Environmental Concerns

Well, I could not go away from Bali without at least discussing some of the environmental issues this country faces; you all thought you would be spared from my tree-hugging, pro-recycling, make the planet a better place, ranting for 2 whole months. Firstly, the only people concerened for the environment are primarily tourists, which is ironic because without the tourists there would be less damage to the environment.

The majority of the locals burn their garbage. Now that means that they put it in a pile anywhere outside (but not always), light it on fire, and walk away. Sometimes it is not even in a pile. They begin at about 7 am, so if the roosters have not woken you up, the smell of burning rubish will. Thorughout the hillsides you can see white smoke in various clouds scattered about. While driving down the road, you will see people burning garbage or fires lit with no one around. In all the hotels and restaurants, there are garbage bins, but that is just to help them collect the rubbish for buring. Behind World Diving there is one "dumpster" like cart that people put trash in. It is constantly full and fly-infested so I am not completely sure what happens to that garbage.

The locals simply throw trash on the ground when they are finished with it. This is find for things like banana peels and watermelon rinds, I guess, but it is still emotionally hard for me to see chip bags, lollipop wrapers, and what-have-you quickly tossed on the ground without a thought of a garbage can. Maybe they think it will eventually get burned by someone's rubbish fire?!?!


Rycycling does occur for glass bottles only. And by recycling, I mean collection and reuse. Beer, Coke, Sprite, and Fanta bottles are collected at the "recycling" center and sent back for rebottling. For this reason, you cannot buy a beer and walk down the beach with it. Well you could, but then that resaurant would have to pay for the bottle. Many tourists do not understand this. So for locals, the beers are a bit cheaper because they return the bottles. Additionally, the reusing of bottles often means that when you open your Coke, it is rusty around the edges.


With garbage lying around, especially on a small island, the water and beaches are not completely litter free. Thing things I find washed up after high tide would amaze you! Many Indonesians do not swim and have little regard for the oceanic enviornment. They drop anchors all over the reefs often killing large portions and throw rubbish directly into the sea. In many areas thew would fish with dynamite which killed huge amounts of coral that has not grown back. They fish for whatever aquatic animals they can catch and have no regard of size (ie: throwing the small ones back to let them grow and reproduce). They will also fish for rarer animals with no regard to the species. This happens with sea turtles, although I have heard they are supposed to register with the police when they catch one, and it must be used for ceremonial purposes only. But I am not sure about how well or if that is regulated.

In some areas, they are learning about enviornmental issues and depletion and are trying to combat it. But mostly the Westerners as doing the teaching and making the necessary means to actually make some differences. But in all fairness, the lifestyle here is so different it is really unfair to judge; on Lembongan, many locals cook over and open fire and they only got electricity last summer. I am simply reflecting on what I have observed over the past 8 weeks. But rest asured, I do pick up trash while diving, reuse my own plastic bottles as much as possible to save them from being burned, and I will pick up trash if my local friends throw it on the ground. I guess some things never change!!!!