Environmental Education is one of the suitable ways to get people to love and care about nature's surroundings. Genau Indonesia offers environmental education packages that are directly delivered in the Petungkriyono nature. The programs can be accessed by children, teenagers, and adults. The learning processes of the programs are delivered in a fun way through short courses and workshops. Participants of the programs not only gain knowledge about nature and the environment but also get experience and happiness.
Let's check our environmental education programs.
1. Biomonitoring: River and Biota
Polluted rivers are a common problem in cities. It makes citizens have no access to enjoy the clean river. Even though clean rivers are very important as water resources and habitats for many biotas. Through Petungkiyono's rivers, we bring the image of clean rivers and invite the participants to learn how to assess healthy rivers through the diversity of water biotas.
Participants will get a short course about the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of a clean and healthy river. Then, the participants will get a basic tool kit to observe the river condition and the diversity of water biotas such as fish and macroinvertebrates. The abundance of water biotas will show us about the status of river conditions.
Through this program, participants also can feel the freshness of river water for relaxing.
2. Edible Food Forest
As a secondary tropical forest, Petungkriyono has high species of wild edible plants. Local people use it beneficial situation for foraging the edible plants to fulfill the need of daily dietary. This culture made local people have to be close emotional about the forest. They are also very respectful of forest ecology and its sustainability.
Inspired by the foraging culture of the Petungkriyono people, we want to share the knowledge of the foraging culture and the diversity of wild edible plants from Petungkriyono Forest. This education will stimulate participants to learn about healthy food, friendly food for our climate, and realize the function of the forest as a giant supermarket for our life.
The educational program about wild edible plants from the forest will deliver as a short course, direct observation, and cooking practice. In the short course section, participants will learn about the species diversity of wild edible plants in Petungkriyono Forest, their characteristics, their function in the ecosystem, and their benefits to our bodies. Then, participants have activities for direct observation and try to figure out the wild edible plants' forest in Kebun Genau or Petungkriyono Forest. Afterward, they will learn about the food preparation of wild plants and how to cook like the indigenous people in Petungkriyono.
3. Soil and Vermicompost
In 2022, global societies initiated by Sadhguru, a yogi, mystic, and visionary, are campaigning a movement to save soil. Nowadays, soil degradation is inevitable. This phenomenon is a big problem not only for living humans but also for all living organisms.
The magic of soil turns death into life. We utilize soil for growing vegetables and fruits for food. Our foods quality is affected by soil conditions. Besides that, soil conditions also have significant roles in carbon sequestration, water supply, and biodiversity.
Earthworms are one kind of organism that inhabit the soil. They enrich the soil nutrient by decaying the organic matter and excreting black castings. The black castings are high in usable nitrogen. Then, the black castings are easier to absorb by plants.
Improving the knowledge about soil and earthworm is contributed to soil conservation. Therefore, we deliver and share the knowledge about soil and earthworms in our garden (Kebun Genau). The participants will get a short course about global soil conditions, good soil characteristics, and the role-play of earthworms in the soil. Then, they will do a workshop about how to make vermicomposting, an organic compost by earthworms, in Kebun Genau.
4. Forest: Biodiversity and Society
Petungkriyono Forest is a tropical rainforest in Central Java. As a remaining forest in Java, Petungkriyono Forest is a homeland for many endemic and endangered or critically endangered species. Its habitat for Javan Gibbon (Hylobates moloch), Javan Hawk-eagle (Nisaetus bartelsi), Javan Blue-banded Kingfisher (Alcedo euryzona), Sunda Panglion (Manis javanica), and Javan Leopard (Pantera pardus). It is also a habitat for sensitive damselflies such as Drepanosticta spatulifera, Drepanosticta gazella, and Rhinochypa heterostigma. Various orchid species also grow naturally there.
Those conditions make the Petungkriyono Forest a heritage of nature that must be protected and preserved. On the other side, increasing tourism activities affect the forest ecosystem inevitably, mainly because of the noise, waste, and forest land conversion. It encourages us to make an educational program for tourism about the importance of Petungkriyono Forest with its biodiversity and the activities of local people to take care of their forest. We also offer assistance or guidance to the researchers who want to study Petungkriyono Forest.
5. Organic Gardening
Organic gardening is the activity of growing plants, vegetables, or flowers without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Organic gardening uses organic materials to enrich the soil, maintain the garden, and avoid pests or weeds. Products from organic gardening are more healthy, fresh, and delicious.
When we practice organic gardening, we will learn that our foods are more friendly to the ecosystem than those non-organic gardening. Organic gardening does not pollute the water and soil and does not harm many organisms. It has a low carbon footprint and is climate-friendly.
Therefore, with Kebun Genau, we offer the educational package "Basics of Organic Gardening" to tourists. In this program, we will learn and practice how to test and make healthy soil, grow the plants and vegetables, get good sanitation, rotate the plants every year, and make physical barriers and traps for pests.
