Dr. Parveen Kumar
The World Environment Day celebrated every year on June 05 since 1974 is one of the biggest annual events organized by United Nations that recognizes the need to put up collective action to protect our environment. This event of the United Nations (UN) aims to generate awareness about the significance of environment and the urgency with which efforts need to be made for a sustainable environment. ‘Sustainable’ means an environment that would provide the present generation with all the basic necessities required for their survival without compromising with the generations to come.
A healthy environment is a prerequisite for a healthy living and well being of all the biodiversity that exists on this planet. Our natural resources like air, water and soil are a vital part of our environment. Air we breathe, water we drink and soil from we get different crops ultimately decide the existence of life on earth. Environment consists of both biotic as well as abiotic components. Without it, the living things couldn’t survive on Earth. Our planet, Earth is a home for different living species and we all are dependent on the environment for food, air, water, and other needs. However, from the last few decades several issues are disrupting our environment and causing some irreversible damage to living beings. Therefore, it becomes important for every individual to save and protect the environment.
HISTORY: The United Nations General Assembly established World Environment Day in 1972 following the first major conference on the environmental issues called on the human environment also called as the Stockholm Conference on the human environment. The Stockholm conference adopted resolution A/RES/2994 to mark June 05 as the World Environment Day. The resolution was adopted urging the government and the organization in the United Nations to undertake on that day every year worldwide activities reflecting their concern for the preservation and enhancement of the environment with a view of deepening environmental awareness.
THEME: Every year the day is celebrated with a specific theme which highlights the major issues confronting the environment and which require immediate action. In 1974, it was celebrated with the theme ‘Only One Earth’. Since then various host countries have been celebrating it and idea for rotating the centres of these activities started. In 2020, the theme for the day was ‘Celebrate Biodiversity. The theme for World Environment Day 2023 revolves around plastic pollution and will be hosted by Cote d’ Ivoire supported by Netherlands. The theme will focus on solutions to plastic pollution under the compaign #Beat Plastic Pollution. It is a reminder that people’s action on plastic pollution matters.
PLASTIC POLLUTION:
The name ‘plastic’, comes from the Greek plastikos, meaning capable of being shaped or moulded. Yet the material which seemed to offer so much because it is flexible is now plaguing the planet with its permanence. Plastic pollution today has become a global problem. Plastics being inexpensive and durable are very adaptable for different uses. The manufacturers choose to use plastic over other materials. About 1,000,000 plastic bottles are brought every minute and less than half of them end up getting recycled and when they decompose they release harmful chemicals. The problem arises due to their chemical structure which makes them resistant to many natural processes of degradation. A large volume of plastic that enters the environment thus remains a mismanaged waste and for it to persist in the ecosystem for hundreds of years. Reports reveal that 7 billion of the 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic produced from 1950-2017 became plastic waste ending up in landfills or dumped. Plastic pollution afflicts land, waterways and oceans. Some researchers suggest that by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in the oceans by weight. Living organisms, particularly marine animals, can be harmed either by mechanical effects such as entanglement in plastic objects, problems related to ingestion of plastic waste, or through exposure to chemicals within plastics that interfere with their physiology. Degraded plastic waste can directly affect humans both through direct consumption (i.e. in tap water) as well as indirect consumption (by eating animals) and disruption of various hormonal mechanisms. The 2019 data revealed that 368 million tonnes of plastic is produced each year; 51% in Asia, where China is the world’s largest producer. From the 1950s up to 2018, an estimated 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced worldwide, of which an estimated 9% has been recycled and another 12% has been incinerated. This large amount of plastic waste enters the environment and causes problems throughout the ecosystem; for example, studies suggest that the bodies of 90% of seabirds contain plastic debris. As of 2020, the global mass of produced plastic exceeds the biomass of all land and marine animals combined.
The amount of plastic waste produced increased during the COVID-19 pandemic due to increased demand for protective equipment and packaging materials. Higher amounts of plastic ended up in the ocean, especially plastic from medical waste and masks. In 2019 a report on ‘Plastic and Climate’ revealed that in 2019, production and incineration of plastic will contribute greenhouse gases in the equivalent of 850 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. In current trend, annual emissions from these sources will grow to 1.34 billion tonnes by 2030. By 2050 plastic could emit 56 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, as much as 14 percent of the earth’s remaining carbon budget. By 2100 it will emit 260 billion tonnes, more than half of the carbon budget.
PLASTIC FREE PLANET:
In some areas there have been significant efforts to reduce the prominence of free range plastic pollution, through reducing plastic consumption, litter cleanup, and promoting plastic recycling. Individual micro level efforts by all of us have the potential to make a difference at the macro level. Here are some of the initiatives we all can take to make the planet a better place to live in:
Ninety percent of the plastic items in our daily lives are used once and then chucked: grocery bags, plastic wrap, disposable cutlery, straws, coffee-cup lids. The alternative is to take our own bags to the store, silverware to the office, or travel mug to Starbucks before it becomes habit. Each year, close to 20 billion plastic bottles go into the trash. We can avoid that by carrying a reusable bottle in our bag and then we will not have to purchase a plastic bottle from the market.
Plastic beeds are little plastic scrubbers found in so many beauty products facial scrubs, toothpaste, body washes might look harmless, but their tiny size allows them to slip through water-treatment plants. Unfortunately, they also look just like food to some marine animals. We should opt for products with natural exfoliants, like oatmeal or salt, instead. We should cook over own meals as it does not need any takeout containers. While eating in a restaurant, we should have our own food containers for packing left over food instead of the plastic bags used by restaurant owners to pack the left over. We should also stress on 3Rs i. e reduce, reuse and recycle.
Legislations can also help reduce the use of plastics. A May 2019 amendment to the Basel Convention regulates the exportation/importation of plastic waste, largely intended to prevent the shipping of plastic waste from developed countries to developing countries. Nearly all countries have joined this agreement. On 2 March 2022 in Nairobi, 175 countries pledged to create a legally binding agreement by the end of the year 2024 with a goal to end plastic pollution. This day gives us an opportunity to make all out efforts to preserve our natural world in order to prevent it from collapsing as a result of our activities.
(The author is a Scientist at SKUAST-K)
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