World Environment Day 2009

June 5th wasn’t any old day of the week, rather it commemorated a special occasion known as World Environment Day. World Environment Day is gaining a massive following which is seeing nations the world over joining in with the celebrations. These nations work in unity to plan and create a new environmental inspired theme with a week’s worth of activities to promote the occasion and a different city acting as the host each year.

World Environment Day has been around since 1972 and was the brainchild of the United Nations General Assembly created to raise environmental awareness and to draw political attention and public action on issues surrounding the environment.

In 2008 the theme centered around “CO2 - Kicking the Habit” which was an initiative to wean ourselves from our dependence on fossil fuels. 2009’s World Environment Day theme was “Your Planet Needs You – Unite to Combat Climate Change” with Mexico City as host.

Past events have taken place in different countries from New Zealand to Norway, Spain, China, Italy, Lebanon, Australia etc, with each country uniting for the common goal of preserving our planet for a better future through the actions that we take today.

The organization has done much to raise global awareness and stimulate local governments to follow suit and make new laws protecting the environment.

World Environment Day has become an important part of the United Nations and the lives of citizens around the world. This is because it serves as a reminder that no act is too small and that everyone can make a difference to make the world a better place. World Environment Day is not just about gathering in the host city, small and large organizations around the world form their own events to add to the global awareness, for example, the 2009 theme focuses on climate change issues and has prompted many to join up with local tree planting campaigns. Local schools are involved as well as large media organizations.

World Environment Day is also a great time to get kids involved with the knowledge of how to protect our planet. Student meetings are also formed worldwide as a reminder that age is not a factor either and that children can be involved with tree planting, recycling, energy and water conservation to name a few.

In order to celebrate and promote World Environment Day in your own home there are certain small changes you can make to your daily routine. Pay attention to the small amounts of water that you can save by taking shorter showers or running the tap for shorter amounts of time. Use towels instead of paper products and eat foods such as yogurt out of recyclable containers. Also, pay attention to how much light you use and remember to turn off the lights when you leave the room or leave the house.

Remember that trees can be planted in June on all continents so why not start your World Environment Day efforts today?, because World Environment Day can be everyday, it just has to start with you and what better time than the present?