Shawdesh Desk: While climate crisis remains a burning issue, not all is doom and gloom. There is hope in the form of children who have not been corrupted by mindless greed, who understand the simple logic that fewer trees mean accelerated and irreversible climate disaster.

An eco-movement that involves saving tiffin money to buy saplings is catching on among students in Rajshahi.

After receiving their saplings, the students plant those at their own yards and are responsible for looking after them.

Starting in Rajshahi four years ago, the movement has now reached different corners of the country — generating much enthusiasm among students of primary, secondary schools and madrasas.

The concept behind it was to engage children to have a better idea of the environment around them, save it from the impact of deforestation, and slow down the process of global warming through tree plantation.

With a target of planting 10 lakh trees this year, at least 1.05 lakh saplings were distributed among students of schools in Rajshahi’s Charghat and Bagha upazilas on September 16.

Including them, students of 750 schools across the country have planted at least 3.65 lakh trees over the last four years.

The idea of this eco-movement came from Jubaer Al Mahmud, a young journalist. Talking to The Daily Star, Jubaer, who hails from Bagha upazila, described how he came up with the concept.

It all began with his reading initiative in 2010.

He created a group of 100 interested friends and started saving money for buying books annually. The books were distributed to 41 schools of four upazilas in Rajshahi and Natore, and the group built libraries at 18 schools where there were none.

In 2015, Jubaer became concerned when he learnt of the revelation made at the World Climate Conference in Paris that Bangladesh would be one of the worst victims of global warming.

“I started trying to think of a solution that’s within my ability,” he said.

“I learnt the trees produce oxygen and keep the world cool. I figured, planting a huge number of trees at a time is doable,” Jubaer said.

He thought he could do that by bringing some changes in his book-reading movement.

He travelled to the 41 schools in Rajshahi and Natore, inspired the teachers, and asked the students to save a day’s tiffin money in a box — which he named “Pollution Fighters’ Box”. School teachers and guardians also donated some money in it.

That year, he helped students plant some 17,000 trees in a day.

“The primary success made me ecstatic,” Jubaer said.

Witnessing his endeavours on social media, school students in other parts of the country started getting involved in 2016. That year, students of 85 schools in Kushtia, Chattogram and Thakurgaon joined the green movement and planted 28,000 trees.

Jubaer started working at private television channel News24 in Dhaka as a journalist, but his movement continued.

In 2017, he sought cooperation of the UNOs and managed to have some 1.45 lakh trees planted by students from 600 schools in four upazilas of Pabna, Natore and Rajshahi.

Next year, school students of Dighalia upazila of Khulna participated and 70,000 trees were planted.

This year, he planned plantation of 10 lakh trees. The September 16 plantation of 1.05 lakh trees was a part of achieving that target.

“When we distribute the saplings, the events turn into festivals for students,” Shahin Reza, UNO of Bagha, said, emphasising the need for expanding the movement across the country.

Kalidaskhali High School was the first to accept Jubaer’s proposal in 2015, said the school’s headmaster Rabindranath Pramanik.

“Since then, every year, we save money and wait for the day of sapling distribution,” he said.

Pijush Kumar, a 10th grader at Bagha Model School, said, he planted some 57 trees over the last four years.

“My parents and neighbours are supportive of me taking care of the trees,” he said.

Jubaer said expanding the movement across the country on his own is difficult for him.

“It is possible to plant five crore trees in a day across the country,” he said. “If the United Nations intervenes, this eco-movement can take off beyond the country and maybe the whole world can one day turn green,” he hoped.