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BEJIS Project
Surabaya, East Java
July 2001
World Environment Day was held on June 5th, 2001. Kang Guru
Radio went to Surabaya to see World Environment Day activities in action.
The AusAID funded BEJIS Project based in Surabaya, working together with
BAPEDAL, East Java, was busy testing air polluting vehicle emissions from
passing motor vehicles in Indonesia's second biggest city.
On the morning of June 5th, KGRE visited one of the busiest streets
in Surabaya - Jl. Pemuda. On the side of the road, opposite the Governor's
house, there was a hive of activity. Local LSMs, such as Posko
Hijau from Driyorejo and HIMBIO UNAIR, undertook several environmental
awareness raising activities. With support from the AusAID BEJIS Project,
their members, along with BEJIS staff, undertook many important environmentally
orientated activities by the roadside.
They were handing out brochures and information to passing motorists
about air pollution. 
They alerted passing motorists to the dangers of air pollution from cars,
trucks, motorbikes and buses.  
They distributed masks to protect people from the dangers of air pollution,
especially while riding motorbikes.
They assisted technicians from PPPGT VEDC Malang who were operating
AusAID/PCI emissions testing equipment to test the levels of emissions
from passing vehicles.
Results of the Testing ? Click
Here
They were alerting passing motorists about the need for cleaner air
for all of us to breathe. Many motorbike riders were keen to have one
of the face masks to help protect their lungs from polluted, dirty air.
Thanks to Hendi,
Alamayah and Hady Mirza (far right) for talking to me on June 5th
on the roadside in Jl. Pemuda.
Their
interview can be heard in KGRE show no. 3108 due to be aired in
late July, 2001 
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Hady
sent this e-mail to KGRE on June
the
18th about pollution in his city.
Thanks
to Hady from KGRE 'I think the pollution in Surbaya
is little bit worrying. The temperature is
raising and the river is polluted with the trash. When we
not do anything
from now we will lose the habitat of the animals that live
near the city and
the plants will not be able to grow their flowers again. I
hope the government do their best to prevent anything that may harm
the ekosistem. I think the best solution is to reduce the amount
of the cars or motorcycles that use the petroleum'. |
 
They were encouraging passing motorists to have their vehicles tested
for emission levels from their engines. Some drivers were quite happy
to have this testing done while others were not.
 
If the engine emissions were of an acceptable level then the
driver was given a sticker to prove that their car was within the
accepted limits. |
It was a very busy scene as passing
motorists pulled over to the side of the road to have their vehicles
tested.
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Later in the day the testing site moved to Jl. Raya Bambe in Driyorejo
- Gresik. Further testing was carried out, particularly on larger trucks
in this industrial area. Local police assisted with traffic control so
that the activity would go more smoothly with as little disruption to
the busy traffic flow as possible.
Results
of Emissions Tests
in Surabaya
and Gresik
5 June
2001
| Type |
Passed |
Not
Passed |
Total |
| Total |
Percent |
Total |
Percent |
| Gasoline |
10 |
23% |
43 |
77% |
44 |
| Diesel |
63 |
80% |
16 |
20% |
79 |
| Total |
73 |
64% |
59 |
36% |
123 |
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More information for you about
air pollution for you to think about.
What is air
pollution?
'Air pollution' means that there is something
in the air we don't want. The combination of gases which make up natural
or 'fresh' air seldom do us any harm, and without the most important gas
for us - oxygen - we could not live. The problem comes when unwelcome
chemicals are added.
Not all pollution is caused by humans - the
air around a large bushfire, or on the edge of an active volcano can be
even more polluted than the worst city center.
Where does
pollution come from?
Some countries have a problem with polluted air
blowing in from the neighbours - Norway has complained for many years
about the dirty air from Britain's power stations blowing across the sea
and poisoning its beautiful lakes with acid rain. In Australia most of
the pollution is 'home-made'. By understanding the causes of air
pollution better we will be able to improve things.
The biggest single source of air pollution in
Australia for example, is the car. What about here in Indonesia? What
do you think the answer is?
Next comes industry and then a heap of smaller
sources like backyard incinerators, cleaning chemicals, paint fumes, and
even furniture and carpets. Most of our local air pollution problems are
caused by us - and by the machines and chemicals we use.
Indoor
air pollution
Close the windows to keep the air pollution out?
Well, maybe, but definitely not if you (or someone you share your home
with) smoke indoors! When cigarette tobacco burns it gives off a particularly
deadly range of substances, including carbon monoxide. You don't have
to smoke yourself, just sharing a closed space with someone who is smoking
is damaging - even though it may take many years for it to show up.
Open fires, kerosene fires, and gas fires can
all cause problems if they are not properly ventilated. Carbon monoxide
is again the problem here. Carbon monoxide is a fast-acting poison for
all animals that have red blood cells (including humans). The gas gets
into your bloodstream and attaches itself to the oxygen-carrying red cells
and stops them working. Without oxygen your body cannot function properly,
and it doesn't take much carbon monoxide to be a problem. As little as
10 parts per million (0.001 per cent) can cause headaches, tiredness and
slow reflexes. You will die if you inhale more than 200 parts per million
of carbon monoxide for more than a few minutes.
The
Future
Nearly all of us are affected by air pollution.
The effects of continuous lifelong exposure to low levels of certain pollutants
are still unknown. Many employers must now consider air quality as an
important issue for their workers, and government agencies increasingly
monitor it, while scientists research its effects. This area of environmental
care is likely to become much more important in the future as we learn
more about it.
Cars
Cars are wonderful things. You can go where you
want and when. You can travel with friends or family in a weatherproof
lounge-room on wheels that whisks you along far faster than you could
run. But they do create air pollution.
Lead in petrol
Lead is put in petrol to make older designs of
car engine work better - but if it gets into your body it will have the
opposite effect. The lead comes from the exhausts of cars running on leaded
petrol and it is poisonous stuff. Babies and young children can be badly
affected by lead - because it can stop their nervous systems developing
properly and it can damage their brains. Once lead has found its way into
your body it is difficult to get it out again, so it is obviously better
to keep it out in the first place. Changing from leaded to unleaded petrol
in Australia has already helped reduce the problems caused by lead poisoning.
Catalytic
converters
Development of catalytic converters has helped
reduce pollutants in car exhaust. The converter is a special box that
goes onto a car's exhaust system just past the engine. It is sealed on
the outside, but inside is a heat-proof block with lots of holes through
it - a bit like a big bundle of hollow spaghetti. As the car's hot exhaust
gases pass through this honeycomb of holes, they come into contact with
a thin coating of precious metal - usually platinum. This coating causes
chemical changes to take place in the exhaust gases, which much reduce
the pollutants coming out of the car.
But as more and more cars take to the road,
even these much cleaner cars are still a major source of pollution. Also,
using a precious metal like platinum makes the converters very expensive
to produce.
The future
For many years car engineers and scientists have
been trying to find a cheap way to replace our very polluting cars with
something better. The replacement would have to:
be environmentally clean;
be reasonably cheap;
have a good performance.
Electric Cars
Electric cars have been developed to high technical
standards - but they do not stop pollution, they just move it somewhere
else - back to the power station that produces the electricity they run
on! And there is still a major problem with the weight and the short 'run
time' of the batteries electric cars have to use.
Other people have tried to use hydrogen as a
fuel. Hydrogen is environmentally clean and gives you good performance
- but it is very difficult to carry safely.
Another idea is to use 'fuel cells' (a bit like
the ones used to power the space shuttle's electrical system). Fuel cells
work by producing energy for a reaction between oxygen and hydrogen, triggered
by a platinum catalyst. Chrysler in the US is developing a fuel cell system
which uses petrol (a hydrocarbon) and provides better fuel economy than
a conventional engine - and produces no harmful pollutants.
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