Salesian communities begin green activities to protect the environment
TIMOR-LESTE
(MissionNewswire) Salesian communities in Timor-LesteHave initiated green activities to protect the environment. These activities are in response Pope Francis 2020 Latato Si which stressed the importance education and training youth to foster environmental responsibility. Major Father ngel Fernndez-Artime, Rector, noted the importance and necessity of concrete actions in the protection of the environment.
Youth are encouraged to take an active role in the environment by a variety of objectives. In Quelicai, the Salesian community has been planting rice twice or three times per year to provide better nutrition for students and to save money on food purchases. Fuiloro’s agricultural school is run by Salesians who teach advanced and green farming methods. The school has a working farm that provides food and vegetables for the local community.
Don Bosco Comoro Post-novitiate also has a vegetable patch in the backyard. They are also working with a private organization on plastic recycling. Comoro Vocational Training Center trains students to sort trash from the school and outside. Father Jolino Vieira, who is a member the Don Bosco Green Alliance, supports the idea for an eco-friendly campus and will ensure that it has a plastic recycling machine.
The Don Bosco Green Alliance was established in India in 2018. It challenges its members and encourages them to make eco-friendly pledges. Members organize activities and programs that bring about tangible results at both the institutional and individual levels. The alliance is focused upon reducing pollution, eliminating disposable plastics, and reducing global warming.
Members have also taken initiatives to increase green areas, plant trees, reduce the use non-degradable material, promote organic agriculture and home gardening, preserve and conserve water, and increase the use renewable energy sources.
These initiatives in Timor-Leste are just a few of the many Salesians who have launched them around the world with a focus to greener practices, according to Father Gus Baek. Salesian MissionsThe U.S. development arm of Salesians of Don Bosco is called. Not only are greener practices better for the environment and provide better lives for the youth that we serve, but they also help Salesians reduce energy costs, which is then used in programming.
Timor-Leste has 1.3 million inhabitants. Nearly 49 percent of its population lives in poverty. Over one-third of the population is regularly faced with food shortages. According to the World Bank, nearly 50 percent of the population are illiterate.
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Sources:
ANS Photo (usage Permissions and Guidelines must be Requested fromANS)
ANS East Timor’s Salesian communities are enhancing their environmental activities
Don Bosco Indonesia-Timor Leste Salespeople
Salesian Missions Timor-Leste
World Bank East Timor/Timor-Leste
