Yesterday, we got another school ecobricking in Bali. We were invited by one of the head teachers, pak Nyoman from SMK (junior Highschool) Abiensemal. 62 students crowded into a classroom with their bottles, plastic, and sticks, keen to learn.
I was honoured to do the presentation with my two Balinese colleagues pak Ngurah and pak Agung– each of whom are (incredibly) just as passionate about plastic transformation as I. We dressed in matching Balinese sarongs (thanks pak Agung!) to show that care for the environment is deeply part of Balinese culture. With their help, I was able to do the presentation in 90% bahasa Indonesia. 🙂
The presentation is the culmination of tons of collaboration– half a dozen artists have been involved in crafting this new, direct-to-student, empowerment approach. You can see one of the slides in the photo.
Its an approach that focuses on the root of the problem, not so much what to do. Rather than tell students what to do or not to do, rather than ban something, rather than rail, we are engaging the students in a dialogue to understand the perils of plastic.
It may seem obvious to many of us out there, but there is a vast ignorance about the dangers of plastic and how the consumption system works. Many folks still don’t realize, that even with the best recycling in the world, every molecule of plastic that we consume inevitably ends up contaminating the biosphere.
It is my observation that when the students deeply understand the reasons why safe-guarding plastic from our biosphere is so important, they are even more passionate about taking action. Indeed, afterwards, they set about ecobricking with glee.
We’ll be heading back to the school once they have 1000+ ecobricks.
