What's so important about this year's World Environment Day?

Every year June 05 is celebrated as World Environment Day by United Nation to raise awareness about protecting the environment. And this year is so special, you know why?

India is hosting this year’s World Environment Day in the theme “Beat Plastic Pollution”.

Being an Indian Citizen we should contribute something to save our nature. Our choices define our lifestyle. Even our smallest choices set a long chain of events that directly or indirectly affects everything and everyone around us.

The universe has always been kind to us and has provided for our survival, comfort, and nourishment. But we humans have adapted habits that continue to harm the environment. So, this Environment Day, let’s take a pledge to save our nature and to live in a cleaner environment and breathe pure air. When I’m writing this article, there is a BREAKING NEWS on TV saying that from next year onwards,Tamil Nadu Government is banning all plastic (non-degradable) products from usage. Great decision at the right time..!!

Here I’ve listed some of the ways to save our nature.

1.Say No To Plastic

‘Avoiding the usage of plastic in any forms’ is one of the basic and important changes we have to adapt. Plastic in any form is hazardous as it doesn’t decay. Have you ever thought what happens to plastic bags and bottles when we are done with it and throw them away? They don’t degrade and no one knows how long it takes until it’s completely gone. These bags end up in a water body, polluting everything it comes in contact with. Research says, plastic items can take up to 1000 years to decompose in landfills. Plastic items we use in our daily life take 10-1000 years to decompose, while plastic bottles can take 450 years or more.

So, instead of buying water bottles for our travel, we all can take water from our home needed for our travel. It’s safe too.. I started this practice from a day before yesterday when I travelled from Chennai to my village (nearly 12 hours travel).

Take cotton or paper bags with you when you go for shopping.

2. Say No to Fireworks

Research says firework cause extensive air pollution in a short amount of time, They leave metal particles, dangerous toxins, harmful chemicals and smoke in the air for hours and days. Some of those toxins never fully decompose or disintegrate, rather they hang around in the environment, poisoning all they come into contact with. Exposure to fine particles, like those found in smoke, smog and haze, is linked to negative health implications, such as coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, asthma attacks and even heart attacks, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. People at greatest risk for problems are those with heart or lung disease, older adults and children. We are seeing the effects during winters in our Nation’s capital city – Delhi.

When I posted about this on my facebook, some of my friends told me “Why should we stop fireworks? We are just firing them once or twice in a year” My answer to them was, "No matter Once or twice, it will be staying in our environment and causes severe effects to us in return. Why should we buy fireworks and make ourselves vulnerable to the chemicals it leave?"

It’s been 4+ years I stopped firing fireworks.

3. Start Using Public Transports

Public transport can help metropolitan areas meet national air quality standards by reducing overall vehicle emissions and the pollutants that create smog (Smoke + Fog = Smog).

Air quality is often the poorest in urban and suburban areas where traffic congestion is the worst. This means residents of these areas, especially those living in close to major highways, are exposed to much higher health risks due to poor air quality.

4. Compensation Planting

Deforestation results in many effects like loss of animals’ home, animals are dying, environment change, seasonal change, increasing temperature, rising environmental heat, global warming, increasing green house gas effect, melting ice caps and glaciers, increasing seas level, weakening ozone layer, hole in the ozone layer, sea animals dying, increasing risks of natural disaster like storm, cyclone, flood, drought, and many more negative changes….these things occur just because of removal of trees from our planet.

By cutting the forests we are stopping all the positive activities done by forests in the favour of human and environment.

In some extreme cases we are forced to cut trees for building constructions, development projects. In order to keep our environment safer and cooler, we can plant a tree for each tree we cut as compensation. Many foreign countries follow the method of moving the trees from one place to another. Very soon, these methods will come to our country also.

I felt these are most important things we should follow to protect our earth from green house effects and global warming.

In the Photo - Western Ghats stretch, One of the Biodiversity Hotspots in India.

Are we trying to destroy this beautiful nature for our own selfishness ??

We won't have a society if we destroy the environment.

- Margaret Mead.