Each year, on June 5th, Word Environment Day (WED) is celebrated across the globe.One year in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam WED was celebrated with the broadcast of an environmental radio soap opera. In Petit Valley, South America a three-day arts festival was organised including talks on alternative energy sources like hemp and bio-diesel, hikes to waterfalls and Brazilian dancers. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia an event was organised with school kids creating plays about the negative effect of desertification and people were invited to plant native trees and celebrate together at a local school. In Beirut, Lebanon an exhibition was shown with the theme Impact of War on the Environment.
Countless other events and activities all over the world - from Islamabad to Athens and Madagascar to Newcastle - have been created in the name of World Environment Day. There is some inspiring stuff on the UN's WED website including a speech made by Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme. He highlights the harder realities of our planets environmental woes but also encourages us to accelerate the new Green Economy emerging with facts like "there are now more people employed in environmental technologies than the entire oil and gas industry".
The theme of this year's World Environment Day is "your planet needs you". In the words of Steiner, it's about "mobiliz(ing) grass roots and global public support...which in turn can empower leaders around the world." This is what's required to make the changes our earth's asking from us.
For more information or to register a contributing project visit the WED website.
