Theme: BeatPlasticPollution

The World Environment Day is an annual global event observed on June 5. This year’s theme is focused on solutions to plastic pollution under the campaign #BeatPlasticPollution.

Tiny plastic particles up to 5mm in diameter – find their way into food, water and air. It is estimated that each person on the planet consumes more than 50,000 plastic particles per year –and many more if inhalation is considered. Plastic is predominantly produced from oil and gas, both of which are fossil fuels. The more plastic we make, the more fossil fuel is required, the more we intensify the climate crisis. Also, plastic products create greenhouse gas emissions across their whole lifecycle.

Discarded or burnt single-use plastic harms human health and biodiversity and pollutes every ecosystem from mountain tops to the ocean floor. With available science and solutions to tackle the problem, governments, companies and other stakeholders must scale up and speed actions to solve this crisis.

This underscores the importance of this World Environment Day in mobilizing transformative action from every corner of the world.

HOW TO OBSERVE WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

• Create awareness using your social media handles. The earth is ours. It’s our combine responsibility to save it.
• It’s time to recycle because everyone’s responsible for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including you.
• Plant a tree. Trees absorb odors and pollutant gases (nitrogen oxides, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, and ozone) and filter particulates out of the air by trapping them on their leaves and bark.
• Anyone can volunteer, and volunteering can make a difference to the whole community. Get out of your comfort zone by volunteering for the National Park Service and so on. Any way you choose to participate, you’ll feel the positive impact of getting out of the house and caring for the planet.

WHY WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY IS IMPORTANT

• Sometimes we forget just how much natural systems support our own well-being. But we’re part of nature, and we depend on it. So today’s the perfect occasion to go out and enjoy your country’s national parks, and celebrate the vital relationship.
• More and more people are starting to understand that we need to sustainably manage our planet’s resources and ecosystems. That’s why World Environment Day is so important: it provides an occasion to raise awareness and teach friends and family that the physical environment is fragile and indispensable.
• The environment has become increasingly polluted with contaminants and toxins, and these have a harmful impact on our health. They can cause respiratory diseases and cancer—and that’s just for starters. By raising awareness of the issues with the air that sustains us, World Environment Day inspires us to do something about it and fix the environment we can’t live without.

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