Residents clueless about `glass house effect'
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Mon, 11/02/2009 2:02 PM City

While world leaders are negotiating hard to reach a consensus at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December, some residents were still unaware of global warming issues.

"I do not understand the definition of global warming," said Jeane, a resident of Tanjung Duren subdistrict, West Jakarta.

Jeane thought global warming was a type of natural disaster that would increase the temperature of the Earth.

"Government officials often say we must prevent this from happening, but how? I have no idea," Jeane said.

Suradi, a civil servant, started off well by explaining that global warming was caused by air pollution and a lack of trees.

But then came his fallacy; "A glass building like that can also cause global warming," he said, pointing to a skyscraper.

Suradi had misunderstood the concept behind the greenhouse effect, translated as efek rumah kaca (glass house effect) in Indonesian.

"It seems the use of glass in buildings can cause global warming," he said.

Global warming is an increase in global temperatures, which is caused by emissions into the atmosphere (of water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane etc) that effectively trap heat radiated from the earth, preventing it from cooling.

Since air pollution and gas emissions have increased, average temperatures have also increased - a change scientists predict will accelerate in coming years.

Jeane and Suradi were among visitors at an environmentally friendly event held by Mal Ciputra in West Jakarta on Saturday.

At the event, dozens of residents were given cleaning tools and trees. The residents later cleaned their neighborhoods and planted the trees.

Tanjung Duren subdistrict chief Syamsudin Noor said he had often explained the definition and the effects of global warming to residents.

"At every community meeting, I explain to them they need to plant more trees and save energy to prevent global warming.

"It is possible that they have misunderstood my explanations. Many do not read much, and may make the wrong conclusions," he said.

Scientific reports said predict global warming will result in an 80-centimeter rise in sea levels, causing flooding in coastal areas including Jakarta.

Despite the administration's environmental campaigns, many environmentalists say it is not doing enough to improve the quality of life in the city and helping address global warming.

Daily activities of Jakartans using massive quantities of electricity and fuel fossils, for example, are counterproductive to such campaigns, contributing massive amounts of greenhouse gases - the primary cause of global warming. (mrs)

bibliography:
"Residence Clueless About 'glass house effect'" (2009) The Jakarta Post, November 2