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Sowing Seeds of good actions to benefit the Environment

Jéssica Botelho

05/31/2011

Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972, the World Environment Day is annually celebrated on June 5. This day was created to sensitize public opinion to the need to protect and value the environment and to establish partnerships to ensure the awareness of all nations and peoples. This celebration is held everywhere in the world to draw political and social attention to the problems and urgent actions in favor of the planet.

One cannot forget that the Human Being depends on nature to survive. The predatory exploitation of natural resources, the pollution and contamination of rivers, seas and oceans are some of the factors that result in a major ecological imbalance. For decades, the majority of the problems related to the environment are caused by human intervention on the planet and in its ecosystems. Today we cannot do anything without considering environmental sustainability.

  • Foto: João Preda
  • Children plant trees in the city of Brasília/DF, Brazil.
  • Children plant trees in the city of Brasília/DF, Brazil.
Journalist and writer José de Paiva Netto, the President of the Legion of Good Will (LBV), brings us an important reflection about this subject in his article entitled “Be careful, we are breathing death”, published in hundreds of newspapers, magazines and websites, of Brazil and the world, aside from being divulged in thousands of radio and television stations: “There are many issues, but this one is of the utmost importance: we are breathing death. We are facing a kind of progress that, at the same time, spreads ruin. Our own ruin. It is obvious that we urgently need to widen people’s ecological awareness, before the downfall of their quality of life reaches a point of no-return”.

After each reckless action, a little of the planet is lost: “The Legion of Good Will has never been against progress, but it condemns the pollution of springs, the devastation of forests, the trashing of fields, the pollution of beaches, and all types of aggression towards the environment. Because it understands that the destruction of Nature is the extinction of the Human Race, for at every moment and everywhere in the world the Human Being, in its thirst for getting rich at any cost, digs its own grave”, affirms journalist Paiva Netto.

Developing new generations awareness

  • Foto: Luciana Soares
The LBV bets on the future and works in the present to build a safer and more sustainable world through its pioneering campaign called “The destruction of Nature is the extinction of the Human Race”. At the LBV schools, for example, the students learn from a very early age to preserve the environment in a recreational manner through study groups; ecological walks; visits to parks, zoos and museums; recycling workshops and toys made from scrap materials; talks; plays; tree planting; distribution of educative folders and returnable bags; clean-up collective mobilization in beaches, parks and streets; courses; environmental projects and so on.

  • Foto: Leontina Maciel


Aside from that, the LBV has already promoted several forums on the subject, such as the 5th International Forum of the Little Soldiers of God, held in 2008, under the theme “My home is the Planet Earth”. And it has already taken part in many important events such as the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in 1992, in which it launched its campaign “People are also animals. Protect Brazilian children”, which was internationally awarded; the 60th Annual Conference of the Department of Public Information organized by the UN in 2007 under the theme “Climate Change: How It Impacts Us All” — an opportunity in which it contributed with examples of good practices in favor of the environment, recorded in its magazine Globalization of Fraternal Love; the International Sustainability Forum, which took place in Amazonas, in 2010; among others.

  • Foto: Carlos Santos


The adoption of a more effective environmental policy with stricter laws; adequate and permanent environmental monitoring; and more investments in research for ecologically sustainable solutions for environmental problems is a feasible measure that must be taken to stall the damages to the environment. In order for these damages, which have been caused to this day, not to cause even greater consequences in the future, it is indispensable to develop education with ecumenical spirituality, as the leader of the LBV has been highlighting in a manner to bring awareness to societies worldwide to act with humanity and solidarity. Let us do our part.

Version: Robert Rajabally
Revision: Silvana Bosso