World Environment Day 2015 – Every Action Counts

World Environment Day is one of the foremost environmental campaigns of the United Nations, which is celebrated every year on June 5. Popularly branded as WED, the campaign seeks to spread awareness and encourage people and nations to play a definitive role towards environmental sustainability. With significant contributions over the years, the World Environment Day has progressed into a global platform for public outreach and is celebrated in over 100 countries. It also provides an opportunity to individual stakeholders to do their bit towards protecting and nurturing the environment.

Newspatrolling is cognizant of the growing stress that our planet is facing due to increased population and rapid industrialization. Lack of awareness about the environment is also one of the primary reasons for the rapid decline in the planet’s natural resources. The theme of World Environment Day this year is “Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care.”, which aptly describes the current situation and seeks contributions from individual stakeholders. While it may seem that individual actions would do little in face of global threats and trends, the truth is that when thousands and thousands of people become more aware and start contributing, it would make a significant difference. It would involve simple things such as saving water & electricity, choosing renewable energy sources such as solar & wind, opting for public transport, etc.

On the World Environment Day 2015, Newspatrolling is doing its own bit for the environment by planting some saplings, and encouraging its staff to adhere to the norms of the “go green” campaign. This would require Newspatrolling staff members to be mindful with resources such as printing paper, electricity, water, etc. Newspatrolling also requests its readers to be aware of the fact that the wellbeing of humanity eventually depends on the wellbeing of the planet.

We are in a time when we are consuming far greater resources than our planet can sustain. Given the current rate, our population is likely to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, which would put even more stress on our planet’s natural resources. The focus of this year’s World Environment Day is all about “consuming with care”, which essentially means to acknowledge and respect the limitations of our planetary boundaries. Each one of us aspires to be prosperous, but it’s time we realized that prosperity cannot be sustained at the cost of the planet. Sustainability is all about finding ways to do more and better with less.

A number of events have been organized this year by various stakeholders to celebrate the World Environment Day. PM NarendraModi would be there for a plantation drive, and something similar would also be done by SachinTendular and ViratKohli. Several schools, colleges, corporates, NGOs, and public and private institutions have also organized internal events to mark the World Environment Day. If you care about the environment, you can do your own bit towards environmental sustainability. Things like using the bicycle more often, saving electricity and water, reducing paper wastage, and sowing some seeds would be great ideas to start with on the World Environment Day 2015.