Rizkinaya Saritan
IPMI International Business School
Amelia Naim Indrajaya
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Eco Learning Camp or “Eco Camp” is the informal education place about environment where visitors can enjoy the fresh air, surrounded with own-planted vegetables and fruits. Eco Camp encourages all stakeholders to conserve our Mother Earth and they do business in a 100% environmental friendly way. They have a flourishing business and transforming the societies for a greener environment.
Eco Learning Camp or “Eco Camp” is the education place about environment where visitors can enter into the area freely, with no entrance fee. Visitors can enjoy the fresh air, surrounded with own-planted vegetables and fruits. Built on the area of 5,491 square meters, Eco Camp is equipped with many facilities to support all their activities. They have open & closed hall with audio visual, player hall, library, organic garden and bedrooms for hundreds of people to stay overnight (with and without the Eco Learning Camp Education Program).
Eco Camp provides educational activities with varied packages in accordance with age and needs of their visitors. The activities are packaged creatively and will ensure the participants are aware and realize the current situation of our environment such as green-house gases, climate change, and global warming. They encourage participants or visitors to bring their own water bottle, there should be no plastic usage in Eco Learning Camp site and everyone is encouraged to be vegetarian. Eco Learning Camp hires and empowers the farmers who live nearby. Eco Camp only sells fresh & organic vegetables and visitors can crop by themselves by interacting with the available farmers who daily work there. Eco Learning Camp also provides café (name is Kedai Matahari “Sun Café”) with affordable price so visitors can relax and enjoy the vegetarian snack & food peacefully. In addition, all of organic products: mushroom, vegetables, fruits, rice, honey, bio fertilizer, bio compound and all eco-friendly products (tumbler, lunchbox) are sold in Eco Shop which is built and owned by Eco Learning Camp. Every visitor is welcome to buy the organic products with affordable price.
Young kids or anyone who comes and joins the training provided by Eco Learning Camp will realize their position to be the next eco generation leaders who will also be responsible to take care of the environment. The attendants or visitors will know that by applying simplicity & modesty as the new lifestyle in their daily life, they will be aware to conserve Mother Earth as our only planet. Kids are encouraged to love the Earth as our living place surrounded by all living organisms. Every 12:00 PM and 15:00 PM, all activities in Eco Camp will halt for 2 minutes so everyone can close their eyes and silently feel how God has given the lovely Earth for us to be looked after and utilized responsibly. The new perspective is “we borrow the nature from our grandchildren, not inherited from our ancestors”.
When asked why Eco Camp is built, the answer from the leader is really inspiring. “Global warming and climate change is inevitable. I have a passion, to find what we should do to preserve our Earth for the future generations? So, my friends and I built Eco Camp as the eco-education place for everyone, we educate people to have awareness and compassion to preserve Earth. Earth is our Place of Hope. Save our nature, then nature will save us too.”
The transformative and innovative way of doing business in Eco Camp benefits all stakeholders. Every visitor in Eco Camp will feel the positive way of living life, while they are also encouraged to care for our Mother Earth and treating people sincerely. Every business process in Eco Camp will not harm environment and they ask our sincere effort to do this virtuous circle in our neighborhood. Every farmer in Eco Camp will be trained on how to take care of the environment and use Permaculture and Verticulture in growing plants. Workers also encourage to actively participating in preserving eco lifestyle and sharing the good values to each visitor who comes to Eco Camp site.
Eco Camp also cooperates with local government and university in Bandung area, so the environment awareness is widespread to everyone.
Eco Camp is innovative and creative in earning revenue. They utilize all elements in Eco Camp as revenue stream. There are 4 major business units which are the source of income for Eco Camp:
For those visitors who would like to stay, Eco Camp also builds hotel and can provide total of 22 bedrooms which can accommodate around 100 people.
Eco Shop, the small shop where everyone can buy freshly organic vegetables, fruits, mushroom, rice, bio fertilizer, bio compound and water tumbler. All the products here are self-produced by Eco Camp from their in-house facilities.
Café for visitors, so they provide meat-free meals and traditional beverages. So, everyone can enjoy the Eco Camp facility while pampering their appetite.
By empowering local communities and hiring workers or farmers nearby Eco Camp, Eco Camp is transforming the business into flourishing one. They increase the income level of farmers and they also educate the farmers to grow and plant vegetables & fruits in more environmental friendly, by not using any chemical or fertilizers.
Also, local communities and citizens can come to join the Sunday market held by Eco Camp, where everyone can participate in selling the products or buying any organic & fresh products in cheaper price. In this Sunday market, each visitor is required to bring their own food container or their bag. For those who don’t bring their own bag, Eco Camp will provide recycled paper bag, not a plastic bag.
Eco Learning Camp only provides vegetarian meals, no meat, as the waste resulted from vegetables can be used for compost. The compost will be produced again for the material of bio fertilizer or bio compound and Eco Camp will sell it in the Eco Shop.
In addition, to support all of the activities, Eco Camp uses solar power as they would like to save the electricity and also reduce the electricity charge so they can save the cost and do business economically while preserving the environment.
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