Saving the environment through faith
I am pleased to see that father Andang has taken up the responsibility to educate the public to be environmentally conscious. If All the leaders in faith can take this up, one item at a time, the world would be a better place to live. Congratulations to Father Andang.
My grade school teacher Mr. Abdul Hakim used to tell us the kids who would sit any place without thinking… he would say, watch the dog before it sits, it cleans the broken glass or rock with its tail. He has made us conscious of where we sit, where we step and be aware of it.
There is a saying among Muslims that cleanliness is half the belief in God or faith, and that needs to be encouraged.
The average Muslim is not conscious of hygiene, every one throws the trash on the street, right in front of their home… we need to take on this on our own and clean our own place and not wait for the municipality to do.
It is us who breathe that air, it is us whose’ health is of concern, it is our neighborhood. Others may not join our efforts in cleaning… but over the time, they will. It benefits the whole neighborhood.
If we can do these simple things:
1. When we walk out of the public bathrooms, the sink and the commode will be cleaner than before we used it.
2. When we finished eating, the plate is not a mess with left overs, eat what we can and not take more than we can eat.
3. Keep the area where you work as clean as you can.
Just do it.
Mike Ghouse
www.mikeghouse.net
www.foundationforpluralism.com
www.worldmuslimcongress.com
Andang Binawan: saving the environment through faith
Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20080713.C01&irec=0
Social transformation can begin with waste management, a Catholic priest believes. With this belief, he focuses his pastoral duties on guiding people’s garbage habits.
From a Driyarkara School of Philosophy’s student lodging in Central Jakarta, where he acts as head of the dorm, Father Andang Binawan tells The Jakarta Post about his simple idea.
“Garbage is an entry point to a concern for something bigger. From there we can achieve good waste management, a healthy environment and an inclusive, pluralistic society,” he says.
The 47-year-old is sitting in the front room wearing a black shirt with light brown trousers. His hair is black and thick, which suits his firm but soft voice.
Andang Binawan became the Jakarta bishop’s environmental specialist two years ago. The church incorporated an environmental section in their program in 2006, focusing on solid waste management, appointing Andang as coordinator.
Andang teaches at the Driyarkara School of Philosophy. “My background is actually not in the environment. My discipline is Catholic law and human rights. However, since I have been appointed (to focus on environmental issues), I have studied more about the environment,” he says. His program focuses on changing people’s waste management habits.
“First is to make people put garbage in the right place; second is to make people separate their garbage into organic and inorganic waste; and third is to make people compost their organic waste by building biopores or using other composting techniques,” he says.
After two years of campaigning for the environment, the student lodging now has a green and shady garden. Plant pots from water bottles line the fence.
“We use our own compost from our organic waste,” he said.
Andang has always had an interest in nature, especially plants, since he was a child. He says that he likes gardening and learned to make compost in elementary school.
Caring for the environment is in line with the Catholic value of compassion. “It is different from feeding the poor or sending a child to school or giving clothes to victims of disaster, as you don’t see the people you help (when doing the charity work). But caring for the environment means compassion for the next generation,” he says.
He set up a church youth group called Gropes, which is short for Gerombolan Pencari Sampah (Garbage Seeker Gang), and has asked churches in Jakarta to encourage their congregations to manage their waste properly.
His efforts do not stop there.
Learning that about 15.3 percent of Jakarta’s 27,633 cubic meters of garbage, which is around 6,000 tons a day, is thrown along streets, in parks and rivers, the priest realized he would need a lot of help to clean up the city.
So he gathered together other religious-based groups to work together on solving Jakarta’s garbage problem, forming an alliance called Faith Movement to Care for Jakarta (Gempita).
The groups include Maarif Institute, Wahid Institute, Clean and Healthy Life Movement, Lantan Bentala Foundation, Interfaith Dialog Society, Indonesia Institute for Pluralism, the Nadhatul Ulama and Muhamadiyah youth groups, the Kemang Pratama Indonesian Christian Church and others.
“It is impossible to work alone in changing people’s habits. If I worked alone, I would just get frustrated. That is why we should work together,” he says.
“Faith in religious values is a powerful driving force. And Indonesia is a very religious country. Assuming that each religious group already has values to care for the environment, it will be easier to change people’s habits toward the environment through religion,” he says.
He says that this is where garbage enters the scene, as everyone, regardless of their religious affiliation, produces garbage.
Andang says that human behavior is one aspect that religion deals with.
“As religious values are connected to human behavior, religion can help social change by guiding human beings to more civilized behavior.”
Launched in May 2008, Gempita is working on a joint program.
“Hopefully in August we will have training on waste management for members.
“Working together can make everyone more spirited in tackling the program. We can also share experiences on how each group attempts to manifest their values on caring for the environment,” he says.
Amidst the rise of religious fundamentalism in Indonesia, Gempita is a fresh development that promotes inclusiveness and plurality.
“Fighting against the same enemy, which is environmental damage, can help religious groups to live and work harmoniously together,” Andang says.