To : Selection Committee of Summer School on Environment History in Indonesia

Motivation Letter
Climate change seems trivial to people; ecosystem destruction is not a strategic issue when viewed
through the lens of government bureaucracy. For public in general, the great things are those
related to politics and the armed forces. However, without realizing, even the importance of a
sustainable environment is as important as issues of political power and defense-security. Climate
change is happening before our eyes. The increase of average temperature in Indonesia is a
concrete and undeniable example, and everyone can feel it. Having heard a phrase, “the sixth
extinction”, it is terrifying to hear and imagine. All the power gained through politics and military
power of armed forces will be useless if that happens.
I am Eka Anugrah Widianto Surono, first-year student at Faculty of Law, Universitas Gadjah
Mada. Since childhood, i have been familiar with matters related to environmental protection and
management, such as AMDAL, UKL-UPL, IPAL, B3 because my father worked for government
environtmental agency in Makassar. I was not interested in those things, considering world of
practical law enforcement or the military as great things to do as a profession and medium to
service to The Country, which in understood more and more during senior high school. I thought
that profession like police or army were the most impactful because of their political power and
weaponry, and that if you wanted to do the right thing, that the place to enforce the idealism. Even
then, a few month before i go to Universitas Gadjah Mada, i thought that after graduating from this
University, i wanted to become a diplomat with specialization in defense and security. My mindset
changed during Second Semester, realizing that the temperature was getting hotter, plus getting
more know to the environtment things through Environmental Law subject in my Faculty. So, i
changed my direction, aspiring to become a diplomat with specialization in environment.
Being a diplomat with environmental specialization, who only takes care of negotiations and
internasional agreement that can be known as international law, and only takes care of matters
outside this country, in international society. Environmental protection and management are
actually really applied at the national and regional scale within The Country. In the long run, i
hope that one day i can occupy an echelon 1 position that can directly make policies related to
direction of environtmental protection and make slowing the progress of climate change.
Related things that become risk factors of climate change and then the mitigation efforts are still
relatively low in Indonesia, are such as the selection and processing of plastic waste that has not
been disciplined and wastewater treatmen plant that are still very in small number in Indonesia –
this is a form of government and community lack of seriousness.
By the Program, i can understood how the human interaction with nature in chronological
timeline, as well as its impact. This can then be a provision for me in becoming a diplomat who
fights for environment, or even makes policies in the far of future. A little addition, that i also plan
to join Indonesia International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) by taking Global Climate
Change and Carbon Cycle course at Yale University. For this reason, this Summer School can be a
provision of knowledge and experience for me in pursuing these plan. I hope can be accepted into
1st Summer School on Environment History in Indonesia.
Thus i make this Motivation Letter. Thank you very much for Sir/Madam’s attention.

Sincerely,
Eka Anugrah Widianto Surono