{"id":88986,"date":"2021-12-11T04:50:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T21:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ekuatorial.com\/?p=88986"},"modified":"2022-01-19T04:14:50","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T21:14:50","slug":"aeshnina-azzahra-everyone-including-children-has-a-right-to-clean-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ekuatorial.com\/en\/2021\/12\/aeshnina-azzahra-everyone-including-children-has-a-right-to-clean-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Aeshnina Azzahra: Everyone, including children, has a right to clean life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A young age does not get in the way of environmental protection. Enter Aeshnina Azzahra, a 9th grader from Gresik State Junior High School 12. The 14-year old is walking the talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Azzahra was in elementary school, she wrote a letter to the Gresik district head about the environmental condition surrounding her school. Nina — the name she goes by — also wrote to leaders whose country exports waste to Indonesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her bold actions at such a young age received attention. One of them was from ECOTON<\/a>, a wetland conservation and a biology study program that was established in 1996.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November of 2021 Nina was asked to speak at the biggest and most important climate conference the UNFCC COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. She was also one of the youngest speakers at the second Plastic Health Summit 2021 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, held in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nina is determined to continue to take action to protect the environment. To her, everyone, including children, has the right to a clean and healthy environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Society of Indonesian Environmental Journalist<\/em>s (SIEJ) sat down with Nina on 7 December 2021, where she talked briefly about her passion in environmental protection.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Istimewa\"
<\/span>Istimewa<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Aeshnina Azzahra (14).<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

How did you first become interested in environmental issues?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My parents are wetland protection activists, so I have been educated about the threats of plastic and the importance of environmental protection since I was little. I also had the opportunity to participate in a research with my parents and in real action to protect the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time, I wrote a letter to the Gresik district head when I was in 5th grade. I wrote about environmental pollution that was happening around the school and what needed to change. At the end, I was asked to represent the school to meet with the district head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my opinion, making a change is easy, as long as you have the will. You can start from the simplest things, like writing a letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At such a young age, why?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I understand that environmental issues are crucial and need to be quickly solved. If we allow the environment to continuously get polluted, the condition will worsen. I have to take part in an action that will make a difference because I am part of the generation that will face the impact in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What environmental issues are you facing today?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My house is near a paper factory, they purchase waste from abroad. The plastic waste is smuggled in, when in fact that is illegal. Then there is environmental issues in the Brantas River, a source for drinking water for residences in Surabaya, Mojokerto, all the way to Sidoarjo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, I am studying a lot about microplastics, air, and rivers. The danger of microplastics looms when it pollutes the river as it will absorb pollutants in the water body. From liquid waste to detergent that are disposed of will stick to microplastics, which then eaten by fishes, that will be consumed by us. You can be certain there’s many microplastics that made their way into the human body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That will be detrimental to health, including triggering inflammation and early menstruation. Without realising it, we have consumed microplastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You wrote letters to the American, Canadian, German, and Australian embassies among others to convey your aspirations about environmental issues. Why did you do that?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To me, writing letters is easy. Everyone can write and send letters to anyone. The letters I wrote contain facts that I see. In 2019, I wrote a letter to President Donald Trump. I also wrote a letters to the government of the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Australia, inclding the current president of the United States, Joe Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do your letters say?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I wrote to them to stop dumping their waste to Indonesia and be able to manage their own waste. Don’t burden developing countries like Indonesia, with their waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told them about my village that has become a landfill for countries in Europe and United States that is causing pollution in our environment. In fact from that waste, there is a finding of chicken eggs containing dioxins because the waste was burned. The water used to recycle waste was dumped into rivers, causing the formation of microplastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I had the opportunity to travel to the Netherlands, I observed the plastic recycling at the only processing facility in the country. As a developed country equipped with sophisticated technology, the Netherlands is only able to recycle 60 percent of its plastic waste, the rest is burned. What about Indonesia that does not yet have a good waste processing technology?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What have been the leaders’ reactions?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One responded by promising to comply with the regulation. Another one responded by creating a regulation to reduce waste. On the other hand, I also received less positive response. For example, blaming the Indonesian government for receiving waste from another country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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