World Environment Day: what is your role to save the planet?

World Environment Day

Every June 5, since 1974, this celebration is held and aims to raise awareness worldwide about environmental issues so we can pay attention the environmental crises and individual action to take. One of the most important goals of this commemoration is to ensure that civil society can understand the dangers that the environmental crisis implies in the short, medium and long term, and thus be able to help them take action based on a more responsible consumption.

This year's theme is "Ecosystem Restoration" and the host will be Pakistan . In addition, the UN will launch the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration , a global call to save the world from the environmental crises in the next ten years.

What can I do to contribute to the fight against climate change?

The actions we take individually can help restore ecosystems and curb climate change and environmental crises. For example, the United Nations Program (UNEP) started the #GeneraciónRestauración program a few months ago, which is focused on helping ordinary people learn about the actions they can take to be part of the change towards a cleaner and healthier world. .

Also read: The invisible carbon: How to make work online more sustainable?

The UNEP official website ensures that "ecosystem restoration can take many forms: planting trees, making cities greener, reintroducing wild species in gardens, changing the diet or cleaning rivers and coasts. This is the generation that can do peace with nature ".

One of the most important actions you can take is to rethink your consumptions habits. The idea is that every time you go to buy or consume a product, no matter how minimal it may seem, you ask yourself what is the production chain behind it. This will not only help you to become aware of the natural resources that are used in it, but also the workforce. Let us remember that the fight against climate change goes hand by hand with a strong human factor, because as long as there is environmental health there will also be human health.

Why is it important that I do my part?

According to UN data, the ecosystems of our planet have been so mistreated and destroyed that every three seconds the equivalent of a football field of forest areas is lost and 50% of the coral reefs around the world have already been destroyed (it is estimated that by 2050 this percentage would be 90%). Furthermore, global temperatures have risen so much that we are just a few steps away from entering a potentially catastrophic state of climate change.

In the last year we saw the consequence of this: COVID-19 has claimed approximately 3.5 million lives around the world . The loss of ecosystems leads to the reduction of natural habitats for animal and plant species, which means the perfect space for pathogens to form and spread that can be deadly to humans just like the current coronavirus.

Today, more than ever, it is urgent that we pay attention to environmental crises and do our part both individually and politically.