Cikarang, as the city with the largest industrial area in Indonesia, faces serious environmental problems. Crowded roads by various vehicles and active industrial activities are the main factors of air pollution. In addition, plastic waste that was littered on the streets or that was piled in a corner of the city has polluted the environment. Instead of reducing the use of private vehicles and plastics, people are stressed not to care and do not have enough knowledge about the dangers of environmental pollution. This fact then drew the attention of a group of students of International Business Class batch 2017, Management Study Program of President University to create a “Glow Earth” campaign.
“It’s sad to see the public act like they don’t care about plastic waste and don’t know the danger of polluted air towards our health. Therefore, we made a campaign to invite people in the Cikarang area to participate in activities to reduce plastic consumption, especially plastic bottles and encourage people to ride public transportation such as KRL,” explained Hanifah Fathinah, the project manager of this movement group.
For three days, they set up a booth and conducted various activities at Cikarang Station and its surroundings, such as air pollution campaigns and distributing masks for free, plastic waste and mineral water refill campaigns, and exchanging plastic bottles with traditional snacks. The team hoped that Cikarang people can get used to bring their own drinking bottles, reducing the use of plastic bottles, use public transportation, and know the dangers of air pollution to health.
Hanifah admitted that the campaign that they had carried out recently was a means of implementing the theory they had gained in the Sustainable Development class, which was taught by Dr. Ir. Yunita Ismail Masjud, M.Sc. In this class, they learn about Sustainable Development Goals and environmental problems that occur. (SL)