Well, Ani and I tried to have a little vacation. We went to a beautiful lake in the center of Bali, where the altitude, plants and ecology reminded me so much of the Filipino Cordilleras. Alas, there was also a lot of plastic kicking around. A LOT. In the ditches, on the road, in the fields, everywhere. On a little stroll to the shore, we stumbled on a group of mountain guides taking a break from their sunset morning hike with the tourists. They reminded me so much of my mountain guide friends back in Sabangan and Sagada, we got talking. It turns out that they had recently converted the land from an informal dumpsite, to a bamboo hut camp site. I was impressed and I couldn’t help myself… “Hey guys… have you ever heard of ecobricks?” After a little description, Ani and I were taken aback by their enthusiasm. The guides were overjoyed to learn about how they could take care of their plastic. Before we knew it, the entire crew had gathered around to learn. As the men started picking up cigarette butts from around their camp, their little boys shortly followed suit– without anyone asking them to. In an hour of inter-generational activity, they had picked up all the plastic, cigarette butts, wrappers, straws and more that were kicking around, and emptied the garbage bin of plastic.
Yeay!
🙂
