Dhaka, Oct 05 (V7N)- 'Rooftop gardens' are essential for improving the quality of life in urban environments Because, plants absorb sunlight and reduce the heat absorbed by the building. Plants also contain pollutants and absorb carbon dioxide, improving air quality, making for a healthy urban ecosystem. The Facebook group 'Balcony Garden and Care' has been formed by those who are interested in 'rooftop gardening' to protect the environment. Care'. On a rainy afternoon on Friday (October 4, 2024), the group organized a 5th anniversary celebration with its members at an elite restaurant in the capital's Khilgaon. Where together every member participated in various cultural activities including dance, song, recitation, pillow game.

Everyone in the society should be responsible for environmental protection and awareness, especially the residents of the capital. 'Roof garden' is a very important initiative among various activities to protect the environment. From this realization, Rifat Haque, a housewife of Khilgaon, opened a group called 'Balcony Garden and Care' through the social media Facebook during the Corona period to make the citizens of the capital aware of environmental protection. She opened the Facebook group 'Balcony Garden and Care' to show the special importance of 'rooftop garden' based on these two ideas of environmental protection and social responsibility. Although he had already started a 'roof garden' on the huge roof of his house. However, he created a Facebook group with friends from the neighborhood to create an attractive garden that can enhance natural beauty even on the bare roof of an open neglected house.

More than 1 million members have already joined the Facebook group 'Balcony Garden and Care', which was opened in 2019 to raise environmental awareness among the citizens of the capital and to deal with the effects of climate change. 'Balcony Garden & Care' group organized the 5th anniversary celebration with more than hundred members, although it was not possible with everyone.

Habiba Rahman Mukta gave a welcome speech at the discussion meeting of the foundation anniversary program, which was presented by Al Mumin Dipu, a founder admin of the Facebook group, and moderated by Arif bin Jalal Rudro. At that time, the chief organizer of the program and the head of the 'Balcony Garden and Care' group, admin Rifat Haque, said in a response, the joy of eating pure fruits and vegetables, besides protecting the environment, cannot be expressed in words. It is much more fun to eat fruits with your own hands in the artificial and chemical products of the market. So roof gardens are very important for the residents of the capital. He added that as the capital continues to grapple with issues such as climate change, environmental and air pollution and urbanization, green infrastructure such as rooftop gardens will mitigate the effects of urban heat by cooling the surrounding areas through evaporation. Rifat Haque said that there is no alternative to rooftop gardens to meet the shortage of oxygen supply due to increasing carbon dioxide levels in the capital. So for those of us who live in cities, we can easily make use of our vacant rooftop spaces to contribute to a greener and more beautiful community for generations to come.

At the end of the discussion meeting, Rifat Haque, admin of 'Balcony Garden and Care' group and owner of 'Roof Garden', cut an amazing big size cake made by himself on the occasion of 5th anniversary and fed it to everyone. At the time of farewell, he gifted each newbie with a precious 'tree' and a mug with the group's logo as a greeting.

END/RK/AJ