Make A Change World
Changing the world one view at a time
#PlasticBottleCitarum
On August 14 2017, Gary and Sam set out to kayak down the world's most polluted river, the Citarum River located in Indonesia, to document and raise awareness about the highly toxic chemicals in its waters and the masses of plastics floating on its surface.
Throughout the expedition, they released videos documenting their journey and spotlighted community-based initiatives and individuals who work tirelessly towards restoring the river.
After completing their descent, their videos were watched by hundreds of thousands online and eventually reached the Indonesian Government. In early September 2017, Gary met the Director of Waste Management under the Ministry of the Environment (KLHK), R. Sudirman. During this meeting R. Sudirman announced an emergency plan to clean up the Citarum River as a response to our campaign and videos.
For the next 4 months, Sudirman and his team surveyed the river and created a road map of the most polluted parts of the river. He worked hand-in- hand with the 13 City Mayors along the Citarum River, the Provincial Head and the Governor of West Java.
In late December 2017, Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, announced the start of the rehabilitation of the Citarum river in January 2018.
Although it seems impossible to clean the river after all the destruction its been through, we are very grateful to have the Indonesian government's support in restoring one of the country's most important rivers for the 15 million people that depend on it.