World Environment Day

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

On June 5, World Environment Day is celebrated, in order to sensitize the world population about the importance of caring for our ecosystems and promoting respect for the environment.
The date of this anniversary was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972, coinciding with the beginning of the Stockholm Conference, whose main theme was precisely the environment.

World Environment Day requires a global effort

Within the framework of the celebration of World Environment Day, efforts should be focused on motivating people and communities, so that they become active agents of sustainable development and environmental protection.
That is why people are invited to improve their consumption habits. For companies to develop more ecological models. Governments to protect wilderness areas. For teachers to educate in natural values. For young people to speak out for the future of the planet. Protecting the environment requires everyone’s support.

Year 2021: Reimagine, recover, restore

A central theme related to the environment is chosen annually to commemorate this World Day.
In the year 2021 the central theme is “Reimagine, recover, restore”. We can contribute to the environment and make peace with nature, in order to prevent climate catastrophe, reduce environmental pollution and stop the loss of biodiversity:

Growing trees in our town, to green our cities and our spaces.
Repopulating our gardens with wild species.
Changing the way we eat.
Cleaning rivers and coasts.

You can find more information on the subject on the official website of the United Nations.

Year 2020: Biodiversity

In 2020 the central theme was Biodiversity, a great cause of global concern in environmental matters. Recent catastrophic events, such as the large-scale wildfires in Brazil, California and Australia, the locust invasion in the Horn of Africa and the COVID-19 pandemic showed that nature had sent us a very clear message.

What is Biodiversity, and why is it so important?

Biodiversity is a term that refers to the wide variety of living things that exist on Earth. There are currently about eight million species on our planet, living in a unique ecosystem. Each member of this biodiversity plays a fundamental role in the natural balance.
Biodiversity is the foundation of all life on Earth, and without it, human health is compromised. Clean water, pure air, nutritious food, everything depends absolutely on it.
Human activities have been altering the planet for decades, causing unprecedented loss of biodiversity. Glacial ice is melting, coral reefs have been cut in half, and vast tracts of forest have been lost. We are on the brink of mass extinction, which will have serious consequences for humanity, involving the collapse of food and health systems.

World Environment Day 2021 Host

Every year, a country becomes a host for World Environment Day.
For the year 2021 the host of this World Day is Pakistan. In celebration of this year’s anniversary, the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration will begin, which has as its fundamental objective “to prevent, stop and reverse the degradation of ecosystems throughout the world.”

Hosts from previous years

Year 2020: Colombia

The host in 2020 was Colombia, with the support of Germany. The announcement was made at the UN Conference on Climate Change, which was held in Madrid in 2019. The central theme was “time for nature,” highlighting biodiversity.

Year 2019: China

In 2019 the host of World Environment Day was China, with the theme “Fight against air pollution”, the greatest environmental risk against health. This factor affects approximately 7 million lives each year, most of them in the Asia-Pacific region.

Year 2018: India

In 2018 the host was India with the slogan “No plastic pollution”, to draw the attention of the population to the responsibility we have for plastic pollution on the planet, estimating that more than 8 million tons are dumped into the sea annually of plastic that affect the marine ecosystem.

Year 2017: Canada

In 2017 the host was Canada with the motto “Connecting people with nature”. Its rich and varied natural heritage is a source of pride and identity for Canadians and sustains the country’s economic prosperity. As part of the celebrations for World Environment Day and its 150th anniversary, Canada offered free tickets to its National Parks during that year.

Movies and documentaries about the environment

Here are some titles about films, series and documentaries about the environment and the care of our planet:

Snowpiercer (NETFLIX series, year 2020): series based on the movie of the same name. A group of survivors (passengers of the Snowpiercer train) travel in constant motion around the Earth, seven years after the world became a frozen place.
Chernobyl (HBO series, year 2019): there are five episodes that relate the nuclear disaster that occurred in 1986, at the Soviet Vladimir Ilyich Lenin nuclear power plant, located in Chernobyl (Ukraine today).
Dark Waters (film, year 2019): A lawyer lashes out at the DuPont Chemicals Corporation, for polluting the city with unregulated chemicals.
IO (NETFLIX Movie, 2019): A young scientist living on Earth, a devastated and desolate planet, must move to the makeshift space colony IO to try to survive.
Deep Horizon (film, 2016): reflects the story of the accident that occurred in an oil pipeline located in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. It was one of the most damaging environmental catastrophes caused by man.
Tomorrow (French documentary, 2015): shows different initiatives tested in ten countries around the world, referring to solutions to the environmental and social challenges of the 21st century in the areas of agriculture, economy, energy, education and democracy.
Planned obsolescence: buy, throw away, buy (Youtube Documentary, 2010): documentary that summarizes a research work and archive images, which show the reduction of the useful life of electronic products deliberately by manufacturing companies to increase its consumption, with serious environmental consequences.
Plastic Planet (documentary, year 2009): is a shocking Austrian investigative documentary that shows how plastic has become a global threat, due to our consumption habits.
Wall-E (animated film, 2008): the Earth has been devastated by environmental pollution, being abandoned by humans in the year 2080. One of the robots in charge of cleaning it called WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth -Class) continues to clean the planet.
Earth, the film of our Planet (documentary, year 2007): documentary feature film that shows a portrait of the planet, filmed by 700 specialists over 5 years, in more than 200 different places.
Erin Brockovich (film, year 2000): drama based on real events. A single mother works in a small law firm and discovers several irregularities in the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, responsible for diseases in a community, due to the contamination of water for human consumption.

How to celebrate World Environment Day?

Let’s celebrate World Environment Day today and every day. We can all collaborate, becoming aware of the conservation of the environment, with the following actions:

Recycle and reuse the products we consume: paper, plastic and other materials.
Use drinking water rationally.
Plant trees in our community.
Substitute the use of vehicles for a bicycle or walking.
Properly close the taps and control water leaks.
Use rechargeable batteries and cells.
Separate organic and inorganic solid waste (garbage).
Take advantage of natural light to reduce electricity consumption and turn off lights that we are not using.
Consume fruits, vegetables and vegetables that do not contain fertilizers or other polluting products.
Unplug electrical appliances that are not being used.
Regulate the use of energy consumption for heating and air conditioning, using the thermostat.