked tempe pun ada dan bisa di sulap menjadi bacon ataupun sosis! Resepnya bisa dicoba di: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/tempeh-bacon/

Nama Indonesia pun melejit ke atas di kalangan Veggies ini. Resep-resep masakan indonesia dicari dan dicoba oleh mereka. Bahkan ada beberapa teman Vegan yang pernah mencoba membuat tempe sendiri, namun sayangnya GAGAL. (yoweis bisa dicoba lagi)

Terlintas rasa bangga dong produk lokal masyarakat indonesia bisa mendunia seperti ini. Apalagi bahkan di hargai dan disanjung rasanya. Selain nasi goreng, mungkin kedepannya “tempe mendoan” akan tenar di Eropa. Siapa yang mau taruhan, yuk..?! ;-)

Yang terakhir, bagi kita-kita yang Omnivora :D dan peduli lingkungan (cie..), mungkin bisa memulai dengan mengurangi konsumsi daging yang berlebihan dan memperbanyak berdzikir daripada belanja.. (haha... huuuuuuuu....) :D :P

Eh makan tempe yuk? :P

Reminder: Earth Hour 2015 (Saturday, 28 March)

 by Rafika Nurulhuda

 This is not only to remind you, but this is mainly as a self-reminder that I would like to share with you all.

I am sure we all have heard about Earth Hour that is celebrated each year on 28th March starting from 8.30 PM to 9.30 PM local time. What do we exactly do at that moment and what is the importance?

It is basically one of the ways to combat global warming. You can participate by simply shutting of lights for an hour. And this simple act actually brings positive impacts. There are some facts about how much energy is conserved just from the one hour time period.

It saves electricity cost, too ;)

I would like to remind myself that, Earth Hour should not only be done every year, but it should be put into my awareness and put into my action for the upcoming days. 

I think we all agree that Valentine shouldn't be celebrated only in February, but showing love to your loved ones should be done everyday, right? 

I think participating in Earth Hour shows our love for Earth, and it should be shown daily.

So cross your heart. Promise me you'll turn off the lights for one hour this Saturday. :)