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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)