環(huán)保姐妹花：讓巴厘島與塑料袋說(shuō)拜拜

Jewel+Topsfield+趙青奇

作為白色污染之一的塑料袋難以降解，給生態(tài)環(huán)境造成了極大的危害。為了限制塑料袋的使用，世界各國(guó)都絞盡腦汁，使出各種招數(shù)，但真正有所成效的卻屈指可數(shù)。面對(duì)成人甚至是政府都頭疼的難題，巴厘島的一對(duì)小姐妹挺身而出，還最終收到了成效。她們究竟是何方高手？又用了什么高招呢？一起走近下文來(lái)一探究竟吧！

"Welcome to Bali，" Balinese sisters Melati and Isabel Wijsen chant1）， hands pressed together in the Balinese greeting gesture. "Do you have any plastic bags to declare？" The sisters won't rest until all visitors are asked this question upon arrival at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport.

Melati and Isabel dream of a day plastic bags will be forbidden in Bali. "We want people to arrive on the Island of Gods and there will be no plastic bags，" Melati says. "Everyone who enters our home would know no plastic bags could be taken in or out."

The Bye Bye Plastic Bags Campaign

Balinese people traditionally only used organic materials leaving no waste behind. But today paradise is lost， the tourists keep complaining and the resort island is swamped2） with rubbish. Small restaurants serve soft drink in plastic bags to save people the trouble of returning empty bottles. Much of the rubbish in Bali is not collected. Some plastic is burnt，acrid3） fumes choking sweaty4） afternoons. Some is simply dumped in rivers. "In Bali we generate 680 cubic meters of plastic a day. That's about a 14-storey building，" Isabel says in their TED talk which they gave last September. "And when it comes to plastic bags less than five percent get recycled."

Three years ago Melati and Isabel， then aged 10 and 12， were inspired by a class on people such as Mahatma Gandhi andPrincess Diana5） at the Green School6） in Bali. "We sat on the couch brainstorming—'What can we do as kids on the island of Bali？" They knew rubbish was a big problem in Bali but it seemed too difficult to deal with. And then they learned that Rwanda had banned plastic bags in 2008. "If one country does that， Bali should get started，" Melati says. "We don't have to wait until we are older to make a difference."

Melati and Isabel formed Bye Bye Plastic Bags with their best friends. They gave talks at schools across Bali and held beach clean-up days. But it was a challenge for them to get the attention of the government. "Being kids， we thought if we get one million signatures， they cannot ignore us， they will have no choice，" Melati says. But， as Isabel points out in the TED talk： "Who would have guessed one million signatures is， like， a thousand times a thousand？" At first it was fun. They would go to shopping malls and events and the signatures increased fast. But on other days they slowed to a trickle7）. "It was tough，" says Melati and Isabel's mother， Elvira. "We calculated it would take one person seven years. They got stuck a little bit. We needed to have an idea out of the box."

Collect Signatures at the Airport

That idea was the Ngurah Rai International Airport. Someone mentioned that the airport handles 16 million arrivals and departures a year. Tourists were the perfect target for the petition8） as it's hard to escape the plastic making oncepicturesque9） rice fields and forests dirty when holidaying in Bali. Remarkably， the commercial manager of the airport allowed the children to collect signatures at the departure gates behind customs10）—an area normally inaccessible for those without boarding passes. "He said， 'I can't believe I'm letting you do this，'" Melati recalls. The access has since been cancelled due to tightened airport security. But they were fun days that helped increase the number of signatures on the petition to 100，000.

Manage to Get Bali's Governor's Support

Every year monsoonal11） rains sweep rubbish onto Bali's beaches. In the past Bali's Governor Mangku Pastika shrugged the annual event off12） as a "natural phenomenon". "This problem is not anyone's fault， but is due to a natural phenomenon that routinely occurs，" he said a couple of years ago.

For one and a half years Melati and Isabel tried to meet him. "We hand delivered letters every day，" Melati says. "We said we want to make him our hero because we know he has the power to do something，" Elvira adds. But in the end it was Mahatma Gandhi who was responsible for the meeting. When the Wijsen family went to India in 2014， they visited the home of Gandhi， because he had been one of the inspirations for Bye Bye Plastic Bags. "He reached his goals with hunger strikes or marches，" Isabel says. "We said， 'Mum， Dad， we are going on a food strike.'"

It took a lot of convincing. "School， teachers， people around the world all thought we were insane，" Melati says. Eventually they reached a compromise. The girls vowed not to eat from dawn to dusk until the Governor agreed to meet them to discuss stopping plastic bags in Bali. The food strike got a huge reaction on social media. On the first day the police came to their home. Melati said the police expected to find the campaign was being run by adults or foreigners. "Other people could have had the intention to put the Governor in a bad light13），" Elvira says. "The girls only wanted to meet， to say hello."

On the second day， Melati and Isabel were summoned to meet the Governor. "He was really supportive towards our cause，" Isabel says. "He said， 'I'm proud Indonesian youth are trying to do something about the environment.'"

Melati says she and Isabel are now on a "high five14） level" with the Governor. Pastika put them in touch with staff from the environment department. "It became regular for me and Bel to miss two days of school to meet the government，" Melati says. "Awareness of the environment in Bali is boiling up15） right now."

Dream Finally Came True

In March 2015， Elvira says they received a letter from the Bali provincial government environmental agency saying Bali would be plastic bag free by 2018. It was a triumphant moment. But the sisters aren't resting on their laurels16）. They are now working on an educational booklet， aimed at elementary school students， filled with information on how to make your own bags， waste management and pollution. "Change doesn't happen if no one is educated，" Melati says.

Through the years， the sisters' remarkable journey has taken them to London， where they were invited to give a TED talk in September， 2015， and to the office of Bali Governor Mangku Pastika， whom they now count as a friend and who appeared in aYouTube video with them. But perhaps most importantly， as Melati says in the TED talk， "along the way， we have learned that kids can do things. We can make things happen".

“歡迎來(lái)到巴厘島！”梅拉蒂·維森和伊莎貝爾·維森這對(duì)巴厘島姐妹一遍遍地重復(fù)著這句話，同時(shí)雙手合十做出巴厘島的問(wèn)候手勢(shì)?！澳袥](méi)有塑料袋需要申報(bào)？”游客一抵達(dá)巴厘島的烏拉·賴國(guó)際機(jī)場(chǎng)，姐妹倆就會(huì)詢問(wèn)他們這個(gè)問(wèn)題，直到問(wèn)完所有人，她們才會(huì)休息。

梅拉蒂和伊莎貝爾夢(mèng)想著有朝一日，塑料袋在巴厘島將被禁止使用?！拔覀兿Ｍ蠹襾?lái)到這座神明之島時(shí)，這里將會(huì)一個(gè)塑料袋都沒(méi)有，”梅拉蒂說(shuō)，“進(jìn)入我們家園的每一個(gè)人就都會(huì)明白，這里是不可以把塑料袋帶入或帶出的?！?img alt="" src="https://cimg.fx361.com/images/2017/01/20/xdfy201607xdfy20160730-1-l.jpg" style="">

“塑料袋拜拜”行動(dòng)

巴厘島人歷來(lái)只使用不會(huì)留下任何垃圾的有機(jī)材料，但如今，這一樂(lè)土已不復(fù)存在，游客抱怨不停，巴厘島勝地垃圾泛濫。為省去顧客返還空瓶的麻煩，許多小餐館都用塑料袋來(lái)供應(yīng)軟飲。巴厘島的垃圾大多不會(huì)回收：有些塑料制品會(huì)被焚燒，刺鼻的煙霧讓人在悶熱得汗流浹背的下午透不過(guò)氣來(lái)；有些就那么被傾倒進(jìn)了河里?！霸诎屠鍗u，我們每天會(huì)產(chǎn)生680立方米的塑料制品，它們堆起來(lái)大概有14層樓那么高，”伊莎貝爾說(shuō)，“而說(shuō)到塑料袋，其回收率都不到百分之五。”這話出自她和妹妹在去年9月（編注：英文原文發(fā)表于2016年3月）發(fā)表的TED演講。

三年前，當(dāng)時(shí)10歲的梅拉蒂和12歲的伊莎貝爾在巴厘島的綠色學(xué)校上了一節(jié)有關(guān)圣雄甘地和戴安娜王妃等這些人物的課，受到了鼓舞?！拔覀冏陂L(zhǎng)沙發(fā)上進(jìn)行頭腦風(fēng)暴——‘我們這些巴厘島上的小孩可以做些什么呢？”她們知道垃圾是巴厘島的一大難題，但這個(gè)問(wèn)題解決起來(lái)似乎太難了。不過(guò)接著她們就得知盧旺達(dá)在2008年禁用了塑料袋?！叭绻幸粋€(gè)國(guó)家這樣做，巴厘島也應(yīng)該行動(dòng)起來(lái)，”梅拉蒂說(shuō)，“我們不必等自己長(zhǎng)大了再去有所作為。”

梅拉蒂和伊莎貝爾跟她們的好朋友們一道發(fā)起了“塑料袋拜拜”行動(dòng)。她們?cè)诎屠鍗u全島的學(xué)校發(fā)表演講，還設(shè)立了海灘清理日。然而，獲得政府的關(guān)注對(duì)她們而言是一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)?！白鳛樾『?，我們認(rèn)為如果我們能獲得100萬(wàn)個(gè)簽名，他們就無(wú)法忽視我們，他們將別無(wú)選擇?！泵防僬f(shuō)。但是，正如伊莎貝爾在TED演講中所指出的那樣：“ 那時(shí)誰(shuí)會(huì)想到100萬(wàn)個(gè)簽名大概就是1000乘以1000？”一開(kāi)始這件事挺有趣的，她們會(huì)去往各個(gè)購(gòu)物中心，參加各種活動(dòng)，簽名迅速地增加。但在其他時(shí)候，簽名不過(guò)是三三兩兩地增加。“任務(wù)艱巨，”梅拉蒂和伊莎貝爾的母親埃爾薇拉說(shuō)，“我們算了一下，一個(gè)人要花七年的時(shí)間才能集齊簽名。她們有點(diǎn)被難住了。我們需要想一個(gè)有創(chuàng)意的主意?！?/p>

在機(jī)場(chǎng)收集簽名

這個(gè)主意就是烏拉·賴國(guó)際機(jī)場(chǎng)。有人提到該機(jī)場(chǎng)每年的旅客吞吐量為1600萬(wàn)人次。游客是簽名請(qǐng)?jiān)傅睦硐肽繕?biāo)，因?yàn)橹灰诎屠鍗u度假就難以避免使用塑料制品，而它們會(huì)污染曾經(jīng)美麗如畫(huà)的稻田和森林。不可思議的是，機(jī)場(chǎng)的商務(wù)經(jīng)理允許孩子們?cè)诤ｊP(guān)后的登機(jī)口（這是未持登機(jī)牌者通常不得進(jìn)入的區(qū)域）收集簽名。“他（譯注：商務(wù)經(jīng)理）說(shuō)：‘真不敢相信我會(huì)讓你們這么做?！泵防倩貞浾f(shuō)。由于機(jī)場(chǎng)安全措施加強(qiáng)，她們現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)不能進(jìn)入該區(qū)域了。不過(guò)，那在當(dāng)時(shí)是很有趣的一段日子，使請(qǐng)?jiān)笗?shū)上的簽名數(shù)量增加到了十萬(wàn)。

設(shè)法獲得巴厘島省長(zhǎng)的支持

每年，季風(fēng)雨都會(huì)把垃圾沖到巴厘島的海灘上。巴厘島省長(zhǎng)芒古·帕斯迪卡此前對(duì)這一年度事件不屑一顧，認(rèn)為它是一種“自然現(xiàn)象”?！斑@個(gè)問(wèn)題不是任何人的錯(cuò)，而是由一種慣常出現(xiàn)的自然現(xiàn)象所引發(fā)的。”他在幾年前這樣說(shuō)。

梅拉蒂和伊莎貝爾用了一年半的時(shí)間嘗試要見(jiàn)他。“我們每天親自把信送到他那里?！泵防僬f(shuō)。“我們?cè)谛胖姓f(shuō)我們想讓他成為我們的英雄，因?yàn)槲覀冎浪心芰ψ龅竭@一點(diǎn)?！卑栟崩a(bǔ)充說(shuō)。但最終促成她們與省長(zhǎng)會(huì)面卻是圣雄甘地的功勞。2014年，維森一家去印度時(shí)參觀了甘地的故居，因?yàn)樗羌?lì)姐妹倆發(fā)起“塑料袋拜拜”運(yùn)動(dòng)的因素之一?！八ㄟ^(guò)絕食抗議或游行實(shí)現(xiàn)了自己的目標(biāo)，”伊莎貝爾說(shuō)，“我們就說(shuō)：‘爸爸媽媽，我們也將絕食抗議?！?/p>

說(shuō)服大家頗費(fèi)周章?！皩W(xué)校、老師、全世界的人都以為我們瘋了?！泵防僬f(shuō)。最終她們做出了讓步。姐妹倆立誓將在每天的黎明到黃昏這段時(shí)間進(jìn)行絕食，直到省長(zhǎng)同意接見(jiàn)她們，一起討論在巴厘島禁用塑料袋一事。她們的絕食抗議在社交媒體上引起了巨大反響。絕食第一天，警察就去了她們家。梅拉蒂說(shuō)，警方原本認(rèn)為這次行動(dòng)是由大人或者外國(guó)人操控的。“別人可能懷有將省長(zhǎng)置于不利境地的企圖，”埃爾薇拉說(shuō)，“但這對(duì)姐妹只是想跟他見(jiàn)上一面，向他問(wèn)好?！?/p>

第二天，梅拉蒂和伊莎貝爾就受到了省長(zhǎng)的召見(jiàn)?！八娴姆浅ＶС治覀兊倪\(yùn)動(dòng)，”伊莎貝爾說(shuō)，“他說(shuō)：‘看到印尼青年正試圖在環(huán)境保護(hù)方面有所作為，我感到非常驕傲。”

梅拉蒂說(shuō)，她和伊莎貝爾現(xiàn)在跟省長(zhǎng)是“擊掌之交”。帕斯迪卡安排她們聯(lián)系上了環(huán)保部門的工作人員?！奥N兩天的課去見(jiàn)政府人員對(duì)我和貝爾來(lái)說(shuō)變成了常事，”梅拉蒂說(shuō)，“如今在巴厘島，環(huán)境意識(shí)正日益增強(qiáng)?！?/p>

夢(mèng)想終于成真

埃爾薇拉說(shuō)，她們?cè)?015年3月收到了一封來(lái)自巴厘島省政府環(huán)保部門的信，信上說(shuō)巴厘島將在2018年之前實(shí)現(xiàn)“零塑料袋”。那是一個(gè)值得慶祝的時(shí)刻，但姐妹倆并沒(méi)有滿足于她們已經(jīng)取得的成就。她們目前正在制作一本針對(duì)小學(xué)生的教育手冊(cè)，其中都是關(guān)于如何自制袋子、垃圾處理以及環(huán)境污染方面的信息。“如果沒(méi)有人受到相關(guān)教育，改變就不會(huì)發(fā)生?！泵防僬f(shuō)。

這些年，姐妹倆不同尋常的環(huán)保歷程將她們帶到了倫敦（2015年9月，她們應(yīng)邀去那里進(jìn)行了TED演講），帶到了巴厘島省長(zhǎng)芒古·帕斯迪卡的辦公室（如今他被她們視為朋友， 還和她們一起出現(xiàn)在了一段YouTube視頻中）。但或許最為重要的是，正如梅拉蒂在TED演講中所說(shuō)的：“一路走來(lái)，我們已經(jīng)意識(shí)到小孩也能干出事業(yè)，我們也能有所作為。”