WHO WE ARE

I am a tenth grade student born and raised in New York City. On my mom’s side of the family I’m Indonesian, and during my childhood some of my favorite memories have been traveling to Indonesia to visit my grandparents and other family. We would often go to Jakarta to stay with my grandparents or Bali for fun vacations. I remember the unique ecosystems in Indonesia where my grandparents would take me to see elephants when I was little or go up to see the volcanoes when I was older. Even just being in my grandmother’s garden with her papaya and mango trees and beautiful flowers, I got to see the amazing diversity and contrast of the Indonesian ecosystem compared to my own home in New York. However, traveling to Indonesia I also noticed pollution. When we used to travel there my mom’s eyes would often get irritated from the air pollution in Jakarta when she was wearing contact lenses. As I got older I became more curious as to how pollution and climate change would impact the Indonesian environment.