STOP DESTROYING THE EARTH

By: Rahmat Saptono Duryat*

Associate Professor (Lektor Kepala) at Universitas Indonesia, Faculty of Engineering

Introduction
The following text discusses the importance of sustainability and the concept of a biosphere in
maintaining a balanced and harmonious ecosystem. It highlights the consequences of human
ac;ons on the environment and emphasizes the need for a holis;c approach to build a sustainable
society. The discussion also touches upon the different paradigms of materials science and the
external pressures that have influenced their evolu;on. Ul;mately, the text aims to raise awareness
about the importance of sustainability and to encourage individuals and communi;es to take ac;on
towards building a more sustainable future.

Understanding the Importance of Sustainable Development through a Biosphere

Analogy and the Consequences of Human Actions.
Fundamentally, the earth was created and prepared by God for humans before its crea;on, and it
was already in a perfectly balanced state. Everything has been planned and measured with utmost
precision by the Most Perfect and Owner of all Perfec;ons. The en;re system has run flawlessly
without any defects. Despite our scien;fic and technological advancements humans have not been
able to engineer even a single biosphere that can replicate it.

Despite the limita;ons of scien;fic and technological achievements, it is interes;ng to use them as a
new perspec;ve in viewing every problem in life, namely by always imagining our existence in an
enormous biosphere. Thus, awareness will always grow about our existence as a part of the system
as a whole.

The consequences of every ac;on we take will not only affect ourselves but also other creatures in
other places. Imagine living in such a biosphere that has been designed with such me;culousness
that all its inhabitants can live and meet all their basic needs in a sustainable closed system. In
dynamic balance, the emission rate is zero, and everything will be completely recycled.
Furthermore, imagine if suddenly there is a disturbance in one of the components within the system.
The survival of all the inhabitants would be threatened. If the component of the system is not
immediately repaired, then the destruc;on of the system is only a maPer of ;me.

When some or all of the inhabitants s;ll have awareness of the sustainability of their biosphere, then
everything is right. But what would happen if no one is aware that the system has been disrupted,
and they are all heading towards destruc;on? Of course, it is not appropriate to compare a human-
made biosphere with what God has created and prepared for humans and all His crea;on. But at
least, this simple analogy can help us realize the importance of the sustainability of our planet.

The story of passengers in a ship perhaps sufficiently illustrates how it happens. Someone who
occupies a loca;on in the hull of the ship easily takes a shortcut by drilling a hole in the ship to
obtain water that previously had to be obtained in a more difficult way, with a naive jus;fica;on that
he is only making a hole in his own room without disturbing other passengers on the ship.

In this context, the movement of awareness and enlightenment on environmental issues and
sustainable development can be understood as a movement of enjoining what is right and forbidding
what is wrong. As it has been explained in the holy book, humans have the poten;al to cause
damage to the earth. And it has also become a moral teaching that allowing individual (local) errors
to occur will cause collec;ve (global) disasters.

Towards a Biosphere Economy: A Holistic Approach to Sustainable Development and

Self-Sufficiency
As a country that naturally and instantly (given) has extremely abundant natural resources, including
the Sun's resources that never disappear, it is very possible to build a paradigm or perspec;ve of a
biosphere. All of this can then be elaborated further into a strategy and various policies that are
more grounded.

The key phrase that is very important here is self-sufficiency as a na;on and community, which must
be able to live sustainably within its own biosphere, without isola;ng itself from the global
community. It is reasonable that we do not repeat the mistakes made by previous inhabitants of the
planet. Cowboy economy, which was the typical advanced country of the 19th century, saw material
as an unlimited factor. This is very different from the concept of Biosphere Economy, whose goal is
Zero Emission or Total Recycling.

Two very dis;nct paradigms have emerged with regard to materials, as previously described by Ayres
et al (2001). The first paradigm is the economic paradigm, while the other paradigm is the
environmental paradigm. Simply put, the economic perspec;ve sees materials as consumable and
up to a certain limit as waste and pollutants, but almost always in general and lacking in physical
aPributes. Resource economics, more specifically, only focuses on the availability and scarcity of
materials and their implica;ons for growth.

On the other pole, the environmental perspec;ve sees material only essen;ally as waste and
pollutants, and this perspec;ve only thinks about reduc;on strategies and their costs. Meanwhile,
the perspec;ve of engineering, materials science, and environmental science are very different.

Generally, it can be said that various external pressures have influenced the evolu;on of materials
science, including engineering. Philosophically, there are at least two perspec;ves that influence the
evolu;on of science, namely the Inward Perspec;ve and the Outward Perspec;ve(Olson 2001). The
first approach is known as reduc;onist analysis, which takes nature as a separate part to find its
fundamental units. The second approach is known as an alterna;ve integra;ve, which is a holis;c
approach that seeks to understand the rela;onships that make up nature together.

The laPer perspec;ve is needed to build a sustainable system. The holis;c approach, characterized
by an understanding of the big picture, apprecia;on of all variables, and avoidance of sub-
op;miza;on, is expected to provide insight that will ul;mately drive the forma;on of a sustainable
society un;l the end of ;me.

Closure
In summary, the idea of a biosphere can serve as a useful perspec;ve in understanding the
importance of sustainability and the consequences of our ac;ons on the planet. The analogy of a
ship's passengers drilling a hole in the hull highlights the danger of individual ac;ons that can lead to
collec;ve disasters.

As a na;on, it is important to build a paradigm of self-sufficiency and a biosphere economy that aims
for zero emissions and total recycling. This requires a holis;c approach that understands the
rela;onships between all variables and avoids sub-op;miza;on.
The evolu;on of materials science and engineering has been influenced by both inward and outward
perspec;ves, but a holis;c approach is necessary to build a sustainable system. Ul;mately, it is the
movement of awareness and enlightenment on environmental issues and sustainable development
that will drive the forma;on of a sustainable society for the long term.

Bibliography
1. Ayres, Robert U., et.al. "Materials and the Global Environment: Waste Mining in the 21st
Century". MRS Bulle;n/June 2001 Materials Challenges for the Next Century, pp.477-479.
2. Field III, F.R., et.al. "Market Drivers for Materials and Process Development in the 21st Century".
MRS Bulle;n/September 2001 Materials Challenges for the Next Century, pp.716-725.
3. Olson, G.B., “Beyond Discovery: Design for a New Materials World”. Calphad, Vol.25, pp.175-190,
2001.
4. Kawai, Jun. "Development of Environmentally Friendly Steel Products (Eco-Products) at Nippon
Steel". Nippon Steel Technical Report No.81 January 2000, pp.1-11.