When is World Environment Day?
June 5th is World Environment Day.
What is World Environment Day?
Our grandchildren will live in a world fairly similar to ours. It will be full of laughter and pain and drama. Will it be full of plastic? Or deserts? World Environment Day promotes sustainable practices and asks us to consider our own impact on the earth’s cleanliness.
Are we trashing the world our grandkids will inherit? More than 131 million babies are born every year around the world. That’s over a billion births every 10 years. At that rate, more than 20 billion people will live and die on this planet in the next century.
That’s a lot of people. Some will clean up as they go, and some will increase the waste of our natural spaces. World Environment Day is a UN movement promoting global environmental issues, like marine pollution and crimes against endangered wildlife.
Fun facts about World Environment Day!
- Because of the 1972 Clean Water Act, American rivers no longer have oil slicks that burst into flames, as in the case of the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969 (and 1952, and some prior years).
- The parliament of New Zealand granted the Whanganui River the same rights as a person in 2017. The law ensures that two legal guardians will represent the river in future legal matters that concern its waterways.
- The United Nations announced in 2018 that the hole in the ozone layer could actually close by the 2060s.
How to celebrate World Environment Day:
- Assess the “reduce, reuse, and recycle” practices in your own home.
- Clean up the trash in your community.
- Attend World Environment Day events in the host city, which changes every year.
- Sing the World Environment Day Anthem, written by the Indian poet and diplomat Abhay K.
What’s the hashtag for World Environment Day?
Use #WorldEnvironmentDay on social media to get the word out.