A Call to Do (Now)

Earth is a blue planet that is covered by glimmering white clouds. The question is, how long will our generations see the world like this?

People from all over the world gathered at the climate change conference (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen, Denmark, last December. The representatives from 190 countries talked about issues related to climate change, such as global warming in certain time periods: 2010, 2020, and 2030 - as if the problem of the climate change was related to future decades.

Since a significant temperature increase in the Arctic was first reported in the 1990s, the amount of ice that has been melting is getting bigger. Hemingway's The Snow of Kilimanjaro immortalizes the memory of real snow on the highest mountain in Africa.

As the chyrosphere, or ice area, on earth is getting smaller, the surface of the sea is rising. By 2100, it is predicted, more than 40 archipelagic countries will no longer exist. Worse still, as the population grows, future generations will have limited space.

What can we learn from this? While the 190-country conference didn't create any binding agreements on how to curb and solve global climate change problems, together we can do something big to this small planet.

Our country is one of the countries that support programs to conserve rainforests. Indonesia is determined to decrease air pollution by 26 percent in the next decade and if developed countries do give their support, the decrease will be even greater.

The idea of "one man one tree" should be practiced in our daily lives to contribute to reforestation efforts. Reforestation will help to make the world's climate become more stable.

And those actions need not to be delayed or just planned for future decades; we have to take action today. It can't wait.

This article is published on The Jakarta Post.