World Environment Day
Learn about World Environment Day, a United Nations-sponsored day that focuses on global environmental issues. Activities are held around the world on June 5!
Let’s talk about the Environment, y’all!!!
When is World Environment Day?
World Environment Day is June 5th of each year.
What is World Environment Day?
World Environment Day is a day to honor and celebrate the Earth’s Global Environment and millions of people celebrate it around the globe!
History of World Environment Day
Who started World Environment Day?
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the founding partner of World Environment Day. Starting this day in 1974, the UNEP chose the slogan, Only One Earth, from the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment which was held two years before in 1972.
Only one Earth
Where is the conference for World Environment Day held?
The WED conference is held in various locations among different nations of the world, from countries such as Sweden to Pakistan, and each year has a different theme.
Here are the last five host countries and the themes of each conference:Â
- 2022: Sweden – Only One Earth
- 2021: Pakistan – Ecosystem Restoration
- 2020: Colombia – Time for Nature
- 2019: China – Beat Air Pollution
- 2018: India – Beat Plastic Pollution
Why We Celebrate World Environment Day and Its Importance
According the the UN, nature is in trouble. They say to keep global temperature from rising this century by 1.5°C or 34.7° F, we need to cut greenhouse gasses in half by 2030.
If we don’t do this, our world will experience unsafe air conditions within the next ten years, and our plastic waste in the oceans will increase by 300%.
These are lofty goals and if we are to reach them, we need to come together on a global scale to make an impact! But we can do it if we are able to create a worldwide awareness of the environment and how we can better respect it and take care of it.
Great Ideas for Celebrating World Environment Day
- Organize a trash pickup with your school or local volunteer group
- Make a public commitment to start using only sustainable and recyclable plastic
- Donate to your favorite Environmental Group
- See if your community is having any local parades, concerts or other celebrations and go support them
- Throw an Environmental Friendly Party and ask people to dress up in costumes inspired by nature
World Environment Day FAQs
How does modern day living affect the environment?
There are so many things we do in modern society that affect our environment and make an impact on climate change and the creation of a healthy environment for ourselves and our families.Â
When we engage in responsible conduct… from using sustainable materials for clothing, food containers, and fuel to making real changes in our habits regarding plastic use and taking transformative action in our recycling habits, we can make a huge impact one day at a time.
It’s when we create sustainable lifestyles that we can truly come together and make a resounding impact in the life and health of our global environment.
What Kinds of Things Can We Do to Help Protect the Environment?
Make sure we are recycling and reusing
If we recycle and reuse, we can further the harmony of this beautiful planet. Have you seen the trash island out in the North Pacific Ocean?  It’s called the the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or the Pacific Trash Vortex. []
Can you imagine how destructive this marine pollution is to ocean ecosystems and marine life?
Plant a tree or two.
Yearly tree plantings help restore the loss of forests and help to improve our air quality. We need trees and plants to help filter oxygen for us.
The deforestation of our globe is a serious issue and could lead to severe degradation of our air quality.
We have to replace the losses we experience each year, and if we all plant trees on World Environmental Day, we can make great strides in maintaining our environment and air quality.
We can switch to green batteries.
Batteries have come a long way, baby!
Lithium Ion batteries are widely available now, as lithium is plentiful and the technology is cost effective and widely used. Â But the Sodium Ion battery is making strides and will possibly be more environmentally friendly than lithium. And sodium? It’s even more plentiful than lithium. []
Switch from plastic straws to eco-friendly straws or a simple, reusable tumbler with a reusable straw
Here are some striking stats about the use of plastic straws:
- One study published earlier this year estimated as many as 8.3 billion plastic straws pollute the world’s beaches. Eight million tons of plastic flow into the ocean every year, and straws comprise just 0.025 percent of that.Â
- Plastic waste, mostly broken down into tiny particles, floats in huge blobs amid ocean current patterns called gyres that together cover as much as 40 percent of Earth’s ocean surface.
- And, as of early 2018, data from Ocean Conservancy’s TIDES system shows us that straws/stirrers are the 11th most found ocean trash in cleanups, making up about 3% of recovered trash.
Stats about the Environment
The Earth’s Water
- Only 1% of the earth’s water is safe for human consumption. 3. 78% of marine mammals are at risk of choking on plastic Seventy-eight percent of marine mammals are at risk of accidental deaths, such as getting caught in fishing nets.
- The oceans hold approximately 96.5% of this water and the ice caps hold about 2%.
- Humans use only 1% of all available water About 71% of the earth is water.
Emissions
- If countries cannot agree on sufficient pledges, in another 5 years, the emissions reduction necessary will leap to a near-impossible 15.5% every year.
- Food waste across the world contributes to 14% of global carbon emissions!
- According to the FAA, the transportation sector is responsible for about one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, but to put things into perspective, aviation is responsible for only 3 percent of U.S.
The Earth’s Forests
- Deforestation in south-east Asia has resulted in the loss of up to 80% of natural forest.
- As of August 2019, more than 80,000 fires burned in the Amazon, an increase of almost 80% from 2018, National Geographic reported (opens in new tab).
- Fact 27: Only less than 4% of American forests remain today.
Air Quality around the Globe
- While in Milan and northern Italy, air quality has significantly improved, with nitrogen oxide levels falling by about 40%.
- In New York carbon monoxide (mostly from road transport) has reduced by nearly 50% compared with last year.
- Thus, air pollution affects many more people than any of these other conditions: 82 percent of the global population, or 6.2 billion people, live in areas where PM2.5 exceeds the WHO guideline.
It truly is to our benefit to keep our environment clean and healthy! Of course, we want a healthy environment for ourselves, but we really need to be thinking about the generations to come.