People all over the world will be planting trees and cleaning up their surroundings to celebrate nature and advocate environmental causes. Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi also spoke about the celebration of World Environment Day and said that it is the right time to reaffirm our commitment to protecting our environment and nurturing a better planet. India will be concentrating on a nationwide Waste Management Campaign organisations spread awareness about the importance of segregation of dry and wet waste separately. As we celebrate this significant holiday and help spread worldwide awareness, here is everything you need to know about the World Environment Day 2017.

1. Why is World Environment Day Celebrated?

The first World Environment Day was celebrated in 1974, and the campaign aims at raising awareness about the various environmental issues and how to cope with them. This international day was designed at the UN General Assembly in 1972 with the aim of integration of human interactions and the environment. Two years after this discussion, the first World Environment Day was celebrated on June 5, 1974, with a theme of “Only One Earth”. Ever since World Environment Day is being celebrated all over the world and every year a new theme is designed that helps in understanding various issues like water pollution, ozone layer depletion, global warming, etc.

2. What is the theme of World Environment Day 2017?

Every year there is a specially designed theme for World Environment Day which is decided by the host country. The World Environment Day 2017 is being hosted by Canada and the theme of the year has been declared as ‘Connecting People to Nature’. The United Nations revealed that the motto of this year’s theme is to drive people to step outside and re-connect with the world and nature once again. The UN believes that people need to enjoy nature once again, so they realise the value of the planet and do their bit in bringing about change.

3. How is World Environment Day celebrated?

World Environment Day is celebrated by planting trees and driving cleaning programs in various parts of the world. Individuals and organisations are encouraged to add activities related to the environment, and various steps are taken to motivate others to participate in this fight for the planet. Major corporations, NGOs, communities, governments and celebrities worldwide adopt to advocate environmental causes, and there are cleanliness drives, sapling plantation as well as advertisement of various eco-friendly practices that can be followed, like composting, water conservations, waste segregation, etc.

4. How can you contribute to saving the planet?

The main of World Environment Day has been to make people responsible for their actions and contribute to saving the planet. The environment on Earth has been deteriorating, and this is often referred to as the planet is ‘dying’. As the number of trees keeps depleting and the pollution rates reach sky high, there are simple steps that each person can take to protect and save the environment. Apart from participating in various drives like sapling plantation and cleaning drives, each individual can take small steps at their home to improve the situation. Segregating waste into wet and dry forms as well as promote waste segregation in your neighbourhood. Another simple step is to use reusable bags and avoid plastic bags at all cost. Conserving water and electricity by turning off the tap water and tending any leakage issues as well as turning off the lights and fans when not in use will help improve the state of the environment.