Healing Earth

Fresh Air for Better Environment

Created By:
Fransisca Tiarasanti 158114058
Novi Morita Siwi 158114062
Alberta Widya K. 158114063

FSM B 2015

Faculty of Pharmacy
Sanata Dharma Yogyakarta University
2017
A. Introduction
Air as an important environmental component in life needs to be maintained
and improved quality so that it can provide support for living creatures to live
optimally (Habibi, 2017). Air is a unity of space, where living things are in it. The
atmospheric air is a gas mixture comprising 78% nitrogen; 20% oxygen; 0.93% argon;
0.03% carbon monoxide and the remainder consisting of fluorescent, helium, methane
and hydrogen. Air is said to be normal and can support human life, composition like
this above. Air pollution has generated a lot of residents, who live in big cities and
industrial areas. Even meteorologists say that the air is not only affordable for big
cities, but the air has touched our earth's atmosphere. The thin oxygen layer that
covers the earth begins to break down in the presence of air pollution.
Every time we breathe, an average adult breathes more than 3,000 gallons
(11.4 m3) of air every day. The air we breathe, if polluted by hazardous and toxic
substances, will have an impact on our health, especially children who play more open
air and are more susceptible to endurance. Although not visible to the visible,
pollution in the air threatens our lives and other living things.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 70% of the city's
population in the world has occasionally breathed in unhealthy air, while another 10%
breathed in "marginal" air. That in the US, where air pollution rates tend to be lower
than in developing country cities, a study by researchers at Harvard University shows
that air pollution deaths amounted to between 50,000 and 100,000 per year. That's
what makes us feel interested in raising a problem of air pollution to the health of
living things in the world.
B. Discussion
1. See
Human needs clean air to breathe. Clean air is air that contain an oxygen (O2).
Plants, such as trees, is the best of oxygen producer. The more trees, the more
clean air we can enjoy. However, the development of the era changed the
condition of environment. Trees are often felled, replaced by buildings. The
development of the era also causes the increasing number of vehicles, such as
motorcycle and car, that used by the public so that air pollution is getting worse.
Motorcycle users in Indonesia are more than any other country. There are
82,216,019 motorcycles, and in Java Island are 50,709,232 (Badan Pusat Statistik,
2017). In Yogyakarta, until 2016 there are 71,566 new motorcycles.
As we know, more and more motor vehicles lead to increased air pollution. Based
on WHO data, about 3 million people die from air pollution every year or about
5% of 55 million people die every year in the world and 1.5 million people who
die prematurely in Asian cities, a productive life is shortened by health problems
caused by inhaling the dirty air.
We conducted a survey using questionnaires about the use of motorcycles
among students of Sanata Dharma University Campus III Paingan through
Google Form. The target of our respondents is 50, but we got 33 respondents. The
questions we asked for the questionnaire were:
a. Do you have motorcycle?
b. How often do you ride a motorcycle?
c. How many times do you ride a motorcycle in a week?
d. How often do you use public transportation?
e. How many times do you use public transportation?
The results of our survey can be as follows:
a. As many as 29 people have a motorcycle and 4 people do not have a
motorcycle with the following percentage:

Do you have motorcycle?

12%

Yes
No

88%

b. As many as 18 people always riding motorcycles, 10 people often riding

motorcycles, 5 people sometimes riding motorcycles, and 0 people never
riding motorcycles with percentage as follows:
 How often do you ride motorcycle?
0%

15%

Always
Often

55% Sometimes
30%
Never

c. As many as 22 people riding motorbikes more than 7 times a week, 9 people

riding motorcycles 3-7 times a week, 2 people riding motorcycles less than 3
times a week with the following percentages:

How many times do you ride a motorcycle in a week?

6%

27% > 7 times

3-7 times
<3 times
67%

d. As many as 16 people never use public transport, 15 people sometimes use

public transport, 2 people often use public transport, and 0 people always use
public transportation with the following percentage:
 How often do you use public transportation?
0%

6%

Never
48% Sometimes
Often
46%
Always

e. As many as 31 people use public transport less than 3 times a week, 2 people
ride public transportation 3-7 times a week, and 0 people ride public transport
more than 7 times a week with the following percentage:

How many times do you use public

transportation?
0%

6%

< 3 times
3-7 times
> 2 times

94%

2. Judge
Based on survey results, it can be seen that there are many motorcycle users in
the environment of Campus III Paingan. As we know, a lot of motor usage causes
hot weather and more vehicle fumes, so the air becomes polluted. And we can not
get enough fresh air. In our campus environment, our "green campus", we can still
breathe fresh air because in Campus III Paingan there are many trees. But if more
and more users of motorcycles in the environment of Campus III Paingan, then a
 few more years would be hot and more air pollution. It will causes the
environmental condition for student living in the future to be bad.
3. Action, Ethical Value, and Spiritual Value
As a human we are obliged to maintain the balance of nature, one of them by
maintaining air cleanliness. Therefore, decreasing air pollution should be
improved. Some things that can be done to improve the situation is certainly not
easy and can not be done in a short time. Action that should be done by us is one
of them by reducing the use of motor vehicles, especially motorcycles that are the
largest polluters.
In an effort to meet the needs of facilities as a container of population
mobility, public transportation can be used that is provided by the government like
TransJogja or by the other like metro mini. It is believed to reduce air pollution
due to motorbike vehicles as well as congestion that is currently starting to
dominate the city of Yogyakarta. Although public transportation also produce air
pollution, but it’s better than the cumulative fuel that produced by private
vehicles. In addition to these efforts, it can also be greening action around the
highway as a barrier to reduce the dangers of substances that are in air pollution
that is inhaled by humans. Reforestation can be planting trees on the roadside. The
trees will absorb the dirty air so it does not become polluted in the air. Plants need
CO2 to breathe. Therefore, plants can absorb the CO2 that produced by vehicle so
the air can become cooler.
Other efforts that can be done to suppress the existence of air pollution is to
save the use of motor vehicles if want to go out but the distance is not too far. We
can be used bicycle or walk. In addition to suppress the existence of air pollution,
the use of a routine bicycle and walk can improve one's physical and spiritual
fitness and body become healthier. Like the proverb “mens sana in corpore sano”,
a healthy mind in a healthy body.
We also can do reuse, reduce, and recycle. It can decrease the production of
industries that produce air pollution. Other than that, we also can decrease
electricity usage. Electric power comes from fossil-fuel, such as petroleum and
coal. This activity takes CO2 out into the air that can make air pollution.
C. Final
 Air pollution has become a growing concern in the past few years, with an
increasing number of acute air pollution in many cities worldwide, so we must do
something to keep the air clean in our earth until the future is come.

References
Badan Pusat Statistik, 2017. Perkembangan Jumlah Kendaraan Bermotor menurut Jenis.
https://www.bps.go.id/linkTabelStatis/View/id/1413. Accessed 16th of November
2017.
Habibi, M., 2017. Parameter Pencemaran Udara dan Dampaknya Terhadap Kesehatan.
http://www.academia.edu/7587165/Udara_PDF. Accessed 16th November 2017.