world environment day

One Day and a Lifetime Commitment to the Environment

Humans are both, creators and creations of their natural environment. Our environment gives us the means to sustain our lives and livelihoods whilst facilitating processes for spiritual, intellectual and material growth. Even though we have now come to a stage where humans are seen to have ‘conquered’ nature through their ability to modify the same in the wake of scientific and technological advancements, we are still dependent on our natural environment and will cease to exist as a race in the absence of it.

world environment day

To emphasize and reiterate the importance of the environment in each one of our lives, since 1974, the United Nations has designated 5th June as the World Environment Day.  Each year, this day is organized around a different theme that aims to focus people’s attention on a particularly pressing environmental issue.

This year, Canada is to host the World Environment Day celebrations on the theme ‘Connecting People to Nature’. This theme aims to encourage people to go outdoors and value the natural resources they enjoy and use. In most countries, especially in India, the rural populations who earn their livelihood through primary occupations like agriculture that depend solely on the environment are the first to be impacted by the problems of pollution and climate change. As Robert Redford said, “The environment should be put under the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as our defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?” Through World Environment Day, the UN seeks to enforce in our conscience, the fact that we are inextricably bound with the nature and our environment. This year too, Canada aims to further this commitment to the environment by organizing a number of country wide events and campaigns.

The impact of global warming is now being noticed in the most visible ways. Due to global warming, every year the maximum temperatures are going up immediately threatening the existence of a variety of flora and fauna species and the existence of several countries that are now at a risk of being submerged completely due to the rising sea levels. Some scientists believe that at the current rate of resource depletion, the Earth will become limited to sustaining only about 2 billion humans by the year 2100. It is important for us to do our bit to #ConnectWithNature and conserve it, now more than ever. Conserving our resources and using them efficiently along with switching to sustainable resources, is the need of the hour. After all, the earth and its resources are not inherited from our ancestors, but are borrowed from our children.

At Centre for Social Research, we understand that environment is very precious, and have been working in the areas of Water Conservation, Climate Change, Disaster Management (1 & 2), for many years now. Through our experiences, we find that the link between environment and gender is extremely important, and women are the key to a better and more sustainable environment.

Water Conservation and Climate Change

Pledge to be a part of the change and find out more on how you can contribute to saving the environment by going to http://worldenvironmentday.global/en .