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GLOBAL: Don Bosco Green Alliance launches new campaign ‘Rethink, Reconnect, Renew’

(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Green Alliance launched a new campaign “Rethink, Reconnect, Renew” on World Environment Day, which is held annually on June 5. Don Bosco Green Alliance is an international collective of youth from Salesian institutions and organizations that contribute to global environmental action, thought and policy. It was launched in April 2018 in India. In just the span of two years, Don Bosco Green Alliance has gained 273 registered members from 56 countries. Membership is open to all Salesian institutions and organizations worldwide.

The new campaign will be carried out through the ongoing “Laudato Sì” year. On May 18, Pope Francis inaugurated “Laudato Si” at the Vatican commemorating the fifth anniversary of the publication of his eco-encyclical with the same title. As part of these efforts, Don Bosco Green Alliance was invited to lead initiatives within the school sector. The goal is to rethink educational programs to create greater awareness of ecology and to think about concrete actions that promote ecological vocations for youth, teachers and education managers.

On March 27, Pope Francis said in his Urbi et Orbi message, “We have gone ahead at breakneck speed, feeling powerful and able to do anything. Greedy for profit, we let ourselves get caught up in things and lured away by haste. We were not shaken awake by wars or injustice across the world nor did we listen to the cry of the poor or of our ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick.”

The Don Bosco Green Alliance campaign invites all of the alliance members to rethink their priorities, their choices and their lifestyles, especially during the global pandemic. Rethinking and reconnecting should inspire people to renew their way of living and ensure a healthier and happier future.

All alliance members are being encouraged to make pledges on how they will concretely live more eco-friendly lives. Alliance members are also being asked to hold activities and programs during the course of the year to bring about concrete outcomes at institutional and individual levels. A series of monthly webinars on topics connected to the theme of the campaign has been planned for the year ahead. Special events will be organized during the year in which members of the alliance can participate collectively.

Rector Major Father Ángel Fernández Artime, referring to the pandemic, called for a renewal: “I hope we’ll learn something from all this. For example, will we go back to a hectic lifestyle or will we be able to have a more humane pace and spaces? Do we want to make up for lost time in consumerism or will we learn that it is possible to live happily with the essentials? Will we continue unbridled in the race to contaminate the world or will we give the planet a respite? After this pandemic, an ecological indifference like the one we continue to see in the climatic summits is not possible.”

Don Bosco Green Alliance is focused on combating pollution, reducing global warming and eliminating disposable plastics. In each of these areas, it aims to partner with ongoing global campaigns promoted by UN Environment or other international organizations.

Members of the Alliance have also undertaken such initiatives as environmental education to increase green areas and planting trees, the reduction of the use of non-degradable materials, promotion of organic agriculture and home gardens, preservation and conservation of water, and increasing the use of renewable energy sources.

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ANS – RMG – Don Bosco Green Alliance launches ‘Rethink, Reconnect, Renew’ campaign

Don Bosco Green Alliance