Remember when we’re so relieved that 2021 FINALLY over? Remember when we got quite optimistic that 2021 will be (much) better than 2020? Well, 2020 has already set a (very) low bar anyway, so I thought 2021 would surely be better.
Then again, it’s not even one month yet. And the first few weeks of 2021 have been… Okay, let’s just say that so far, 2021 hasn’t going as well as I have expected before. At least in Indonesia.
The first three weeks of 2021, and Indonesia already has to deal with a too-long list of accidents and disasters. I really don’t want to go into too much detail (I might end up crying, believe me). But this news from CNN summed up the stuffs that have happened. Oh, and also that Twitter feud about Kristen Gray (some Americans can be really dumb and this whole feud is just an example).
One that literally hits too close to home, is the flooding in South Kalimantan. Iya, bencana banjir di Kalimantan Selatan. Provinsi saya sendiri. Rasanya baru sekali ini banjirnya sampai yang airnya naik sampai memenuhi teras, dan nyaris masuk ke rumah saya.
Dari 13 kabupaten, 9 terdampak banjir ini. Ratusan ribu harus mengungsi, karena ketinggian air mencapai 1,5-2 meter lebih. It’s really heartbreaking, melihat ratusan ribu korban yang harus dievakuasi, kondisi mereka dan daerah yang luluh lantak karena banjir ini.
Tentu saja, salah satu hal yang dianggap bertanggung jawab atas hal ini adalah kerusakan alam akibat aktivitas pertambangan. And I couldn’t agree more. I mean, dude, you must have been a really ignorant person if you don’t care about how this whole mining thing has destroyed our island. Just look at how we have lost our forest because of this.
Tapi kemudian, how about us? What have we done?
Saya percaya bahwa segala sesuatu yang kita lakukan ada akibatnya. Dan apa yang kita lakukan selama ini, ada akibatnya terhadap lingkungan. As simple as that.
The choices that we make, it all has an impact. Salah satu konsep tentang bagaimana dampak yang kita punya atas lingkungan, adalah ecological footprint. Please, do check this site to have more information. Or even better, you can check your own ecological footprint by using this website.
Nggak usah jauh-jauh deh, yang gampang aja, seberapa banyak sampah yang kita hasilkan dalam satu hari, hanya karena gaya hidup yang kita pilih?
We’re now facing the consequences of what we have been doing. We’re now bearing the consequences of what our past generation had done. And here’s a not-so-subtle reminder: the future generation would have to deal with the consequences of our actions today.
Saya percaya, Tuhan Yang Maha Kuasa sudah menciptakan semesta ini dengan sebaik-baiknya. The natural environment used to be in its best equilibrium. Unfortunately, used to be being the keyword here. Mother Earth used to have this graceful ability to bounce back, to return to a balanced condition.
And what have we done to Earth? What have we done to that equilibrium?
To make it short: we’re screwing it up.
Kembali ke soal kenapa banjir tahun ini adalah yang terparah dalam 50 tahun terakhir. Iya, perusahaan tambang sudah menyebabkan kerusakan alam pada skala besar.
But let’s not forget to look back at ourselves: what about us? What about ourselves? Maybe we often forget that we’re also part of the problem of this whole environmental destruction. Maybe with the choices that we have made, we, either consciously or no, are also pushing the balance of Earth closer and closer to its tipping point.
I try my best not to be a cynic. But sometimes, the phrase “Let’s save the Earth” feels so empty for me. We’re not trying to save the Earth. We’re trying to save ourselves. Maybe Earth would do better without us messing up its balance.
Ada salah satu lagu dari gnash (he’s one of my favorite musicians), yang liriknya selalu bikin saya mikir soal ini.
“I wonder if the last generation was better
I wonder if the next one’s going to Hell
Am I the solution, am I the problem?
‘Cause sometimes I can’t tell”
[…]
I wonder if the trees think we’re all greedy
If the air thinks we’re all crooks
If the water thinks we’re too needy
If the sun gives us dirty looks”
(pajamas by gnash)
And that question lingers. A question remain for us to think about when we’re making choices and decision: am I the solution, or am I the problem?
