Cleaning up Lake Batur

Looking to Balinese wisdom for sustainable solutions

 

Rwa Bhineda is the Balinese concept of the opposing forces that together allow for harmony. The black and white checkered cloth used in Bali's religious contexts and beyond is one example of how this concept is symbolized and thought of as the backdrop of reality, Rwa Bhineda is found expressed in countless forms throughout nature and culture. Another way to understand this concept is in the cycles of nature: without night there is no day and without the salty corrosive ocean there would be no refreshing rain. 

Segara-Gunung is another Balinese concept that literally translates as 'ocean-mountain' and is intimately tied to the broader Rwa Bhineda but on a human scale. Segara-Gunung can be interpreted in a variety of ways including as a shorthand for the cycle of water that rains down in the mountains, giving life to all along its journey and taking with it all that it not needed, to be finally flushed out to sea where it is purified by the great expansive sea and then evaporates back up into clouds that rain down again. As Jero Gede Tindih from Songan, Kintamani explained in a recent discussion on the topic: "Mount Agung and Lake Batur also make up a kind of pair of opposites and as such are deeply honored for their potency and the role that they each play in maintaining harmony". 

Long before members of the Javanese kingdom arrived in Bali, the indigenous people of Bali lived on the shores of Lake Batur and considered the goddess of the lake to be one of their ancestors. According to legend, long long ago twins were born from two deities, the divine twins were married and bore 4 sons and a daughter. The four family lineages of the people of Lake Batur are descendants of the four sons while the daughter became the Goddess of the Lake -Dewi Danau, explained Jero Tindih. 

Today people from all over Bali also honor this Lake as a divine source of fertility and abundance, and tens of thousands of people come to pray at the temple by the lakeshore to pay homage and pray for blessings. Last August a giant statue of Dewi Danau was erected on the shore of the Lake in honor of her magnificence and though not directly related to the temple, this statue is a reminder to honor the lake both physically and spiritually. The government of Bangli has also been doing its part to honor the lake. 

As previously reported by Bali Post (Oct. 30), the regency of Bangli's Agricultural Agency in collaboration with experts from Udayana University's Faculty of Fisheries is in the process of conducting a sustainability study regarding the numerous fish farms in the lake to determine how many cages should be there, where they should be placed and how they should operate. As also reported by Bali Post ( Nov. 6) even Bangli's military district is playing a role in honoring the lake. On November 5th, they took part in a mass garbage clean-up along with local residents along the lakeshore in the village. Similar mass clean-ups have been done by other communities along the lake recently both in honor of the eco-system as well as to prepare the area for tourism development. 

Jero Cinta (or Jero Cin as he is known) is an onion farmer and fisherman from Songan who took part in one of these recent clean-ups and was so taken aback by the amount of garbage that he started to think of ways to deal with the large volume of plastic waste in his village. "Yes I and a visiting artist friend from Java have been experimenting with melting down the plastic. We finally found a way to melt a huge amount of plastic into a liquid that when cooled becomes a kind of dense concrete. We poured this liquid into two molds -one of a fish and the other a simple brick. I am really excited about the possibilities", he explained, saying that he hopes to create a production and learning centre on part of his land. 

"We already have a place to store large amounts of plastic garbage, the technic for melting it down, and lots of ideas about what this new material can be used for. This project could make a huge contribution to the plastic waste problem and also to our local creative economy, but we need the government to be on board because they have the authority and responsibility for collecting waste", said Jero Cin. 

He added that he hopes to gain government support for the project which would require both cooperation and funding for some simple equipment so that he and other villagers can start producing this plastic concrete. "We managed to figure out the right formula but clearly these tin pots are not strong enough to handle the heat", he said laughing hardily as he pointed to two large pots that had massive holes in their bottoms. He added that private parties are most welcome to join forces but added that government support is still needed for technical matters. 

When asked about the sulphuric burst from the bottom of the lake that killed so many fish a few months back, Jero Cinta explained that sulphuric bursts were caused by the large deposits of garbage at the bottom of the lake that does not allow for the sulphur to slowly disperse into the lake, as usual, so instead the sulphur accumulates and then erupts violently.  When the experts from Udayana University approached him about their study, he told them that he hoped they do more than just study the problem and that real efforts be made to remove the garbage from the bottom of the lake.

Jero Cinta also responded to the recent clean-up in Buahan with a little disappointment saying that he thought it was strange that after collecting the garbage they brought some of it to a nearby landfill and burned the rest on the lakeshore. "I already talked to the former village head of Buahan about our plastic concrete project. I also spoke to a member of the Bangli military district about it. I am not sure why they are ignoring this golden opportunity. Maybe they are confused about how to make the change. 

One thing I know is that, if we want to really clean up this area, we are going to have all work together on implementing real solutions. If we want tourists to come and enjoy a clean lakeshore area doing mass cleanups every few months is really not enough- have you seen all the garbage in the area? We need serious solutions, based on real incentives and organized systems", said Jero Cinta as he went back to sorting his onions.  

While plastic garbage is a relatively new problem it has quickly become a pervasive one. Perhaps by looking at the concept of Rwa Bineda a more harmonious solution can be found. Like all things in nature, plastic too must be given a place where it can be a contributing factor to harmony instead of a disruption to harmony. 

While Balinese traditions address other potentially harmful forces of nature with a kind of reverence for their due place in maintaining overall harmony, plastic seems to have not yet made its way into this lexicon. Instead, plastic is still shunned, ignored, or shuffled off to where it cannot be seen. But as with other forces of nature, it too must be given suitable attention and acknowledged as part of the cycle of nature, explained the Javanese artist working with Jero Cinta, who is embracing plastic as one embraces a new friend.  

Otherwise, the harmonious cycle of water as the primary sustainer of life, flowing down from the mountain and eventually out to the ocean and back into the clouds that rain down on the mountain will continue to be disrupted and will certainly have increasingly catastrophic consequences for us all.  As one local priest said: "Hopefully the beauty of Dewi Danau shining in all her splendor on the lakeshore now will serve as an inspiration for all related parties not just for her beauty and grace but also for what needs to be done to restore the harmony of this important natural cycle that she represents".

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Written by Gabrielle Thibaudeau, published in November 2017 by International Bali Post