Environmental Protection

To save the world, we must first purify our minds

"Please use the hands that you applaud me with to pick up rubbish, sweep the streets, and do recycling, so that we can turn our land into a Pure Land. By turning trash into gold, we can turn gold into loving hearts."
Dharma Master Cheng Yen

Do Recycling with Your Applauding Hands

In recent times, there have been many observable anomalies in our weather. Scientists have discovered that the primary causes of these cataclysmic climate changes can be traced back to the pollution of our natural environment. How can we minimize the occurrence of natural disasters? What can we do for our future generations?

In 1990, when Master Cheng Yen was delivering a speech in Taichung, Central Taiwan, she encouraged the audience to use their applauding hands to protect the environment and advocated the sorting of trash for recycling. A young woman immediately responded to her call. She began leading recycling efforts in her neighbourhood, and even donated the funds earned from recycling to charity.

These charitable acts of turning trash into gold (i.e. money), and gold into loving hearts have since spread throughout Taiwan and overseas locales through the efforts of dedicated Tzu Chi volunteers over the years. As of today, there are over 10,000 Tzu Chi recycling stations and points spread throughout the world, with close to 100,000 regular volunteers actively involved in recycling activities.In Indonesia, Tzu Chi's environmental protection program started on January 1, 2004. A 500 sqm dedicated warehouse in Great Love Estate, Cengkareng, West Jakarta was built to accommodate recyclable waste. Trash, like paper, plastic, household utensils, aluminum, used tables and chairs was collected from the volunteers. Since then, environmental protection has been increasingly encouraged and continues to grow up to 20 Tzu Chi Educational Recycling Stations spread across several regions in Indonesia. The existence of these recycling stations makes volunteers become more enthusiastic about the collecting and sorting of trash. Quite a few volunteers who turn their home into a recycling collection point. They collect the recyclable waste given by the neighbors, even every day, without hesitation, shame, and tirelessness, they pick up the trash from their neighbors' home. All done for one thing, to help save the sick earth.

Educational Recycling Station : Home of the Environmental Protection

From 2004 to 2011, the Buddhist Tzu Chi Indonesia Foundation has established 20 Educational Recycling Stations spread across several big cities such as Jakarta, Medan, Bekasi, Lampung, Makassar, Batam, Biak, Pekanbaru, and Tangerang. In these depots, the collected waste will be sorted according to its category. Tzu Chi volunteers have principles, turning trash into gold, and turning gold into loving hearts. The collected waste will be sold and the proceeds will be used for Tzu Chi's humanitarian mission.

Muara Karang Tzu Chi Educational Recycling Station are some examples of the six educational recycling stations established in Jakarta. The depot, which was established in January 2008, has become one of the centers of waste sorting carried out by volunteers. Not only that, at this depo the volunteers also recycle used cardboard spools into a piggy bank. The existence of this depot cannot be separated from the figure of a couple of husband and wife, Hioe Thin Tjhong and Ervina Luciana Tjhang, who initially lent their shophouse to be used as a educational recycling station. But eventually, they decided to donate the shophouse to the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation.

The inauguration of the Tzu Chi Educational Recycling Station in Duri Kosambi, West Jakarta, on December 25, 2011 increased the number of depots in Indonesia. This place is also often used by volunteers to carry out other activities, such as new volunteers socialization to book reviews. The existence of an educational recycling station in the community becomes a place of training and self-development for those who are motivated to preserve the environment. From young to old, men and women together create a blessings and build a good relationships with many people, develop a clear stream from the heart continuously emanating.

The Cengkareng Tzu Chi Educational Recycling Station is also often become the destination of study visits from various levels of school students to various circles of society. As on November 7, 2009, as many as 200 students who were members of the Youth Red Cross (PMR) from 40 junior high schools, high schools and vocational schools in West Jakarta visited the Tzu Chi Educational Recycling Station in Cengkareng.

They not only acquire theory, but also observe real evidence and put it into practice firsthand. They are taught that before an item ends up in the trash or in the recycling bin, everyone should be able to think wisely when buying things that are needed and not just wanted. A small act with a great power of influence.

Environmental Protection Socialization: Self Training Door-to-Door

The importance of knowledge about waste recycling should have been socialized more intensely, because by recycling reusable waste will reduce the burden on the earth which is increasingly heavy. Therefore, Tzu Chi volunteers not only do waste sorting at the Tzu Chi Educational Recycling Station, they also move out to disseminate environmental protection and conservation to the community, starting from residential areas to various schools. When conducting socialization to residents' homes, volunteers build a good relationship with every resident, in order to create a clean, healthy and beautiful environment. The volunteers also always remember to apply the Tzu Chi humanistic value ​​when conducting socialization, so that good relationships can continue. Such as the socialization that was conducted on September 25, 2010 in a housing estate in North Jakarta. Volunteers conduct friendly activities with local residents and convey the importance of environmental protection. After that, on October 30, 2010, Tzu Chi volunteers returned to the same place and invited local residents to participate in the practice of sorting waste.

From 24-26 September 2010, Tzu Chi volunteers held an Environmental Protection exhibition with the theme One First Step at Mal Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta. During the exhibition, they introduced the story of Tzu Chi and environmental protection through posters and a small booth where the video was shown. In the middle of the exhibition area, the volunteers provided chairs and small tables to chat casually with the visitors, inviting them to get involved in the environmental protection movement. The exhibition for 3 days was visited by around 1,000 people. A total of 100 vegetarian passports were distributed to visitors who wished to contribute to preserving the environment by going vegetarian and 250 green pledges were made. The big leaps in protecting the earth can be started with small steps of many people.

The Vegetarian Diet: Saving the Planet by Changing Your Diet

Since the beginning of Tzu Chi's establishment, every volunteer is encouraged to be vegetarian, especially when wearing the volunteer uniform. But over time, Master Cheng Yen began to ask Tzu Chi volunteers to maintain a vegetarian diet not only when wearing the uniform, but also in daily life. That's why Master Cheng Yen called for this vegetarian action, so that everyone can generate compassion for all beings, protect the earth, and safeguard personal health. Master Cheng Yen's call was greeted with positive and full of enthusiasm. All Tzu Chi volunteers move to promote the importance and benefits of vegetarianism. During the month of May 2008, at several shopping centers in Jakarta, Tzu Chi volunteers were often seen distributing vegetarian food to shopping center visitors. They shared it as a lunch menu. Every day during the month of May, Tzu Chi volunteers distributed 1,000 lunch boxes. Cooking assignments are rotated according to each He Qi (Tzu Chi volunteer community).

Apart from that, other activities were also carried out, such as the Vegetarian Bazaar which was first held on August 3, 2008 at the Bukit Golf marketing office, Pantai Indah Kapuk, North Jakarta. Through this activity, Tzu Chi volunteers introduced vegetarian dishes as well as invited everyone to contribute. The funds collected from this bazaar were used to finance the construction of the Cinta Kasih Tzu Chi Vocational School building, Cengkareng. Since then, similar bazaars have been held frequently, such as on April 10, 2011 which was located at La Piazza, Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta. This vegetarian bazaar not only raises funds, but also raises prayers. Volunteers and visitors are invited to pause their activities and pray together for a world that is safe, peaceful, and free from disasters.

A Story of Environmental Protection : A Heartfelt Commitment to Protecting the Earth

One of the beneficiaries who is now a Tzu Chi volunteer is Nuriati Jusrawati. In the past, she received medical assistance for her child, and since 2008, after participating in the inauguration of volunteers, Nuriati firmly joined the ranks of Tzu Chi volunteers wearing her blue and white uniform. Other volunteers also invited her to be more active in contributing, especially in environmental protection activities. This makes Nuriati move every day to collect recyclable waste. Now she has turned the terrace of her house into a Tzu Chi Educational Recycling Station.

Every day there are always residents who deliver recycled waste to Nuriati's house, so the terrace of her house is rarely seen empty by the trash called gold. Not infrequently she even goes around on her motorbike to pick up the trash herself. She doesn't feel ashamed if she has to be seen picking up and bringing recyclables to her house. Not ashamed, but proud. "In fact, many neighbors who know that I collect recycled waste for Tzu Chi, they also participate. If I wasn't there, they just put it on my fence", she explained.

Everyone knows the root of the problem — human’s relentless pursuit of profit and self-centred pursuit of earthly pleasures have continually raised the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere, leading to extreme weather conditions. However, it is very hard for businesses to sacrifice profitability to reduce carbon emissions. The imbalance in the Four Elements of land, water, fire and wind arises from the imbalance in people’s minds. By focusing only on short-term gains, we endanger the long-term survival of our human species. If mankind does not awaken to these hidden dangers, it will really be ‘too late’ to save our Earth!
Dharma Master Cheng Yen
 

Master Cheng Yen

Choose an Environmentally Friendly Diet and Lifestyle

In 2014, Master Cheng Yen travelled around Taiwan and personally visited various recycling stations, where she saw a lot of trash that could not be recycled. Feeling for the well-being of the volunteers, she began to call for a strengthening in environmental education, with the hope of instilling in the residents that recycling needs to start from the home. By cleaning and sorting of trash before sending them out for recycling, residents can prevent the mixing up of trash with recyclables, thereby improving the quality of the recycling efforts.

Master Chen Yen also stresses that apart from recycling trash, what is even more important is a call to return to a simpler way of life and cultivate a harmonious state of mind. Tzu Chi volunteers not only bring their own reusable utensils wherever they go, they also practise mindfulness in daily living that helps to reduce carbon emissions, and adopt a vegetarian diet to protect life and the Earth. From doing physical recycling, they progress to a deeper practice of spiritual recycling (i.e. purification of the mind).

The United Nations had commissioned an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to provide scientific reports on the status of climate change. In a study that spanned over six years, the findings confirmed many factors contributing to global warming, of which 90 percent were a result of human activity. If countries cannot come to an agreement to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and when the earth’s temperature rises by four degrees Celsius, it will have a catastrophic and irreversible impact on our environment.

In November 2015, more than 190 countries took part in the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) held in Paris, France, in which Tzu Chi also participated. In this unprecedented meeting, the nations agreed to work towards an initial carbon reduction target. However, Master Cheng Yen feels that having a common understanding alone is insufficient, and that there is a pressing need for consensus and unified action. Only by reducing our material needs, practising self-love, and cultivating a love for others and the environment, can we truly help to resolve the climate crisis.

It is increasingly the consensus among many climate scientists and researchers that vegetarianism is an effective way to reduce emissions. The chairman of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, has also appealed to people around the world to respond to the urgent call to reduce emissions by “not eating meat, riding a bicycle, and being a frugal shopper”. Many Tzu Chi volunteers adopted a vegetarian diet with the original intention of protecting life; today, scientific evidence has shown that the widespread adoption of a vegetarian diet can reduce food-related emissions. Hence, all of us have “three opportunities” each day to help save the planet. In response to the Paris climate change conference, Tzu Chi has launched a global campaign titled “Ethical Eating Day 111” , which calls on people to go vegetarian to help save the earth, with the ultimate goal of encouraging each person to eat only vegetarian food at each meal, every day. The Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation hopes to invite at least 1,110,000 people worldwide to respond to this call on 11th January every year, thereby unleashing the collective power of positive influence.

Our beautiful blue planet, Earth, is our common and only home in the universe. We sincerely invite you to join us in our green efforts to protect our home planet with love. Let us coexist in harmony with Mother Earth and our environment!