World Environment Day 2019 will be hosted by China, where the identified theme is – “Air Pollution”, which looms large as a real threat across the globe; so the time has come to do something right, observes sheatwork.
The United Nations had set aside June 5, as World Environment Day for a specific reason. They were totally aware of the fact that protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue, which affects the well-being of people and economic development across the globe.
So, the celebration of this day provides us with an opportunity in our different roles as individuals, enterprises and communities – to preserve and enhance the environment. Since it was instituted in 1974, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100+ countries. It has grown to be the largest event for positive environmental action that is activated every year.
The 2019 celebrations puts China in the spotlight of the celebrations. For World Environment Day 2019 will be hosted by China, where the identified theme is – “Air Pollution”. Bringing into the limelight, the concept of pollution in the air that we face all over the world. It’s high time, but we get down to do something about the quality of air that we breathe. For certainly, we can’t stop breathing! We need to #BeatAirPollution.
Some facts about air pollution
Take a reality check. Around 7 million people worldwide suffer premature deaths each year from air pollution. And, about 4 million of these deaths occur in Asia-Pacific. So, World Environment Day 2019 will be an opportunity to urge governments, industry, communities and individuals to unite and explore renewable energy and green technologies and improve air quality in cities, small towns and rural belts across the world.
It is disheartening to note these statistics. 92 per cent of people worldwide do not breathe clean air. Air pollution costs the global economy $5 trillion every year in welfare costs. And, most unfortunate fact is that ground-level ozone pollution is expected to reduce staple crop yields by 26 per cent by 2030.
Time to leverage sustainability for growth opportunities
This is a good occasion to think about leveraging sustainability for growth opportunities in the world.
Why is sustainability important? For many reasons. The main one being of environmental quality – for, in order to have healthy communities, we need clean air, natural resources, and a non-toxic environment. For growth, we require more resources such as energy, water and space, which are diminishing commodities today.
Why do we need to sustain the environment, which is getting eroded year after year? If our ecosystem is healthy, then it becomes easy to clean our water, purify our air, maintain our soil, regulate the climate, recycle nutrients and provide food for all of us. A healthy ecosystem is at the foundation of all civilisation and also forms the rock base to sustain our economies too.
Time to take stock.
#BreatheLife. If not now, then when?
Avtar Madan
Himanshu
Shree Lahiri
Poonam Sinha
