Angeline 1 Audrey Angeline Hannah Meeuwse Biblical Humanities 9 March 22nd, 2014 Padangs Environment The capital city

of West Sumatra, Padang, is one amazing city with so many attractive sights and places. The Minangkabau people express their true identity as they shown their positive action by conserving their unique cultural heritage. But without preserving those environments they live in, it would be easy for them to lose it all. The actions people take by being reckless toward its surrounding could affect their own characteristic as they live, the environment, and the way they interact to others. God has gifted us the world to take care of, and which the actions humans take should not influence the surrounding God has created. By caring to the environment, we could sustain the pollution so that we would save the environment for the future and our next generations. As I travel to Padang, I got to observe a lot of things the local people did to their environment. Padang is such a beautiful city, but unfortunately there was garbage all over the place; streets, trees, and rivers. We went through the bridge of Wall of Padang where it presented an exquisite view with a small river underneath. But sadly, there was a lot of swimming garbage moving together with the water flow. With also a pile of trash in the riverside, it interfered with the water buffalo that was trying to get food. Another example of the negligence from the local people to its surrounding shown as I spend a lot of time in the bus looking at the environment throughout the trip. When we pass one neighborhood, I saw a lady throwing the household waste to the river that located near the neighborhood. The river is

Angeline 2 dominated of garbage more than the water, and it made a pile of trash. Other than that, we also went to the local zoo in Bukittinggi. As we got there, we were shocked about how the people dont actually care about the animals surroundings. What they do was caged the animals and abandoned without the zookeeper look after them. Their cages are dirty as like the garbage are their food. The waste of foods that are given to them did not get to be cleaned by the zookeeper and let it rotten. The bears, for example, even had their eyes infected due to the factor of food and the unmaintained health; unclean water and food. The cause from the action people did could affect in many different things; diseases, extinction, and other factors. There are many effects from having too much trash around. From my observation, I think that the community neglects its environment. They shouldve known where to send their garbage to, not to let it accumulate and multiply. By letting the trash settle in one spot, they are actually sending themselves to damage. The river could provide lots of things; food, drink, place for tourist recreation and attraction, and much more. The garbage could give effect on the air emissions, the potential of groundwater and surface water. Disease could also be spread by the soil contamination. Other than that, the garbage that is thrown away in the zoo could give damage to the animal; they could either eat the plastics or the disease would spread to them too. One time when we were at the Fort de Kock Zoo, we were observing the bears when we saw it biting a plastic bag that appears to be there. The animal in the zoo is also neglected, as the cage and their personal hygiene are not maintained that could damage them by sending sickness. The habits of people throwing away the trashes could affect the tourist as they think that we do not take care of our environment well. It is such a shame where we should be the one who preserve the environment because we live here.

Angeline 3 There are social and economical factors that drive people to do what theyve done towards their own environment. From my consideration, I think that the government should maintain the environment by providing the place for the locals to throw their trashes to. By not providing those, the locals mind tells them to get rid of the trash easily and quickly and by that they would just throw them out to the nearest river that is located in their neighborhood. I also think that the factors of population give big influence to the relationship of the community. More people to live, more trash would be thrown away. With limited space and container to put the garbage into, it would make the trash more disorganized. With the garbage multiplied and stockpiled in one spot of the neighborhood, it would not also be a good idea. The air pollution from the trash would strongly distract peoples breathing. The trash would also be displeasing to the eye. With the beautiful nature Padang has, it would be such a waste if the beauty of Padang were covered with plastic bag trash. The longer it takes time for the government to lend a hand, the higher the increase of number in economy. By this complication, the characteristics of the individuals are shown in how they act wise or not towards their communitys environment. God has gifted us an environment for us to live and take care of. From my observation in Padang, I see both wisdom and foolishness the people do towards their own environment. Some people show wisdom by obeying the signs that says not littering. It shows wisdom in how that people chose not to follow anyone else who throw their trash carelessly, and that they know what the right thing to do. Foolishness shown how people did not obey the rules and throw trashes randomly, and doesnt know what would be the impact later on. We should take care of our surroundings as written in Genesis 2:15, The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work with it and take care of it. This verse relates to the problems, which it

Angeline 4 means how people should work with the resources given from our environment, but we shall not be greedy which we should take care of it. You shall not pollute the land in which you love You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the Israelites (Numbers 35:33 -34). From this verse it tells us how we should not contaminate our land with any kind of waste or trashes, but we should take care of it because this world belongs to God and everything in it is His creation. From these two verses, God has asked the writers of the passage to write down what He wants His creation (human) to act towards the environment. It says that the world is given to us, and that we should take care of it. We should not pollute the world we live in because it is Gods creation, and all of Gods creation should be guarded. There should not be any distraction or riot among us because God live between each and every one of us. We should take care of our environment God have given to us, just like He took care of us. We should think about the impact and consequences well be facing towards the things we do. In the bible, it talks about sowing and reapings. From the problem in Padang, I could see that the people doesnt care about their surrounding and they just throw the things away uncontrollably that they would just send damage to themselves in the way they live in further years. If they kept on throwing things to the river, the pile of trash would get bigger and bigger that the river wont flow anymore. It would affect the health of the people who lives near the river itself. Another example could be seen as in Padang, we went through a cement factory. We were given the information from Mr. Peter. He said that the materials needed to make the cement are using limestone. Limestone is a finite source, but it could be used for 500 years ahead. By having the factory, the air around is not good for the health of people there because the factory produce many smokes from the burning of the

Angeline 5 limestone. Even though the source is enough for us for 500 years ahead, we should still be maintaining the use of limestone for the goods in our next generations. The actions Minangkabau people take does affect the environment, their characteristic, and also their interaction between others. They neglect Gods demand to take care of their environment. With the problems of pollution that the Padang people are facing, the better thing to do is to remember that God has created this world for us to live, to praise Him, and to take care of the environment. God has given us a lot and we should return the favor without God asking us to.