Nature Conservation Expedition ‘Expedition 163’ to Commemorate Earth Day 2023
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id – In commemoration of Earth Day 2023 last April, the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Technology (FEST) held Expedition 163. This activity included beach, mountain and river expeditions which were carried out from April 8 to April 29 2023.
The River Expedition, named the Patala Amerta Expedition, was an expedition to six river points: Cicadas, Cikalintu, Cihapit, Ciparumpung, Ciregol, and Citepius, whose activities focused on garbage cleanups along the river streams. In addition to cleaning up garbage, the activity which was attended by first year (TPB) FEST students also collaborated with the local officials, who invited residents living around the river to be directly involved in cleaning up the garbage.
After two days of river expeditions, the ‘Earth Masses’ continued their expedition to three mountain peaks: Mount Puntang, Mount Cikuray, and Mount Gede. In this expedition, they implemented the one person one trash bag program by requiring everyone to pick up any garbage they found while coming down from the peak of the mountain and throw it in their own trash bags. Furthermore, this expedition also had recreational purposes.
The last part of the Expedition 163 series was the Estungkara Bumandahala Expedition to Cipatujah Beach, Tasikmalaya. Apart from focusing on garbage cleanups on the beach, this expedition also included planting 100 mangrove seedlings with the local youth organizations. This is due to the local residents’ complaints about the abrasion currently attacking Cipatujah Beach. By involving youth organizations and local residents in this expedition, it is hoped that they can be the driving force for mangrove conservation on said beach even after the expedition ends.
With the completion of the expedition to Cipatujah Beach, the Expedition 163 series commemorating Earth Day 2023 ended. Through this expedition, it is hoped that the benefits obtained will not be only until the expedition is over, but instead will continue in the long term, with one of their efforts being involving local residents and sharing their activities on social media.
Johanes Aditya as the Chief Executive of Earth Day ITB 2023 hoped that the commemoration of Earth Day can be a momentum to start raising public awareness on expressing appreciation and gratitude to the Earth that is getting old with the simple things, namely by environmental preservation and saving energy according to their theme, "Let's Celebrate Earth Day by Recharging, Renewing, and Respecting Our Home".
Photo: ITB 2023 Earth Day committee
Reporter: Putri Nur Azizah (Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, 2021)
Translator: Hanna Daniela Ayu (Aerospace Engineering, 2021)
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