Dear friends, we are students of HighScope Bintaro, Indonesia and we are here to spread awareness about a positive and productive mindset in regards to the marine ecosystems in Indonesia.

Ecological balance can be defined in its simplest form as the total equilibrium between energy production and consumption within a given ecosystem. This state of perfect balance is natural and is maintained by a consistent number of carnivores and herbivores.

For instance, the carnivore eats the herbivore and the herbivore eats the plants. All in all, balanced ecosystems have productive energy and material cycling, as well as interconnectedness between primary producers and predators.

On the other hand, ecological imbalance occurs when a natural or human-caused disturbance undermines an ecosystem's natural equilibrium. Any alteration that disrupts ecological equilibrium is considered a disturbance. While mankind relies on healthy ecosystems for many reasons, human intervention frequently has negative implications.

Naturally, different factors (both good and bad) balance each other out. But much like electrons, protons, and neutrons within a given system, if one of these factors are altered or added to, it can cause a chain reaction which will cause an imbalance in the entire system.

One of the cases that shows the imbalance of the ecosystem is plastic pollution. It can be observed that the pollution of trash and plastic have been severely impacting the biodiversity of animals that have now been dislocated from their previous habitats. As a result, many marine species are  experiencing dramatic declines, especially those found in certain high-seas and deep-sea regions. In addition to the accompanying physical harm, some animals find themselves without their natural habitats as a result of human-made structures, such as concrete and artificial reefs These developments have reduced the productivity of animals that inhabit these areas and also expose them to a host of contaminants, including plastics and pesticides 

According to Frontiersin Marine Science, several gaps still need to be covered, from the harmonization of methodological approaches to study marine litter in different environmental compartments (i.e., sea surface, sea floor, water column) to the evaluation of the effects on biota. Moreover, the impact of marine litter and, in particular, microplastics and nanoplastics, on human health is still largely debated and more focused research needs to be carried out to properly address this issue.

Models on plastic distribution and transfer in all marine compartments are needed to provide reliable estimates of marine fluxes from land to sea. These efforts should be strongly encouraged to better drive globally agreed prevention and mitigation strategies to be adopted and harmonized across countries.

In addition, Indonesia generates approximately 7.8 million tons of plastic waste annually. 4.9 million tons of plastic waste is mismanaged—e.g. uncollected, disposed of in open dumpsites or leaked from improperly managed landfills.

Avoiding the use of plastic bottles and plastic bags is one strategy to decrease plastic waste; but, if you must use a plastic bottle, you may reuse it by filling it up a couple of times or using it as a container to retain food in order to recycle the bottle. Nowadays, it may be lucrative to recycle rubbish; in most countries, we may recycle a plastic bottle for 20 cents each bottle, and some countries have recycling machines that make it easier for individuals to recycle plastic.  

But all in all, the most important thing we can utilize in bringing peace to the natural marine environment in Indonesia is global cooperation via individual contributions of reduce, reuse, recycle as well as a productive growth mindset in order to ensure that we reach our goals.