Our campaign to ban plastic bags in Bali

Melati Wijsen: Bali ...

Island of Gods.

Isabel Wijsen: A green paradise ...

MW: or ...

a paradise lost.

Bali ...

island of garbage.

IW: In Bali,

we generate 680 cubic meters
of plastic garbage a day.

That's about a 14-story building.

And when it comes to plastic bags,

less than five percent gets recycled.

MW: We know that changes the image
you may have of our island.

It changed ours, too
when we learned about it.

When we learned

that almost all plastic bags in Bali
end up in our drains

and then in our rivers,

and then in our ocean.

And those that don't even
make it to the ocean,

they're either burned or littered.

IW: So we decided
to do something about it.

And we've been working
for almost three years now

to try to say no to plastic bags
on our home island,

and we have had
some significant successes.

MW: We are sisters

and we go to the best school on Earth,

Green School, Bali.

Green School is not only different

in the way that it is
built out of bamboo,

but also in the way that it teaches.

We are taught to become leaders of today.

Something a normal textbook cannot match.

IW: One day we had a lesson in class

where we learned about significant people,

like Nelson Mandela,

Lady Diana

and Mahatma Gandhi.

Walking home that day,

we agreed that we also
wanted to be significant.

Why should we wait until
we were grown up to be significant?

We wanted to do something now.

MW: Sitting on the sofa that night,

we brainstormed and thought
of all the issues facing Bali.

And the one thing
that stood out to us the most

was the plastic garbage.

But that is a huge problem.

So we looked into what was
a realistic target for us kids.

Plastic bags.

And the idea was born.

IW: We started researching,

and let's just say,

the more we learnt ...

there was nothing good
about plastic bags.

And you know what?

We don't even need them.

MW: We were really inspired

by the efforts to say no to plastic bags
in many other places --

from Hawaii to Rwanda,

and to severals cities
like Oakland and Dublin.

IW: And so the idea turned into
the launch of Bye Bye Plastic Bags.

MW: In the years that we
have been campaigning

we have learned a lot.

Lesson number one:

you cannot do it all by yourself.

You need a big team of like-minded kids,

and so we formed
the Bye Bye Plastic Bags crew.

The volunteer team includes
children from all over the island,

from both international and local schools.

And together with them,

we started a multi-layered approach

based on an on and offline
signature petition,

educational and inspirational
presentations at schools,

we raised general awareness
at markets, festivals, beach clean-ups,

and last but not least,

we distributed alternative bags.

Bags like net bags,

recycled newspaper bags,

or 100 percent organic material bags,

all made by local
initiatives on the island.

IW: We run a pilot village,

home of 800 families.

The village mayor was our first friend

and he loved our T-shirts,

so that helped.

We focused on making the customers aware

because that's where
the change needs to happen.

The village is already
two-thirds along the way

of becoming plastic bag free.

Our first attempts to get
the government of Bali on board failed.

So we thought,

"Hm ... a petition
with one million signatures,

they can't ignore us," right?

MW: Right.

IW: But who would have guessed

one million signatures is like
a thousand times a thousand?

(Laughter)

We got stuck ...

until we learned lesson number two.

Think outside the box.

Someone mentioned

that the Bali airport handles
16 million arrivals and departures a year.

MW: But how do we get into the airport?

And here comes lesson number three.

Persistence.

Off we headed to the airport.

We got past the janitor.

And then it was his boss' boss,

and then the assistant office manager,

and then the office manager,

and then ...

we got shuffled down
two levels and thought,

well ... here comes the janitor again.

And after several days knocking on doors

and just being kids on a mission,

we finally got to the commercial
manager of Bali airports.

And we gave him
the [bio?] plastic bags speech

and being a very nice man he said,

"I cannot believe what I'm about say,

but I'm going to give authorization

to collect signatures
behind customs and immigrations."

(Laughter)

(Applause)

IW: In our first hour and a half there,

we got almost 1,000 signatures.

How cool is that?

Lesson number four:

you need champions
at all levels of society,

from students to commercial
managers to famous people.

And thanks to the attraction
of Green School,

we had access to a steady
stream of celebrities.

Ban Ki Moon

taught us that secretary generals
of the United Nations ...

don't sign petitions.

(Laughter)

Even if kids ask nicely.

But he promised to spread the word

and now we work closely
with the United Nations.

MW: Jane Goodall taught us
the power of a people's network.

She started with just one
Roots & Shoots group

and now she has 4,000 groups
around the world.

We are one of them.

She's a real inspiration.

If you're a fellow Rotarian,

nice to meet you.

We're Interactors,

the youngest department
of Rotary International.

IW: But we have also learned
much about patience,

MW: how to deal with frustrations,

IW: leadership,

MW: teamwork,

IW: friendship,

MW: we learned more about
the Balinese and their culture

IW: and we learned
about the importance of commitment.

MW: It's not always easy.

Sometimes it does get
a little bit hard to walk your talk.

IW: But last year we did exactly that.

We went to India to give a talk

and our parents took us to visit

the former private house
of Mahatma Ghandi.

We learned

about the power of hunger strikes
he did to reach his goals.

Yes, by the end of the tour,

when we met our parents again,

we both made a decision and said,

"We're going on a hunger strike."

(Laughter)

MW: And you can probably
imagine their faces.

It took a lot of convincing.

And not only to our parents,

but to our friends
and to our teachers as well.

Isabel and I were serious
about doing this.

So we met with a nutritionist

and we came up with a compromise

of not eating from sunrise
to sunset every day

until the governor of Bali
would agree to meet with us

to talk about how to stop
plastic bags on Bali.

IW: Our mogak makam,

as it is called in Bahasa Indonesia,

started.

We used social media to support our goal

and already on day two,

police started to come
to our home and school.

What were these two girls doing?

We knew we weren't making
the governor look his best

by doing this food strike.

We could have gone to jail.

But, hey ...

it worked.

24 hours later,

we were picked up from school

and escorted to the office
of the governor.

MW: And there he was --

(Applause)

waiting for us to meet and speak,

being all supportive

and thankful for our willingness

to care for the beauty
and the environment of Bali.

He signed a promise

to help the people of Bali
say no to plastic bags.

And we are now friends,

and on a regular basis,

we remind him and his team
of the promises he has made.

And indeed,

recently he stated and committed

that Bali will be
plastic bag free by 2018.

(Applause)

IW: Also at the International
Airport of Bali --

one of our supporters --

is planning to start
a plastic bag-free policy by 2016.

MW: Stop handing out free plastic bags,

and bring in your own reusable bag

is our next message to change
that mindset of the public.

IW: Our short term campaign,

One Island One Voice,

is all about this.

We check and recognize
the shops and restaurants

that have declared themselves
a plastic bag-free zone

and we put this sticker at their entrance

and publish their names on social media
and some important magazines on Bali.

And conversely,

that highlights those who
do not have the sticker.

(Laughter)

MW: So, why are we actually
telling you all of this?

Well partly,

it is because we are proud of the results

that together with our team
we have been able to reach.

But also because along the way,

we have learned that kids can do things.

We can make things happen.

Isabel and I were only
10 and 12-years-old

when we started this.

We never had a business plan,

nor a fixed strategy,

nor any hidden agendas.

Just the idea in front of us

and a group of friends working with us.

All we wanted to do
was stop those plastic bags

from wrapping suffocating
our beautiful home.

Kids have a boundless energy

and a motivation to be
the change the world needs.

IW: So to all the kids of this beautiful
but challenging world --

go for it.

Make that difference.

We're not telling you
it's going to be easy.

We're telling you
it's going to be worth it.

Us kids may only be 25 percent
of the world's population,

but we are 100 percent of the future.

MW: We still have a lot of work to do,

but know that we still not stop

until the first question asked when
arriving at the Bali airports will be ...

Both: "Welcome to Bali,

do you have nay plastic bags to declare?"

(Laughter)

Om shanti shanti shanti om.

Thank you.

(Applause)