WEBVTT

00:00:00.788 --> 00:00:02.271
Melati Wijsen: Bali ...

00:00:02.271 --> 00:00:04.527
Island of Gods.

00:00:05.548 --> 00:00:07.730
Isabel Wijsen: A green paradise ...

00:00:08.961 --> 00:00:10.831
MW: or ...

00:00:10.831 --> 00:00:12.871
a paradise lost.

00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:15.012
Bali ...

00:00:15.221 --> 00:00:16.986
island of garbage.

00:00:17.961 --> 00:00:19.052
IW: In Bali,

00:00:19.052 --> 00:00:24.988
we generate 680 cubic meters
of plastic garbage a day.

00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:28.935
That's about a 14-story building.

00:00:29.515 --> 00:00:31.419
And when it comes to plastic bags,

00:00:31.744 --> 00:00:34.554
less than five percent gets recycled.

00:00:35.250 --> 00:00:38.897
MW: We know that changes the image
you may have of our island.

00:00:38.897 --> 00:00:41.499
It changed ours, too
when we learned about it.

00:00:41.499 --> 00:00:42.579
When we learned

00:00:42.579 --> 00:00:46.116
that almost all plastic bags in Bali
end up in our drains

00:00:46.116 --> 00:00:47.268
and then in our rivers,

00:00:47.268 --> 00:00:48.834
and then in our ocean.

00:00:49.123 --> 00:00:51.492
And those that don't even
make it to the ocean,

00:00:51.492 --> 00:00:53.605
they're either burned or littered.

00:00:54.517 --> 00:00:56.908
IW: So we decided
to do something about it.

00:00:56.908 --> 00:00:59.483
And we've been working
for almost three years now

00:00:59.483 --> 00:01:02.775
to try to say no to plastic bags
on our home island,

00:01:02.775 --> 00:01:05.605
and we have had
some significant successes.

00:01:06.718 --> 00:01:09.040
MW: We are sisters

00:01:09.272 --> 00:01:12.082
and we go to the best school on Earth.

00:01:12.430 --> 00:01:13.939
Green School, Bali.

00:01:14.172 --> 00:01:15.402
Green School is not only different

00:01:15.611 --> 00:01:18.514
in the way that it is
built out of bamboo,

00:01:18.676 --> 00:01:20.812
but also in the way that it teaches.

00:01:21.207 --> 00:01:23.900
We are taught to become leaders of today.

00:01:24.690 --> 00:01:27.662
Something a normal textbook cannot match.

00:01:28.219 --> 00:01:30.239
IW: One day we had a lesson in class

00:01:30.402 --> 00:01:32.909
where we learned about significant people,

00:01:33.072 --> 00:01:34.349
like Nelson Mandela,

00:01:34.558 --> 00:01:35.487
Lady Diana

00:01:35.696 --> 00:01:37.391
and Mahatma Gandhi.

00:01:37.716 --> 00:01:38.737
Walking home that day,

00:01:38.946 --> 00:01:42.127
we agreed that we also
wanted to be significant.

00:01:42.940 --> 00:01:46.423
Why should we wait until
we were grown up to be significant?

00:01:46.818 --> 00:01:48.907
We wanted to do something now.

00:01:49.534 --> 00:01:50.904
MW: Sitting on the sofa that night,

00:01:51.136 --> 00:01:54.224
we brainstormed and thought
of all the issues facing Bali.

00:01:54.457 --> 00:01:56.523
And the one thing
that stood out to us the most

00:01:56.732 --> 00:01:58.473
was the plastic garbage.

00:01:58.868 --> 00:02:00.935
But that is a huge problem.

00:02:01.515 --> 00:02:04.882
So we looked into what was
a realistic target for us kids.

00:02:05.811 --> 00:02:07.041
Plastic bags.

00:02:07.297 --> 00:02:08.690
And the idea was born.

00:02:09.293 --> 00:02:10.988
IW: We started researching ...

00:02:11.244 --> 00:02:12.475
and let's just say,

00:02:12.730 --> 00:02:17.350
the more we learnt there was
nothing good about plastic bags.

00:02:17.838 --> 00:02:19.417
And you know what?

00:02:19.626 --> 00:02:20.903
We don't even need them.

00:02:21.321 --> 00:02:22.505
MW: We were really inspired

00:02:22.668 --> 00:02:26.625
by the efforts to say no to plastic bags
in many other places --

00:02:26.625 --> 00:02:28.694
from Hawaii to Rwanda,

00:02:28.694 --> 00:02:31.391
and to severals cities
like Oakland and Dublin.

00:02:32.071 --> 00:02:37.736
IW: And so the idea turned into the launch
of Bye Bye Plastic Bags.

00:02:38.737 --> 00:02:40.928
MW: In the years that we
have been campaigning

00:02:40.928 --> 00:02:43.912
we have learned a lot.

00:02:44.206 --> 00:02:46.479
Lesson number one:

00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:48.582
you cannot do it all by yourself.

00:02:48.582 --> 00:02:50.773
You need a big team of like-minded kids,

00:02:50.773 --> 00:02:54.117
and so we formed
the Bye Bye Plastic Bags crew.

00:02:54.562 --> 00:02:57.676
The volunteer team includes
children from all over the island,

00:02:57.676 --> 00:03:00.305
from both international and local schools.

00:03:00.553 --> 00:03:01.662
And together with them,

00:03:01.662 --> 00:03:03.490
we started a multi-layered approach

00:03:03.490 --> 00:03:06.933
based on an on and offline
signature petition,

00:03:06.933 --> 00:03:10.564
educational and inspirational
presentations at schools,

00:03:10.568 --> 00:03:14.876
we raised general awareness
at markets, festivals, beach clean-ups,

00:03:14.876 --> 00:03:16.036
and last but not least,

00:03:16.036 --> 00:03:18.270
we distributed alternative bags.

00:03:18.270 --> 00:03:20.026
Bags like net bags,

00:03:20.026 --> 00:03:21.417
recycled newspaper bags,

00:03:21.417 --> 00:03:24.069
or 100 percent organic material bags,

00:03:24.069 --> 00:03:26.554
all made by local
initiatives on the island.

00:03:27.239 --> 00:03:28.632
IW: We run a pilot village,

00:03:28.632 --> 00:03:30.513
home of 800 families.

00:03:31.117 --> 00:03:33.050
The village mayor was our first friend

00:03:33.050 --> 00:03:34.332
and he loved our T-shirts,

00:03:34.332 --> 00:03:35.655
so that helped.

00:03:36.387 --> 00:03:38.968
We focused on making the customers aware

00:03:38.968 --> 00:03:42.112
because that's where
the change needs to happen.

00:03:42.504 --> 00:03:44.700
The village is already
two-thirds along the way

00:03:44.700 --> 00:03:47.110
of becoming plastic bag-free.

00:03:47.672 --> 00:03:52.966
Our first attempts to get
the government of Bali on board failed.

00:03:52.966 --> 00:03:54.719
So we thought,

00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:58.954
"Hm ... a petition
with one million signatures,

00:03:58.954 --> 00:04:00.946
they can't ignore us," right?

00:04:00.946 --> 00:04:02.184
MW: Right.

00:04:02.695 --> 00:04:04.529
IW: But who would have guessed

00:04:04.529 --> 00:04:08.227
one million signatures is like
a thousand times a thousand?

00:04:08.964 --> 00:04:10.148
(Laughter)

00:04:10.612 --> 00:04:13.064
We got stuck ...

00:04:13.064 --> 00:04:15.349
until we learned lesson number two.

00:04:15.349 --> 00:04:17.462
Think outside the box.

00:04:18.055 --> 00:04:19.180
Someone mentioned

00:04:19.180 --> 00:04:25.257
that the Bali airport handles
16 million arrivals and departures a year.

00:04:26.564 --> 00:04:30.200
MW: But how do we get into the airport?

00:04:30.200 --> 00:04:32.418
And here comes lesson number three.

00:04:32.418 --> 00:04:33.858
Persistence.

00:04:34.435 --> 00:04:36.240
Off we headed to the airport.

00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:38.153
We got past the janitor.

00:04:38.153 --> 00:04:39.968
And then it was his boss' boss,

00:04:39.968 --> 00:04:42.228
and then the assistant office manager,

00:04:42.228 --> 00:04:43.612
and then the office manager,

00:04:43.612 --> 00:04:44.927
and then ...

00:04:44.927 --> 00:04:47.073
we got shuffled down
two levels and thought,

00:04:47.073 --> 00:04:49.516
well ... here comes the janitor again.

00:04:49.783 --> 00:04:51.830
And after several days knocking on doors

00:04:51.830 --> 00:04:54.223
and just being kids on a mission,

00:04:54.223 --> 00:04:58.031
we finally got to the commercial
manager of Bali airports.

00:04:58.583 --> 00:05:01.021
And we gave him
the [bio?] plastic bags speech

00:05:01.021 --> 00:05:04.331
and being a very nice man he said,

00:05:04.331 --> 00:05:06.268
"I cannot believe what I'm about say,

00:05:06.268 --> 00:05:08.459
but I'm going to give authorization

00:05:08.459 --> 00:05:12.110
to collect signatures
behind customs and immigrations."

00:05:12.110 --> 00:05:13.107
(Laughter)

00:05:13.107 --> 00:05:14.110
(Applause)

00:05:17.344 --> 00:05:19.271
IW: In our first hour and a half there,

00:05:19.271 --> 00:05:21.799
we got almost 1,000 signatures.

00:05:22.189 --> 00:05:24.118
How cool is that?

00:05:24.634 --> 00:05:26.144
Lesson number four:

00:05:26.144 --> 00:05:29.740
you need champions
at all levels of society,

00:05:29.740 --> 00:05:33.873
from students to commercial
managers to famous people.

00:05:34.336 --> 00:05:36.453
And thanks to the attraction
of Green School,

00:05:36.453 --> 00:05:39.054
we had access to a steady
stream of celebrities.

00:05:40.078 --> 00:05:41.236
Ban Ki Moon taught us

00:05:41.236 --> 00:05:46.721
that secretary generals of the United
Nations don't sign petitions.

00:05:46.721 --> 00:05:47.721
(Laughter)

00:05:47.721 --> 00:05:49.291
Even if kids ask nicely.

00:05:49.291 --> 00:05:51.007
But he promised to spread the word

00:05:51.007 --> 00:05:53.883
and now we work closely
with the United Nations.

00:05:53.883 --> 00:05:57.317
MW: Jane Goodall taught us
the power of a people's network.

00:05:57.317 --> 00:06:00.207
She started with just one
Roots & Shoots group

00:06:00.207 --> 00:06:03.643
and now she has 4,000 groups
around the world.

00:06:03.643 --> 00:06:04.907
We are one of them.

00:06:04.907 --> 00:06:06.651
She's a real inspiration.

00:06:07.009 --> 00:06:08.611
If you're a fellow Rotarian,

00:06:08.611 --> 00:06:09.962
nice to meet you.

00:06:09.962 --> 00:06:11.154
We're Interactors,

00:06:11.154 --> 00:06:13.956
the youngest department
of Rotary International.

00:06:14.811 --> 00:06:18.014
IW: But we have also learned
much about patience,

00:06:18.014 --> 00:06:20.435
MW: how to deal with frustrations,

00:06:20.435 --> 00:06:21.573
IW: leadership,

00:06:21.573 --> 00:06:22.572
MW: teamwork,

00:06:22.572 --> 00:06:23.574
IW: friendship,

00:06:23.574 --> 00:06:26.464
MW: we learned more about
the Balinese and their culture

00:06:26.464 --> 00:06:30.329
IW: and we learned
about the importance of commitment.

00:06:30.329 --> 00:06:32.062
MW: It's not always easy.

00:06:32.062 --> 00:06:35.990
Sometimes it does get a little bit hard
to walk your talk.

00:06:35.990 --> 00:06:38.521
IW: But last year we did exactly that.

00:06:39.005 --> 00:06:40.584
We went to India to give a talk

00:06:40.793 --> 00:06:42.000
and our parents took us to visit

00:06:42.163 --> 00:06:44.461
the former private house
of Mahatma Ghandi.

00:06:45.460 --> 00:06:46.458
We learned about the power

00:06:46.667 --> 00:06:48.989
of hunger strikes he did
to reach his goals.

00:06:49.616 --> 00:06:51.613
Yes, by the end of the tour,

00:06:51.822 --> 00:06:53.168
when we met our parents again,

00:06:53.447 --> 00:06:54.956
we both made a decision and said,

00:06:55.142 --> 00:06:56.767
"We're going on a hunger strike."

00:06:57.394 --> 00:06:57.859
(Laughter)

00:06:58.091 --> 00:07:00.041
MW: And you can probably
imagine their faces.

00:07:00.668 --> 00:07:02.665
It took a lot of convincing.

00:07:03.036 --> 00:07:04.685
And not only to our parents,

00:07:04.940 --> 00:07:07.657
but to our friends
and to our teachers as well.

00:07:08.075 --> 00:07:10.606
Isabel and I were serious
about doing this.

00:07:10.885 --> 00:07:12.440
So we met with a nutritionist

00:07:12.626 --> 00:07:14.228
and we came up with a compromise

00:07:14.483 --> 00:07:18.477
of not eating from sunrise
to sunset every day

00:07:18.663 --> 00:07:21.588
until the governor of Bali
would agree to meet with us

00:07:21.844 --> 00:07:24.630
to talk about how to stop
plastic bags on Bali.

00:07:25.420 --> 00:07:26.813
IW: Our mogak makam,

00:07:27.068 --> 00:07:29.297
as it is called in Bahasa Indonesia,

00:07:29.506 --> 00:07:30.621
started.

00:07:30.830 --> 00:07:32.641
We used social media to support our goal

00:07:32.803 --> 00:07:34.405
and already on day two,

00:07:34.614 --> 00:07:36.913
police started to come
to our home and school.

00:07:37.168 --> 00:07:39.374
What were these two girls doing?

00:07:39.792 --> 00:07:42.114
We knew we weren't making
the governor look his best

00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:43.925
by doing this food strike.

00:07:44.273 --> 00:07:46.015
We could have gone to jail.

00:07:46.270 --> 00:07:47.036
But, hey ...

00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:48.128
it worked.

00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:49.358
24 hours later,

00:07:49.591 --> 00:07:50.403
we were picked up from school

00:07:50.566 --> 00:07:53.004
and escorted to the office
of the governor.

00:07:53.538 --> 00:07:55.256
MW: And there he was --

00:07:56.045 --> 00:07:57.369
(Applause)

00:07:57.555 --> 00:07:59.366
waiting for us to meet and speak,

00:07:59.528 --> 00:08:00.341
being all supportive

00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:01.757
and thankful for out willingness

00:08:01.990 --> 00:08:04.729
to care for the beauty
and the environment of Bali.

00:08:05.124 --> 00:08:05.914
He signed a promise

00:08:06.099 --> 00:08:08.561
to help the people of Bali
say no to plastic bags.

00:08:08.769 --> 00:08:10.047
And we are now friends,

00:08:10.186 --> 00:08:11.556
and on a regular basis,

00:08:11.742 --> 00:08:15.039
we remind him and his team
of the promises he has made.

00:08:15.666 --> 00:08:16.478
And indeed,

00:08:16.757 --> 00:08:22.724
recently he stated and committed that Bali
will be plastic free by 2018.

00:08:23.444 --> 00:08:24.651
(Applause)

00:08:31.849 --> 00:08:34.937
IW: Also at the International
iIrport of Bali,

00:08:35.123 --> 00:08:36.191
one of our supporters,

00:08:36.470 --> 00:08:39.302
is planning to start
a plastic bag-free policy by 2016.

00:08:39.488 --> 00:08:43.343
MW: Stop handing out free plastic bags,

00:08:43.482 --> 00:08:45.223
and bringing your own reusable bag

00:08:45.455 --> 00:08:48.799
is our next message to change
that mindset of the public.

00:08:49.751 --> 00:08:51.353
IW: Our short term campaign,

00:08:51.585 --> 00:08:52.746
One Island One Voice,

00:08:53.025 --> 00:08:54.302
is all about this.

00:08:54.604 --> 00:08:56.972
We check and recognize
the shops and restaurants

00:08:57.181 --> 00:08:59.689
that have declared themselves
a plastic bag-free zone

00:08:59.944 --> 00:09:02.289
and we put this sticker at their entrance

00:09:02.452 --> 00:09:06.585
and publish their names on social media
and some important magazines on Bali.

00:09:07.072 --> 00:09:07.955
And conversely,

00:09:08.210 --> 00:09:11.345
that highlights those who
do not have the sticker.

00:09:12.970 --> 00:09:16.453
MW: So, why are we actually
telling you all of this?

00:09:16.940 --> 00:09:18.218
Well partly it is because

00:09:18.426 --> 00:09:20.168
we are proud of the results

00:09:20.307 --> 00:09:22.420
that together with our team
we have been able to reach.

00:09:22.792 --> 00:09:24.417
But also because along the way,

00:09:24.881 --> 00:09:27.691
we have learned that kids can do things.

00:09:27.830 --> 00:09:29.154
We can make things happen.

00:09:29.479 --> 00:09:32.544
Isabel and I were only
10 and 12-years-old

00:09:32.753 --> 00:09:34.192
when we started this.

00:09:34.401 --> 00:09:36.003
We never had a business plan,

00:09:36.352 --> 00:09:37.698
nor a fixed strategy,

00:09:37.861 --> 00:09:39.533
nor any hidden agendas.

00:09:39.695 --> 00:09:41.924
Just the idea in front of us

00:09:42.133 --> 00:09:44.269
and a group of friends working with us.

00:09:44.571 --> 00:09:46.777
All we wanted to do
was stop those plastic bags

00:09:46.963 --> 00:09:49.586
from wrapping suffocating
our beautiful home.

00:09:50.144 --> 00:09:51.908
Kids have a boundless energy

00:09:52.071 --> 00:09:55.972
and a motivation to be
the change the world needs.

00:09:56.924 --> 00:10:01.892
IW: So to all the kids of this beautiful
but challenging world,

00:10:02.194 --> 00:10:03.355
go for it.

00:10:03.541 --> 00:10:04.911
Make that difference.

00:10:05.375 --> 00:10:07.651
We're not telling you it's going to easy.

00:10:07.906 --> 00:10:09.973
We're telling you
it's going to be worth it.

00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:14.524
Us kids may only be 25 percent
of the world's population,

00:10:14.779 --> 00:10:18.192
but we are 100 percent of the future.

00:10:19.376 --> 00:10:21.466
MW: We still have a lot of work to do,

00:10:21.814 --> 00:10:25.320
but know that we still not stop
until the first question asked,

00:10:25.506 --> 00:10:27.991
when arriving at the
Bali airports will be,

00:10:28.246 --> 00:10:30.684
Both: "Welcome to Bali,

00:10:30.870 --> 00:10:33.029
do you have nay plastic bags to declare?"

00:10:33.911 --> 00:10:36.280
Om shanti shanti om.

00:10:36.791 --> 00:10:37.580
Thank you.

00:10:37.789 --> 00:10:39.159
(Applause)