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Fiolisya Ambadar Humanities/Biblical Studies 9 Hannah Meeuwse 26 March 2014 COMMUNITY AND SURROUNDINGS INTERACTION, OUR CARE FOR GODS ENVIRONMENT The interaction between people in Padang with their environment is not much different with what we are used to in Jakarta. The difference is on the kind of environment people interact with. Here in Jakarta, we are used to large office buildings, highways and a large population. The environments in Padang are mostly green valleys, fields of plantation and not so much modern infrastructure. Although the area of Padang is greater in size, it has one-tenth the population of Jakarta. This causes some parts of the environment to be peaceful and enjoyable. Less population leads to less pollution, but it doesnt mean that there is none. Some people are still unable to make wise choices which can benefit the environment. A few people have attempted to make a difference in their environment, but many people still neglect the negative impacts their actions could have on their surroundings and causing most of the areas to be very badly maintained. As we have observed, public trashcans are provided around the environment. This is normal for any public place, but in these places they also include encouragements which convince people to be more caring towards the environments cleanliness. The signs put up against trashcans include Keep the environment clean, Cleanliness is golden, Maintain the cleanliness of this beach, Throw your trash in the right place, and other statements. These signs can help to raise awareness towards caring for the environment. Even though some people have shown their care towards the environment, some people still dont understand the benefit of environment maintenance , which include having many more beautiful sceneries and better health for everyone. Because of this, they carelessly throw away their trash, polluting the ground and not caring about the impact it has toward the environment and other people. The people who spread awareness about cleanliness are intentional with their actions. People who dont have an intention of making the environment better wouldnt do such a thing because many people think that it is a useless action. The signs which are put up against trashcans were intentional and were meant to spread awareness about environment sustainability. Some people who dont think

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about their surrounding environment just simply neglect it. We can tell that they are neglecting the thought of maintaining a clean environment because their trashes were thrown near a trash can. Not neglecting clean environment maintenance would lead them to throwing their trash in the right place. Since it is clear that there is a trashcan, yet people still throw their trash carelessly, it proves that there are people who neglects the condition of their surroundings and doesnt care about having a cleaner environment. Carelessly throwing away trash is an unsustainable way of living. Even though some people have made an attempt to spread awareness on a cleaner environment, some people are too ignorant to care. People who dont care about keeping the cleanliness of their surround ings are not leading others toward global sustainability. It isnt a sustainable way of living because waste contains toxic which then pollutes our environment. This can be harmful to plants, animals, and everyone living in the community. When a lot of toxic gets spread, the things that the earth can provide for us wont be in good condition. One example is a river, lake or beach with trashed filled and dirty running water because people dont care about littering and pollution. Because a lot of people just carelessly throw away trash, it seems to become a normal thing to have trash in our surroundings when we are supposed to be living in a clean environment. To sustain a clean environment, people should have the wisdom of making a difference in the community and contribute in cleaning. Instead of following other people who are careless, it is better to help others become more aware of environment cleanliness. People in Padang seem to appreciate nature, and this can be seen through the green sceneries which are maintained. Compared to peoples interaction with the environment here in Jakarta, peo ple dont destroy land to start a big business. Instead, there are so many beautiful sceneries that people actually benefit from. Those sceneries were made into tourist attractions and places for people to go hiking. People there have made a good use of their beautiful environment by sharing it with other people instead of destroying them. Factors of economics can influence the relationship of the community with the environment in relation with the infrastructure. Padang isnt a high business city like Jakarta, and this causes the area to not have so many office buildings. In Padang, the business we encounter most often would be farming. Instead of having so many office buildings for people to work, a lot of them work in the open fields. Because of this, Padang has so many greeneries and more opportunities for nature reserves. This is a good start to global sustainability because by having more nature reserves instead of factories, there will be less energy consumption as well as less pollution in the environment. There wont be high energy consumption when most people work in

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plantation fields instead of factories, because not a lot of people will be using a lot of the earths energy to run their business. With more open fields, people are taking good care of the earths resources and crops they harvest. Because it is their working opportunity, they are sustaining these areas of Padang and it will be well maintained for a long period of time. One of the nature reserves in Padang is the local zoo. This place is an example of peoples neglect towards the environment. As we visited the local zoo, we can see that the people there dont have enough care towards their environment. The animals in the zoo looked sick instead of active, and they seemed badly maintained. Other than the health of the animals, the condition of the space given to them isnt well taken care of either. Their water isnt kept clean, there are both organic and plastic trashes found inside their cages, and even a broken fence. The unclean surroundings given to these animals are abusive because it is not a healthy place to live in. If they had more care towards their environment, the area would be taken care of better and the animals there would be living in a cleaner environment. Instead, because of their neglect, the animals have to live in a dirty environment with a very bad health condition. The peoples actions are not helping with global sustainability because they do not have enough care and responsibility in sustaining the health and existence of the animals. As a lot of people know, many different animals in the world are in danger of being extinct. Because the people working in the zoo do not have enough care towards the animals, more animals are going to be put in danger and in the long term might lead to them being extinct. Peoples bad interactions with their surroundings are not intentional, because nobody would want to damage their environment on purpose. Some people might not be so well educated about caring for the environment. But, some people know that what they are doing is wrong, and they still do it anyway because of carelessness and neglect. The communitys relationship with their environment isnt sustainable because even though some people think they are doing the right thing, it doesnt always end well. This is because they are starting a step in sustaining the environment, but after a while they start to neglect it and it keeps getting worse. When this happens, their action in wanting to make the environment better becomes a waste because it doesnt continue. Starting a zoo is a good thing because it can help to sustain the existence of the animals. But, even though they have captured the animals and kept them in a zoo, it isnt enough to sustain them. The communit y is also required to take care of them. They started out well but because their care didnt continue, all of the

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animals ended up sick. Their actions arent sustainable because they do not take enough responsibility for what they have started. Psychologically, the peoples motivation for the way they interact with their environment is just because of carelessness. Many people nowadays would just follow other peoples actions instead of thinking about what is best. It is possible that because of the small population, they feel like they dont need to care about how their actions affect the environment because it wont affect too many people. Another possibility is that they think other people will take care of the environmental problem. Carelessness causes people to think that they are not responsible for their own actions. Even though they have polluted the environment, they think that it isnt their problem. Some people dont think before they act, and it has affected the environment in a negative way. Being able to acknowledge our surroundings, make decisions and perform actions which arent harmful to anyone needs wisdom. The choices we make should be beneficial and have the ability to influence others in a positive way. I have perceived that foolishness is not living by Gods ways and not thinking about other people when we make decisions. Foolishness may lead to harm because we arent making the right choices. We have to be careful with our choices, because the choices we make have an impact on everything around us. The term sowing and reaping means that we get back what we give out. Based on my analysis on the environments of Padang, I perceived that when we are careless with our actions, it doesnt only badly affect other people, but it can affect ourselves too. The environmental condition there wasnt really good at some point, especially where there are a lot of trash and trash burning. This isnt a healthy environment to live in, and as I have observed, many people actually got sick. Everything that God has created means great value to Him. He gave us the responsibility in taking care of them because they were made beautiful and should be maintained. From Genesis 1:31, "God saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was very good", we can learn that all our surroundings were once in a very good condition and God admired that. But, as time goes by, people start to neglect their surroundings and forgot their responsibility stated in Numbers 35:33-34, which says You shall not pollute the land in which you live.... You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell. God has told us that we should sustain our environment and keep it in good condition. This responsibility is also known as the Cultural Mandate.

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The Cultural Mandate is when God gave us the responsibility in ruling after all of His creations. This includes the surrounding environments and other living creatures. When we are responsible to rule over something, it is important that we take good care of them. We are passively neglecting the Cultural Mandate when we dont do anything to help sustain the environment. We know that the environment isnt in the best condition because of pollution, but we dont do anything to fix it. We ignore the fact that we are responsible in taking care of Gods creation. They depend on us to take care of them, but instead we have neglected the Cultural Mandate. We are actively fulfilling the Cultural Mandate when we take care of our surroundings, which include different animals and plants. By doing this, we are sustaining Gods creations instead of destroying them. We are actively neglecting the Cultural Mandate when we choose to pollute our surroundings. By spreading pollution, we are not sustaining the health of Gods creation and we are putting them in danger. This action neglects the Cultural Mandate because by doing this, we are lacking care towards Gods creation. As rulers of all His creations, we have to know the best way to treat our surroundings so that we wont destroy them. Since not many people are aware of this, there are some possible actions that we can do to encourage them. One of them is by starting to do the right thing so that we can be an example for everyone else in the community. Wherever we go, there will alwa ys be people who dont care about their actions and this is caused by their neglect. Peoples neglect doesnt help global sustainability because carelessness towards the environment leads to a lot of pollution causing contamination to the resources provided by the earth. A sustainable lifestyle is a wise way of living, because we are responsible for our own environment and surroundings. Making wise decisions can help us to live a sustainable life, and it will be beneficial to everyone because no one would be harmed. Our actions are no use if we act only once and never continue. Our sustainable lifestyle has to be continuous because once we stop, so does the positive impacts our environment gets. When we want to make a difference, it is better to start with ourselves. It is better to set a good example instead of following the bad examples of other people.