Environmental Issues and Concerns

[happybunny1978]

Selamat Malam everybody,

I love this forum and love to contribute. It is pretty comprehensive but I am missing a section: Environment, Ecology or whatever you want to call it.

In a country so full of pollution and havoc to the environment, e.g. deforestation, pollution, smog, lack of environmental concern among the mass population etc, we should make this a topic and place of discussion here.

This country has the highest biodiversity in the world, but also the highest competition between nature, survival of species and economic development.

I wanted to post a project in Aceh that combines conservation, sustainable business and a better life for rural communities, but realized that it does not really fit anywhere...

Mods...please ??

[john madden]

Mod note: thanks for the suggestion hb. I've started a thread in the moderator's own discussion channel so that we don't lose track of the request. In the meantime we'd be very interested in the thoughts of other forum members.

So let's hear from you all!

[Hombre de Maiz]

A dedicated channel for let's-bitch-and-moan-about-yet-another-of-the-country's-shortcomings? Isn't that what we already do on Expat Chat?

[happybunny1978]

A dedicated channel for let's-C-yet-another-of-the-country's-shortcomings? Isn't that what we already do on Expat Chat?

A bit negative... What if some people have positive and constructive contributions to the subject?

I agree that the environment is one the worst topics in Indonesia, there is a lot of potential to "bitch-and-moan-about". But this also means there is lot of room for improvement, ideas, constructive contributions and of course business opportunities.

All around the world the deforestation is condemned, policies are put in place to clearly label Palm Oil (EU, Switzerland), biofuels derived from Palm Oil are being banned, plenty of countries are outright banning products containing palm oil.

But hardly anybody is talking about alternatives for this country. It needs to export palm oil and other non-sustainable products to sustain it's economy. There are other ways, lot's of them, but totally neglected. What about geo-thermal enegry? This country is sitting on the heat! What about sustainable bio-ethanol? Recycling? Solar Energy? Global shortage of organic food supply?

If nobody is talking about it and nobody bothers to open their eyes, start to think out-of-the-box, nothing will ever happen...

[atlantis]

Since 2008, start of the vbulletin version of this forum, quite a few channels have been added: "Laws, Visas, Money matters and Documents", "Health, Medical and Healthy living", "Teachers Chat", "Pets and Animals", "Telecommunications and related technology", "Learning Bahasa Indonesia", "Forum Life", "Dining out, Food and Drink", "Music, Theatre, Art & Culture", "Hobbies" and "Sports and Fitness" are all additions of the original version of the forum.

I've suggested or supported the creation of these channels to the owner because I have observed that there was already enough discussions on these topics to support the creation of a dedicated channel. Adding channels, overcharging the structure of the forum just for a few threads is counter productive in my opinion. It's a bit like having a lemari with many laci but having nothing to put inside.

If anyone wants to help the creation of such channel, one should do one thing: posting! And posting a lot on these issues so that it shows that there is a sustainable number of users interested in debatting environmental issues. Without many threads created and fed, I believe that "Politics and current events" and "Expat Chat" are the place these threads belong to.

Anyway, this is just my opinion and I encourage anyone to add his/her 2 cents to the thread.

[jim69]

Is this thread a debate on if a new channel should be opened, or is it actually a new thread to discuss environmental issues?

[atlantis]

Is this thread a debate on if a new channel should be opened, or is it actually a new thread to discuss environmental issues?

I guess that the fact that it has been posted in "forum life" tends to lead to the conclusion that it is the former. If one whishes to discuss environmental issues, better to do it in the appropriate channel(s).

[jim69]

Thanks Atlantis, I agree with you (for a change, LOL). There is plenty of space in other places to discuss environmental issues without a dedicated channel. Some of the points mentioned by the OP are interesting.

So happybunny, you start a thread about the issues, and I am sure many will contribute.

[happybunny1978]

Let's see how it goes...

Started 2 threads, in expat chat and business opportunities.

hopefully it will turn out that everybody is concerned with the environment and it gets a dedicated channel :-)

[marcus]

Selamat Malam everybody,

I love this forum and love to contribute. It is pretty comprehensive but I am missing a section: Environment, Ecology or whatever you want to call it ...
... If nobody is talking about it and nobody bothers to open their eyes, start to think out-of-the-box, nothing will ever happen...

I would like a new channel for this subject . I believe a new dedicated channel would attract more attention to it . Unfortunately this is a subject that , I think , few people have economical solutions for the many related problems and so probably the channel would not have many posts .

[jstar]

Since myself (and quite some others I might add) use the 'New Posts' button on the top left of the screen which shows everything new; channels as such are pretty irrelevant. Especially in combination with the Search option. I never browse a forum channel. But perhaps some people need more structure than others.

It might be different when you post something but even then one should not be concerned that it will not be read. It's also a bit like bookmarks or favorites in a browser; it's nice and helpful to categorize but after a couple of years that won't be enough if you need to find something back in thousands of entries.

[PhilippeD]

Heuuu..... Can I have a dedicated channel for the motorcycle fan out there?

Just joking!!!

Happy bunny, I thing the right start would be to start A LOT of discussion/tread through time (not all on the same day!!!)
I know it have some people highly interested in "clean" energy in this forum and I ever saw a tread about composting that goes quite long.
Definitively it have interest, if you find it don't have enough conversation about it, it's up to you to start more discussion about it.

Personally, I don't think it require it's own channel, environment is something that touch every part of your life from daily chat, to politic, to modified motorcycle with straight pipe.
Just start the subject you want in a appropriated tread.

Talking about biodiversity, we have a tread in Hobbies about bug, moth and butterfly. You are welcome to post picture of every beatiful or strage creature that cross you daily life

[marcus]

Since myself (and quite some others I might add) use the 'New Posts' button ... Especially in combination with the Search option. I never browse a forum channel. But perhaps some people need more structure than others ...

Just as an example , I don't use neither the "New Posts" nor the "Search" functions .
I go directly to (very few) channels .

[atlantis]

Since myself (and quite some others I might add) use the 'New Posts' button on the top left of the screen which shows everything new; channels as such are pretty irrelevant.

Just as an example , I don't use neither the "New Posts" nor the "Search" functions .
I go directly to (very few) channels .

I am just in the middle. If I have time, I use the "new post" function. If I don't I target the "moderation", "user infractions" and "Forum life" channels. That's it. In the past, I was also looking at the "Laws, Visas, Money matters and Documents" channel but I have stopped since I discovered that Marcus was browsing it and doing an always excellent job there.

Peopole like Marcus are in fact the majority of the users. Those who look for information rarely use the search engine and if they do, they are often discouraged by it and end up browsing channels. If you run the search engine on "KITAS" or "sosbud" you will quickly understand why the search engine is not really an easy tool for a newbie.