Iftikhar Rashid Wani
We all know that June 5 is celebrated every year as World Environment Day. This observance dates back to 1972, when the United Nations Organization designated it under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) during the opening day of the Stockholm Conference held in Sweden. However, it was in 1974 that the day was first officially celebrated as World Environment Day. Since then, it has grown into a global campaign aimed at awakening human consciousness about the environment and the multiple threats facing our planet.
From air pollution and climate change to water contamination, land degradation, and indiscriminate waste dumping, the challenges are vast and urgent. Over the years, World Environment Day has evolved into a universal event, marked across the world with a focus on different themes each year—each one highlighting specific environmental issues of global importance.
It helps to realize our role and obligation towards the protection of planet earth our own habitat. It is a day to unite with people around the world and take action to protect and preserve the environment for present and future generations. This day ignites us to retrospect our actions and their impacts on planet earth.
To promote the future sustainability and ways to safe guard our environment is the motto of this day. Keeping the fragility of our environment in to consideration, this year’s theme aims on “Combating Plastic Pollution”. This year’s celebration will be the step towards the persistent need to eradicate plastic waste, a global environmental catastrophe that affects ecosystems and human health all around the world.” The Republic of Korea is hosting the world celebrations. It is well known fact that plastic and the plastic products have now entered in our lives beyond rectification.
We are dependent on plastic for our every activity. Our mornings start by bringing the bread in polyethene and our day ends by bringing something from market to fulfill our needs, only plastic is there. This all mess and meddling with plastics have led to plastic pollution. Plastic is predominantly dribbled our lives. In our food, in our water and in our bodies there is only plastic.
The ultimate sufferer is human beings. Plastic pollution is solely due to human activities, and it has significantly impacted human health. It is crucial to speak up about our surroundings, environment, rivers, springs and other such natural resources. Such days provide us the opportunities to ponder over of our actions and the ways to restore the glory of our planet earth and especially the clean environment, pristine water and above all plastic free society.
The Central Government is playing its role and is contributing positively to this global movement by making people to realize their duties towards the protection of our environment in general and to eliminate plastics from our lives in particular. The central government has given free hand to states and union territories to handle all such issues of importance locally.
For over five years now we are seeing some positive changes in the work culture of our different departments of Jammu and Kashmir.
This year we have seen some appreciating moments by observing different departments, universities, institutions government schools celebrating different natural days of importance like Earth Day, Arbor Day, Science Day and other such days yet a lot of work has to be done to aware the general masses.
There are wonderful writers whose concern towards creating awareness among the general people in the direction of the protecting the environment and natural resources is worth to mention. But in my opinion we all have to work for the betterment of Environment otherwise it will be too late. Such days urges the stalk holders like government, NGOs, different communities and individuals to work together in consistency and to realize ecological goals and work tirelessly for the reduction in use of plastics besides see other alternatives in place of plastics by decreasing its production, trade and use of single use plastics which are choking our rivers, drains and springs and damaging aquatic life and ultimately the welfare of human beings is compromised.
Author is Lecturer Environmental Science at GHSS Mantrigam. He can be reached at iftikar.wani@gmail.com