Youth groups and students participating in a Catholic environmental movement have planted more than 10,000 trees in Bangladesh. Source: The Tablet.
Catholic students, inspired by Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’, are taking practical action in caring for their “common home” through an initiative known as the 45-day Earth Campaign, led by the Bangladesh Catholic Students’ Movement (BCSM) through its Laudato Si’ Commission.
From remote diocesan towns to busy urban schools, young Catholics have gone from door to door – more often from classroom to classroom – raising awareness about environmental care and urging small but meaningful changes in daily life.
Fr Bikash James Rebeiro CSC, secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Youth (EC-Y) and National Youth Coordinator, called the campaign a concrete expression of faith lived publicly.
“Catholic youths took an initiative for a 45-day Earth Campaign under the theme ‘From Reflection to Action’,” he said. “They visited schools and colleges across their 20 units in different dioceses to spread awareness about protecting our common home and to inspire students to reduce waste and clean their surroundings.”
While exact figures are still being compiled, Fr Rebeiro estimated that more than 10,000 trees have been planted across Bangladesh through the combined efforts of youth groups and participating students.
The students’ voices echo broader concerns in Bangladesh, a country highly vulnerable to climate change and environmental degradation. The governing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has pledged a nationwide program to plant 250 million trees over five years as part of its environmental agenda.
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Bangladesh students plant trees as ‘symbols of hope’ in Laudato si’ campaign (By Sumon Corraya, The Tablet)
