Young and Global is a tagline of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY). The tagline stands as not only a shibboleth but also a concrete action of UMY scoring various international achievements and cooperation in these past 38 years. Besides aspiring to become an international reputable university, UMY always attempts to improve quality of students so that UMY can generate international class students.

Hanna Nur Afifah Yogar, a student of International Program for Law and Sharia (IPOLS) of Faculty of Law of UMY departed to the United States of America (USA) on Tuesday (2/4) to engage in a short-term academic exchange program in University of Hawaii, Honolulu. The program is Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) was held by the U.S. Embassy and Consulate of Indonesia. Hanna expressed that she competed with 699 students from all over Indonesia and succeeded to pass the competition alongside 24 other participants.

Besides language fluency, participants were required to be creative and critical. In her research, Hanna raised an environmental issue, specifying on Sansevieria (aloe vera plant). According to the research, the Sansevieria is 200 times more effective to absorb air pollution and radiation. She continued, “My research is called #Planetria (Plant the Sansevieria). Many people still do not aware the benefits of the Sansevieria. We need the Sansevieria to reduce air pollution and phone radiation.”

To participate in YSEALI, Hanna focused on the environmental issue. The program will analyze human behavior, especially outputs from government. “For five weeks, I will conduct a sharing session with several students. We will identify human behavior towards regional government environmental policy so that in the future the government can implement a future environmental policy, particularly in ASEAN,” she uttered.

Hence, by conducting the #Planetaria research, Hanna attempts to improve people’s awareness to reduce the level of air pollution. “When I go from my home to campus in thirty minutes, I still see people doing garbage combustion five to seven times. This, in fact, is a harmful activity. I am raising awareness to people to utilize the Sansevieria,” ended Hanna.