This year’s World Environment Day is more important than ever


As the world continues to deal with the effects of COVID-19, the sense has only intensified that, no matter where we are on the globe, we’re in this together and that whatever we do on one side of the world has a profound impact somewhere – or even everywhere – else.

 

That’s made World Environment Day all the more meaningful this year.

 

Established by the United Nations in 1972 and held for the first time in 1974, World Environment Day raises awareness on environmental issues like human overpopulation, global warming, marine pollution and sustainability.

 

This year’s theme spotlights biodiversity – the variety of life in every habitat, from large animals to plants and fungi and the smallest organisms – and how humans are intimately linked to and depend on nature for our existence and quality of life. It’s predicted that, within the next 10 years, around 1 million species – one in four existing today – may be wiped out all across the planet. It’s an alarming rate of extinction that’s hundreds of times faster than the average over the last 10 million years and it’s largely due to our unsustainable use of nature in human activity.

 

If we continue on this path, the loss of biodiversity will have severe effects not just for other life but for ours as well – from the collapse of food and health systems to the disruption of entire supply chains.

 

Many scientists believe the COVID-19 crisis is itself the result of the effects of climate change. As humans encroach on previously untouched natural habitats in our need for more natural resources, we’re exposing ourselves to pathogens we’ve never been in contact with before. Plus, the growth of mass produced foods created in large-scale farms and megabarns is creating a perfect environment for livestock and poultry to pass along mutated and new diseases, like swine flu, H1N1, and COVID-19, directly to us.

 

Natural historian David Attenborough has said “Never has it been more important to understand how the natural world works and how to help it.” To learn more about our role in the health of the planet and what you can do to preserve the planet’s biodiversity, visit worldenvironmentday.global.

 

What are you doing, large and small, to protect the planet? Share your thoughts and ideas in the Shop Talk blog community forum – we always love hearing from you!

 

Did you know? We’re having a profound effect on the planet

 

Humans have changed 75% of the earth’s land surface and 2/3 of the oceans. In fact, we’ve lost one third of all forests compared to pre-industrial levels and half of all coral reefs. (Source)

13 thoughts on “This year’s World Environment Day is more important than ever

  1. when these pathogens are man made, only a fool would equate it with climate change. Climate change has been going on since the dawn of time & blaming this & that for it’s occurrence is plane dumb !!! Did mankind cause the ice age or the extinction of the dinosaurs ?
    PLEASE use your heads, this crap is just another ploy by the left to destroy our way of life.

  2. Biodiversity is of major importance to support all the living things in our world. The ecosystem has a need for particular symbiotic relationships in order to maintain the things they need to survive and populate.
    The most important part of this chain of relationships is the natural settings that provide what they need.
    We must protect many of these areas in order to help the biodiversity of ecosystems and their species.

  3. I would hope that if we are concerned about saving creatures large and microscopic, that we honor the baby in the womb, a tiny human being and our most precious natural resource who can think, love and bring creative solutions to our challenges. I look forward to articles about the unborn human creatures!

  4. GOD IS TELLING US ALL SOMETHING IT’S TIME TO GET OUR LIVES IN ORDER LOOK THIS 🌎 WILL BE DESTROYED BY 🔥 🔥 NO RAIN NO WATER WILL BE ABLE TO PUT GOD 🔥 🔥 OUT AND THIS WILL HAPPEN KEEP LIVING I PRAY FOR MANKIND SOUL THE CHOICE IS YOURS BE BLESS ALL.

  5. I was supposed to get a code from you to get a “free’ Burger King product.
    Instead I wasted half an hour on your ungodly long horrid survey and NO promised code. Thanks for screwing people so cleverly;. I hope karma works quickly for your business.

    1. Hi Susan, the code is likely from the website that referred you to our survey. Our offer is the chance to win one of three prizes of $500.

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