World Environment Day: 5th June

June 5, 2019 Share Like Labels: ba

Mahatma Gandhi quoted "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed." We people of earth appreciated the thought but couldn't understand why there was need to consider this fact. Our environment immensely shares and offers everything in its power to satisfy our needs till the level of exhaustion. The trees that are our life support, themselves are standing on the last leg. We have done so little in exchange to this gratitude that no justice has been served towards it.

What’s new this year?

1. This year’s China is handling this task, and chooses the theme 'Beat Air Pollution'.

2018's World Environment Day was hosted by India and the theme was all around the concerning the widespread use of plastic and was labelled 'Beat Plastic Pollution'.

2. Air Pollution facts 2019:

92 per cent of people worldwide do not breathe clean air.

Air pollution costs the global economy $5 trillion every year in welfare costs.

Ground-level ozone pollution is expected to reduce staple crop yields by 26 per cent by 2030.

3. Nine governments joined BreatheLife on World Environment Day, commit to action on air pollution.

Bogota (Colombia)

Lalitpur and Kathmandu (Nepal),

Honduras, Bogor City (Indonesia),

The Republic of Moldova, Monaco,

Montevideo (Uruguay) and Mexico

bring the number of cities, regions and countries in the BreatheLife Network to 63, representing 271.4 million citizens around the world.

4. Air pollution hightening cause for melting Glaciers

Deep inside the layers of ice sitting atop the Andes Mountains in Peru is evidence of the earliest human-caused air pollution. Within the core of the 1,200-year-old Quelccaya Ice Cap, scientists have found traces of lead and mercury, the chemicals used after the Spanish occupation, in the silver mines of Potosi, Bolivia.

These data will keep on increasing and if we do not give our thoughts towards the green cape: our environment, it may not be able to shield us anymore. Everything needs mending after a while. Celebrating a day and reminding ourselves about the danger is one thing, and talking action for the cause is a different story. We need solutions but all we are getting is the hike in pollution with each passing day. We have to stop and think that these commitments are declarations are not left just as mere words and thoughts.So that one day we could proudly say Happy World Environment day. We are already decades late for all the talking and making agendas, salvation comes with action. Save today, Live tomorrow.

Takeaways for LIC AAO Mains -

Dr Harsh Vardhan is the present Minister of Earth Sciences.
China hosted and gave 'Beat Air Pollution' as the theme for 2019 World Environment Day.