Dr. Vivak Manohar Arya, Ajay Thakur
Mother Earth is the only planet in the solar system where life exists. Since mankind came into being, it had to invent newer and better things to assist its conservation in a mostly hostile ambience. Many of human actions like deforestation, automobiles, setting up industries and disposal of solid wastes affected the planet either in a direct or indirect manner. Earth day strives to set right theses wrong doings of mankind and combat the various problems that nature has already begun to be affected by. Close to 48 years ago on 22nd April, 1970 millions of people took to streets to protest the negative impacts of 150 years of industrial development. It all started by the damage done by a 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Earth Day activities in 1990s gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped overlay the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Unlike the first Earth Day in 1970, that 20th anniversary was waged with stronger marketing tools, greater access to television and radio, and multimillion-dollar budgets. Earth Day 2000 included 5,000 environmental groups and 184 countries. Hayes organized a campaign that focused on global warming and clean energy. “The world’s leaders in Kyoto, Japan, in late 1997, acknowledged the scientific fact that the leading cause of global warming is carbon emissions from fossil-fuel consumption, and that something must be done to address those rising emissions.” Earth Day is important because it reminds people to think about humanity’s values, the threats the planet faces and ways to help protect the environment,” said Susan Clayton, a professor of psychology and environmental studies at The College of Wooster in Ohio.”Thinking about the history of environmental activism and the way individuals have worked together to change policy can make us more optimistic about the ability to make positive changes in the future” Clayton said. Each year, corporations and activists create new projects, initiatives and campaigns to protect and restore the Earth. There are two simple ways to celebrate Earth Day to make the world a little better,” said Nathaniel Weston, an associate professor of environmental science at Villanova University. “The first is to promote understanding of important environmental issues so that more people are aware of the critical actions we need to take to protect our environment. The second is to commit yourself to service on or around Earth Day – plant some trees, clean up a stream or help your local community garden.” Earth Day Network, the organization that leads the Earth Day worldwide chooses End Plastic Pollution as a theme for 2018. The Earth Day 2018 will focus on mobilizing the world to end plastic pollution, including creating support for a global effort to eliminate single use plastics along with global regulation for the disposal of plastics. EDN will educate millions of people about the health and other risks associated with the use and disposal of plastics including pollution of our oceans, water and wildlife. Our goals include ending single-use plastics, promoting alternatives to fossil fuel-based materials, promoting 100 percent recycling of plastics, corporate and government accountability and changing human behavior concerning plastics.EDN’s End Plastic Pollution campaign includes four major components:
* Leading a grassroots movement to support the adoption of a global framework to regulate plastic pollution;
* Educating, mobilizing and activating citizens across the globe to demand that governments and corporations control and clean up plastic pollution;
* Educating people worldwide to take personal responsibility for plastic pollution by choosing to reject, reduce, reuse and recycle plastics, and
* Promoting local government regulatory and other efforts to tackle plastic pollution.
Earth Day has reached into its current status as the largest secular observance in the world, celebrated by more than a billion people every year, and a day of action that changes human behavior and provokes policy changes. Today, the fight for a clean environment continues with increasing urgency, as the ravages of climate change become more evident every day. Earth day gives a tremendous opportunity to help promote a sustainable environment and remind the personal responsibility we all share to “think globally and act locally”. The Government demonstrates its ongoing support for the campaign by encouraging community members to develop a new mindset and to acquire the tools they need to teach younger generations about environment and natural conservation and the significance of building a sustainable future.
“Going Green” is a phrase that has become more common in recent times, but do we honestly understand what this means? Some believe that going green requires recycling when there is a recycling bin nearby, or even changing to more efficient light bulbs when it is affordable. There are many other ways we can contribute to our environment, and these are some of the simplest- not to mention, the cheapest-ways to start out. Raising awareness is the first step to a greener world and it’s our choice whether to take action or not. The government is taking initiatives to raise awareness through campaign among the community to help protectthe environment but without the gracious support of the public and the effective participation of all society members, the campaign will not achieve all its objectives..
(The authors are from SKUAST-J and are working in the field of Climate Change and NRM)
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