World Environment Day is thebiggest annual event for positiveenvironmental action and takes placeevery 5 June. This year’s host countryCanada got to choose the theme andwill be at the centre of celebrationsaround the planet.
World Environment Day is a day foreveryone, everywhere. Since it beganin 1972, global citizens have organisedmany thousands of events, fromneighbourhood clean-ups, to actionagainst wildlife crime, to replantingforests.
This year’s theme invites us to thinkabout how we are part of nature andhow intimately we depend on it. Itchallenges us to find fun and excitingways to experience and cherish thisvital relationship.
In recent decades, scientific advancesas well as growing environmentalproblems such as global warming arehelping us to understand the countlessways in which natural systems supportour own prosperity and well-being.
For example, the world’s oceans,forests and soils act as vast stores forgreenhouse gases such as carbondioxide and methane, farmers andfisher-folk harness nature on landand under water to provide us withfood, scientists develop medicinesusing genetic material drawn from themillions of species that make up Earth’sastounding biological diversity.
Billions of rural people aroundthe world spend every working day‘connected to nature’ and appreciatefull well their dependence on naturalwater supplies and how natureprovides their livelihoods in the formof fertile soil.
They are among the first to sufferwhen ecosystems are threatened,whether by pollution, climate changeor over-exploitation.
Nature’s gifts are often hard to valuein monetary terms. Like clean air, theyare often taken for granted, at leastuntil they become scarce.
This year’s World Environment Dayis an ideal occasion to go out and enjoyyour country’s national parks andother wilderness areas.
You could join the growing numberof citizen scientists. More and moresmartphone apps help you log yoursightings and connect with others whocan identify the species. The recordsfeed into conservation strategies andmap the effects of climate change onbiodiversity.
You can also connect with nature inthe city, where major parks can be agreen lung and a hub of biodiversity.Why not do your bit to green the urbanenvironment, by greening your streetor a derelict site, or planting a windowbox? You could put a spade in the soil orlift a paving slab and see what creatureslive beneath.
In the age of asphalt and smartphonesand among the distractions of modernlife, connections with nature can befleeting. World Environment Day canmake clearer than ever that we needharmony between humanity andnature so that both are able to thrive.
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