Exploring SMP 27 Surabaya

By Sun Yi Feng – China

This morning we went to SMP 27 Surabaya. We were divided into two groups. Pas and Mandy did presentation about global warming and beaches. Curtis and I did exploration around the school. During the exploration, we identified some problems that need further improvement.

One of the problems relates to garbage. Although there are garbage cans in every classroom, there is still some garbage like plastic bags, used water bottles on the ground or in the flowerpots. My suggestion is that students can do cleanings outside every day. Moreover, they should keep the habit of throwing garbage into garbage cans. In addition, the school should provide different kinds of garbage cans. Then the garbage could be separated according to whether they can be recycled or not.

Another problem is that the windows of the classroom are too small to allow enough light come in. Students need to turn on the light even in the daytime. Maybe they can broaden the windows, and then they can save some electricity, contributing to the decrease of carbon emissions. The final problem is that since there is a fish farm at the back of the school, the salt water from the fish farm makes the soil salt and makes it hard for trees to grow there. My suggestion is that they can plant mangrove or some other trees that can live well under a salt soil condition to afforest.

Despite these problems, the school did well in some aspects. For example, students plant some trees outside their classroom. Furthermore, they collect the used water bottle for recycling. After the exploration, we presented our findings to students. Hope this exploration can help them improve the environment of their school. And they can learn something about environmental protection form our presentation and exploration.