HWPL Carries Out the ‘Eco Ten Minute’ Campaign Across India, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan
TARUN KUMAR
INTERNATIONAL: To mark World Environment Day on June 5, the international peace NGO, Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), conducted over 30 sessions of its ‘Eco Ten Minute’ campaign from February to May 2025 across India, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Under the slogan “Ten minutes to clean our community, ten minutes to restore the Earth,” the campaign mobilized approximately 3,000 participants and has been recognized for promoting both environmental awareness and peace consciousness.
The Eco Ten Minute project was designed based on India’s Karnataka State “Vision 2030” policy and the core values of HWPL’s Peace Education curriculum (Lessons 1, 4, and 10). It aims to encourage youth and local citizens to engage in accessible, 10-minute clean-up efforts to improve their surroundings while fostering a culture of peace within communities.
In Karnataka’s Gadag district, HWPL collaborated with the Panchayat Raj University’s National Service Scheme (NSS) to conduct activities across 10 villages over a three-week span. Cleanup efforts, campus maintenance, and tree planting took place in areas such as Magadi, Mevundi, Nagavi, Itagai, Hosalli, Hulakoti, and Kalasapur. On May 24, a large-scale event commemorated the 12th anniversary of HWPL’s Declaration of World Peace, featuring a peace pledge and environmental action.
In Delhi, Arwachin Public School held two events in alignment with World Heritage Day (April 17) and Earth Day (April 22), while KHMS (Kulachi Hansraj Model School) engaged its entire student body—around 1,800 participants—in campus-wide clean-up activities, led by the school’s HWPL Peace Club.
In Maharashtra, schools including MS Naik High School (Ratnagiri), Savarkar Gurukul (Talegaon), and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Coaching Center (Pune) organized clean-up efforts around temples and urban slum areas. Notably, the eTechnocrats organization and local religious leaders worked alongside students, demonstrating a community-based approach to environmental action.
Following a terrorist attack targeting tourists in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025, tensions between India and Pakistan escalated once again, intensifying military activity in the Kashmir region. Despite the unstable situation, local youth groups such as the Lal Ded Youth Foundation and the EK Qadam Welfare Society continued to lead clean-up and tree-planting initiatives. Their efforts provided a meaningful example of civic engagement aimed at restoring daily life and fostering peace in a region often marked by conflict.
Mini R, a teacher at KLE Society’s School, stated, “Caring for the local environment is the first step toward caring for the community and achieving peace,” adding that “Eco Ten Minute is not just about cleaning—it is a meaningful movement to practice and share peace.”
According to the United Nations, the number of climate refugees—people forced to flee due to environmental factors—has surged in recent years, blurring the lines between climate and conflict-driven displacement. Climate-related challenges such as droughts, floods, and food shortages are increasingly contributing to regional instability and conflict. In response, HWPL’s Eco Ten Minute project encourages youth and citizens to actively participate in improving their local environment, thereby helping to reduce the impact of the climate crisis and strengthening community resilience for peace. The campaign’s collaborative model involving youth, educators, and faith-based organizations has emerged as a noteworthy example of grassroots peacebuilding.
