Climate changes and our actions

I read in the PoinT today on its Views section an article titled “RI’s peatlands: A little-known culprit in climate change”. Searching through google I can’t find this article which was written by Aubrey Belford, instead I found two articles from Yahoo news. One on forest trade, and the other one is about climate defore.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference is approaching. Indonesia should be able to present their political views and action plans to keep its power as the world’s lung.
Everybody seemed to be busy talking about climate change. With the recently cyclone in Bangladesh, floods in the cities, the necessity to help mother earth from ageing is very urgent. In Jakarta we were also warned about the possibility of hails and stormy rains (we experienced it several time in several places before).

I am interested in attending the seminar about “The Role of Architect in Response to Climate Change”. It was already an interesting subject for me before, not really about the climate change but mostly about the architecture in the tropical country. How we can make the most out of our environment potential in designing a man made environment.

Long time ago I worked for WWF for a short time in TNKS, Sumatra. As a newly graduate architect it was difficult for me to cope with the idea of eco-rural tourism as I knew that open a part of it as a tourism object could lure irresponsible investors to come as well. Perhaps the other member of the team could not understand me because in their vision an architect’s job is planning and building. Balancing between the economical needs and the environmental needs are difficult. My parents and my boy friend (my husband now) were not approving my choice to work in the forest. It was ridiculous (perhaps) in their eyes to see a girl graduated as an architect to work inside the forest.

I hope this kind of problems will also be discussed in the conference in Bali. We are now stressing on Marine Tourism. The sea is also a part of carbon reduction, so we need to be really careful on exploiting it. Yet, our beautiful seas are also challenging experiences for divers from all over the world. Those who would like to have a sustainable business will think over the sustainable environment. But I fear those investors who will only think about short time profits and then move on investing somewhere else.

There is also another interesting seminar “Langkah Kecilku Untuk Masa Depan Bumi” (my small step for the future of the earth). I am interested because they are forwarding two speakers that I knew: Prof. Dr. Sarlito Wirawan (a psychologist), and Dr. Ir. Bian Poen (an expert in urban planning with environmental concerns). I knew Pak Bian Poen more personally as I had the chance to help one of his researches. (Reminded me of Pak Parsudi Suparlan, an anthropologist who just passed away. I also admire his work. As someone who graduated from a private university I was lucky to be able to know pak Bian Poen and pak Parsudi in the field. They were lecturer for the University of Indonesia). Pak Sarlito I knew from seminars and I like his objectiveness and his great knowledge. Unfortunately it would be in the same time as the seminar on architect in response to the climate change. I also have another problem which is about my children arrangements. So, let it flow…