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Our campaign to ban plastic bags in Bali

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    Melati Wijsen: Bali: Island of gods.
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    Isabel Wijsen: A green paradise.
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    MW: Or ...
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    a paradise lost.
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    Bali:
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    Island of garbage.
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    IW: In Bali,
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    we generate 680 cubic meters
    of plastic garbage a day.
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    That's about a 14-story building.
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    And when it comes to plastic bags,
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    less than five percent gets recycled.
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    MW: We know that changes the image
    you may have of our island.
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    It changed ours, too,
    when we learned about it,
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    when we learned that almost all
    plastic bags in Bali end up in our drains
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    and then in our rivers,
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    and then in our ocean.
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    And those that don't even
    make it to the ocean,
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    they're either burned or littered.
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    IW: So we decided
    to do something about it.
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    And we've been working
    for almost three years now
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    to try to say "No" to plastic bags
    on our home island.
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    And we have had
    some significant successes.
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    MW: We are sisters,
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    and we go to the best school on earth:
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    Green School, Bali.
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    Green School is not only different
    in the way that it is built out of bamboo,
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    but also in the way that it teaches.
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    We are taught to become leaders of today,
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    something a normal textbook cannot match.
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    IW: One day we had a lesson in class
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    where we learned about significant people,
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    like Nelson Mandela,
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    Lady Diana
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    and Mahatma Gandhi.
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    Walking home that day,
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    we agreed that we also
    wanted to be significant.
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    Why should we wait until we were grown up
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    to be significant?
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    We wanted to do something now.
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    MW: Sitting on the sofa that night,
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    we brainstormed and thought
    of all the issues facing Bali.
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    And one thing that stood out
    to us the most
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    was the plastic garbage.
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    But that is a huge problem.
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    So we looked into what was
    a realistic target for us kids:
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    plastic bags.
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    And the idea was born.
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    IW: We started researching,
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    and let's just say, the more we learned --
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    there was nothing good about plastic bags.
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    And you know what?
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    We don't even need them.
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    MW: We were really inspired
    by the efforts to say "No" to plastic bags
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    in many other places,
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    from Hawaii to Rwanda
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    and to severals cities
    like Oakland and Dublin.
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    IW: And so the idea turned into the launch
    of "Bye Bye Plastic Bags."
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    MW: In the years
    that we have been campaigning,
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    we have learned a lot.
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    Lesson number one:
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    you cannot do it all by yourself.
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    You need a big team of like-minded kids,
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    and so we formed
    the Bye Bye Plastic Bags crew.
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    The volunteer team includes
    children from all over the island,
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    from both international and local schools.
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    And together with them,
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    we started a multi-layered approach,
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    based on an on- and off-line
    signature petition,
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    educational and inspirational
    presentations at schools
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    and we raise general awareness
    at markets, festivals, beach clean-ups.
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    And last but not least,
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    we distribute alternative bags,
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    bags like net bags,
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    recycled newspaper bags,
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    or 100 percent organic material bags,
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    all made by local
    initiatives on the island.
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    IW: We run a pilot village,
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    home of 800 families.
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    The village mayor was our first friend
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    and he loved our T-shirts, so that helped.
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    We focused on making the customers aware,
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    because that's where the change
    needs to happen.
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    The village is already
    two-thirds along the way
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    of becoming plastic bag free.
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    Our first attempts to get the government
    of Bali on board failed.
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    So we thought,
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    "Hmm ... a petition
    with one million signatures.
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    They can't ignore us, right?"
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    MW: Right!
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    IW: But, who would have guessed
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    one million signatures is, like,
    a thousand times a thousand?
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    (Laughter)
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    We got stuck --
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    till we learned lesson number two:
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    think outside the box.
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    Someone mentioned
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    that the Bali airport handles
    16 million arrivals and departures a year.
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    MW: But how do we get into the airport?
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    And here comes lesson number three:
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    persistence.
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    Off we headed to the airport.
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    We got past the janitor.
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    And then it was his boss's boss,
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    and then the assistant office manager,
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    and then the office manager,
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    and then ...
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    we got shuffled down
    two levels and thought,
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    well, here comes the janitor again.
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    And after several days knocking on doors
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    and just being kids on a mission,
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    we finally got to the commercial
    manager of Bali airports.
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    And we gave him the "Bali of plastic bags"
    speech, and being a very nice man,
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    he said, [imitating a man's voice]
    "I cannot believe what I'm about say,
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    but I'm going to give authorization
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    to collect signatures
    behind customs and immigration."
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    (Laughter)
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    (Applause)
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    IW: In our first hour and a half there,
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    we got almost 1,000 signatures.
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    How cool is that?
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    Lesson number four:
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    you need champions
    at all levels of society,
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    from students to commercial
    managers to famous people.
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    And thanks to the attraction
    of Green School,
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    we had access to a steady
    stream of celebrities.
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    Ban Ki Moon taught us
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    that Secretary-Generals
    of the United Nations
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    don't sign petitions --
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    (Laughter)
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    even if kids ask nicely.
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    But he promised to spread the word,
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    and now we work closely
    with the United Nations.
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    MW: Jane Goodall taught us
    the power of a people's network.
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    She started with just one
    Roots & Shoots group
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    and now she has 4,000 groups
    around the world.
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    We are one of them.
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    She's a real inspiration.
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    If you're a fellow Rotarian,
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    nice to meet you.
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    We're Interactors,
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    the youngest department
    of Rotary International.
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    IW: But we have also learned
    much about patience,
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    MW: how to deal with frustrations,
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    IW: leadership,
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    MW: teamwork,
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    IW: friendship,
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    MW: we learned more
    about the Balinese and their culture
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    IW: and we learned
    about the importance of commitment.
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    MW: It's not always easy.
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    Sometimes it does get
    a little bit hard to walk your talk.
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    IW: But last year, we did exactly that.
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    We went to India to give a talk,
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    and our parents took us to visit
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    the former private house
    of Mahatma Gandhi.
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    We learned about the power
    of the hunger strikes
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    he did to reach his goals.
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    Yes, by the end of the tour,
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    when we met our parents again,
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    we both made a decision and said,
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    "We're going on a hunger strike!"
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    (Laughter)
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    MW: And you can probably
    imagine their faces.
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    It took a lot of convincing,
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    and not only to our parents,
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    but to our friends
    and to our teachers as well.
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    Isabel and I were serious
    about doing this.
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    So we met with a nutritionist,
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    and we came up with a compromise
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    of not eating from sunrise
    to sunset every day,
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    until the governor of Bali
    would agree to meet with us
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    to talk about how to stop
    plastic bags on Bali.
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    IW: Our "mogak makam,"
    as it is called in Bahasa Indonesia,
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    started.
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    We used social media to support our goal
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    and already on day two,
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    police started to come
    to our home and school.
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    What were these two girls doing?
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    We knew we weren't making
    the governor look his best
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    by doing this food strike --
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    we could have gone to jail.
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    But, hey, it worked.
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    Twenty-four hours later,
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    we were picked up from school
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    and escorted to the office
    of the governor.
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    MW: And there he was --
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    (Applause)
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    waiting for us to meet and speak,
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    being all supportive
    and thankful for our willingness
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    to care for the beauty
    and the environment of Bali.
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    He signed a promise
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    to help the people of Bali
    say "No" to plastic bags.
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    And we are now friends,
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    and on a regular basis,
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    we remind him and his team
    of the promises he has made.
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    And indeed,
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    recently he stated and committed
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    that Bali will be
    plastic bag free by 2018.
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    (Applause)
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    IW: Also, at the International Airport
    of Bali, one of our supporters
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    is planning to start
    a plastic-bag-free policy by 2016.
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    MW: Stop handing out free plastic bags
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    and bring in your own reusable bag,
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    is our next message to change
    that mindset of the public.
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    IW: Our short-term campaign,
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    "One Island / One Voice,"
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    is all about this.
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    We check and recognize
    the shops and restaurants
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    that have declared themselves
    a plastic-bag-free zone,
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    and we put this sticker at their entrance
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    and publish their names on social media
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    and some important magazines on Bali.
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    And conversely,
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    that highlights those
    who do not have the sticker.
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    (Laughter)
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    MW: So, why are we actually
    telling you all of this?
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    Well, partly, it is because we are proud
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    of the results that,
    together with our team,
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    we have been able to reach.
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    But also because along the way,
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    we have learned that kids can do things.
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    We can make things happen.
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    Isabel and I were only 10 and 12 years old
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    when we started this.
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    We never had a business plan,
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    nor a fixed strategy,
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    nor any hidden agendas --
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    just the idea in front of us,
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    and a group of friends working with us.
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    All we wanted to do
    was stop those plastic bags
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    from wrapping and suffocating
    our beautiful home.
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    Kids have a boundless energy
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    and a motivation to be the change
    the world needs.
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    IW: So to all the kids of this beautiful
    but challenging world:
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    Go for it!
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    Make that difference.
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    We're not telling you
    it's going to be easy.
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    We're telling you
    it's going to be worth it.
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    Us kids may only be 25 percent
    of the world's population,
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    but we are 100 percent of the future.
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    MW: We still have a lot of work to do,
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    but know that we still not stop
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    until the first question asked
    when arriving at the Bali airports will be
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    Both: "Welcome to Bali,
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    do you have nay plastic bags to declare?"
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    (Laughter)
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    Om Shanti Shanti Shanti om.
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    Thank you.
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    (Applause)
Title:
Our campaign to ban plastic bags in Bali
Speaker:
Melati Wijsen and Isabel Wijsen
Description:

more » « less
Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDTalks
Duration:
11:00

English subtitles

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