By: Natalia Trita Agnika

The Earth Hour movement has now become public property. Individuals, communities, and corporations are committed to supporting Earth Hour. One of them is IndoRunners, a running community in Indonesia. This year IndoRunners will show its action by running for the sake of nature. Not only running in the atmosphere of Switch-Off night, they also invite people to care and donate to the environment.

Their action was titled "7-7-7: 7 Regions, 7 K, 7 Causes". The three 7s mean that each IndoRunners runner will sprint 7 kilometers to raise 7 environmental issues in at least 7 regions during the 7th Earth Hour celebration in Indonesia. The runners' real action will take place in several cities, including Jakarta, Aceh, Padang, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Balikpapan, and Denpasar.

IndoRunners' action requires real support from the wider community. A number of conservation projects whose detailed information can be accessed at the link www.indokasih.com/charities/wwf will be called for by IndoRunners. By simply accessing "click here to donate" on the fundraising page, everyone can donate. Various payment options via ATM or credit card make donating even easier. This fundraising page can also be shared through social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Earth Hour community activists in a number of cities in Indonesia have conservation programs for the benefit of the environment. In Aceh, the Mangrove forest ecosystem on the coast is endangered due to poor management, which accelerates the process of coastal abrasion. In the next few years, the coastline will shift faster towards the mainland in the Aceh region. That's why the city's Earth Hour activists held the "Save Mangroves #BirukanLaut" program (www.indokasih.com/savemangrove.

Another case with the program organized by Earth Hour Padang Community. They conducted a project to suppress the exploitation of sea turtles titled "Save Turtle, Save Life" (www.indokasih.com/selamatkanpenyu) in West Sumatra. If sea turtle exploitation continues, it is feared that in the next 5-10 years, small islands in West Sumatra will no longer be visited by sea turtles. This will certainly disrupt the ecosystem there.

Meanwhile, Earth Hour Yogyakarta activists are working together through the #konservAKSI 2015 program in collaboration with reiSPIRASI and Samas Beach Youth. They plan to initiate the procurement of a waste management site, complete with garbage carts that will be used to collect waste from Samas Beach. The project, called "Make Room for Olive Ridley Turtles" (www.indokasih.com/penyulekang), aims to ensure that the turtles that come ashore at Samas Beach can breed and survive without being disturbed by waste. Nowadays, waste, especially plastic waste, has become the mortal enemy of sea turtles. Plastic bags or crackle bags drifting in the sea or on the beach are often mistaken for jellyfish, which are the favorite food of sea turtles. If eaten, the non-biodegradable plastic can block the digestive tract and poison the turtle's body.

The Earth Hour Surabaya activist community held a program entitled "Green the Mangrove Forest on the Coast of Surabaya" (www.indokasih.com/hutanmangrove) to green the Mangrove area on the coast of Surabaya. Mangrove conservation efforts are carried out because of development that leads to the coast and industrial waste disposal flows into the Mangrove forest area.

Another Mangrove rescue program is #Satria&Mangrove (www.indokasih.com/satriamangrove) conducted by Earth Hour Balikpapan Community. This activity is in the form of fundraising carried out with a Mangrove tree adoption system. Those who adopt mangroves not only donate but are also responsible for the development of the mangroves they have adopted.

Denpasar is a city that has two activities, namely the "Adopt Coral #BirukanLautaut" program (www.indokasih.com/adopsikoral) and "Mangroves for Love" (www.indokasih.com/mangroveforlove). Through the coral adoption program, people are invited to do underwater gardening and become adopters without having to struggle because there is already a team in charge of caring for the corals that have been adopted. Meanwhile, "Mangroves for Love" is carried out through nursery activities, maintenance, cleaning from plastic waste, education, and seeking economic benefits from mangrove forests without reducing their area.

Those are the seven projects raised and supported by the Earth Hour Community and IndoRunners in the upcoming Earth Hour 2015 Switch-Off event. Within the framework of "7-7-7: 7 Regions, 7 K, 7 Causes", the public can take action by contributing through www.indokasih.com/charities/wwf.

IndoRunners run for Indonesia's nature, you too can show your contribution for Indonesia's nature. This is my action! Where's yours?