The World Environment Day: How to Conserve Our Planet
June 5th every year marks World Environment Day. It’s a day set aside to raise awareness and urge actions to protect our natural planet’s natural world. The theme for this year’s World Environment Day, “Ecosystem Restoration” emphasizes the urgency to repair and revitalize our damaged ecosystems. The theme focuses on solutions to plastic pollution under the campaign #BeatPlasticPollution. As Kenyans, we must recognize that we are not only residents of our beautiful country but also stewards of our environment. Therefore, we need to take responsibility for the conservation of our natural resources and work towards creating a sustainable future for ourselves and the generations to come.The Significance of World Environment Day
World Environment Day is a day to advocate for a greener and pollution-free environment. Through this platform, Governments are urged to prioritize our environment and enact laws to ameliorate the exploitation of our natural habitat. Protecting our environment is a global need that can only be achieved through International cooperation. That is, bringing various International organizations, bodies, and stakeholders to work towards addressing the different issues that pose a threat to our environment. Our environment suffers a lot because of industrialization. So, as the Share Some Love Foundation, we encourage you to adopt eco-friendly practices for a greener and cleaner environment.Let Us Work Toward Restoring Our Ecosystems
This year’s World Environment Day calls for the urgent restoration of our ecosystems including forests, oceans, rivers, mountains, and cities. The United Nations environmental program(UNEP), Share Some Love Foundation among many other stakeholders encourages individuals to take action to restore ecosystems, whether it’s through planting trees, cleaning up trash, or switching to renewable energy sources. One of the most significant challenges we face today is climate change. It affects every aspect of our lives including food production, water supply, and weather patterns. Greenhouse gas emissions as a result of our daily activities in our homes, industries, and the transport sector accelerate climate change. We must learn ways of reducing our carbon footprints, through simple actions like replacing incandescent light bulbs with led bulbs, using energy-efficient home appliances, conserving water, and reducing waste.World Environment Day and Biodiversity
During this World Environment Day, let’s remind ourselves of the importance of biodiversity – the variety of animal and plant life on Earth. Kenya is a country blessed with significant biodiversity including a wide range of wildlife, marine life, and flora. So, it’s our sole responsibility to protect our biodiversity and prevent the extinction of endangered species.How to Protect Biodiversity
According to the theme of this year’s World Environment Day, you may want to mark the occasion by organizing an initiative for children, street-connected families, or students aimed at protecting your local biodiversity. Well, you can do the following activities for fun this World Environment Day:- Plant local flora for bees: The population of bees is decreasing throughout the world. Therefore, ensuring that they have plenty of local flowers and plants can help increase their population.
- Making compost: It’s an amazingly natural way to create nutrient-rich soil for any land that’s being farmed. It eliminates the need for artificial fertilizers and pesticides which can harm our natural environment.
How the Share Some Love Foundation Nurtures and Conserves Our Environment
We need to act immediately to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to prevent the worst consequences of climate change. Studies have shown that the world is already 1.2°C warmer than the pre-industrial era. Share Some Love Foundation has taken the initiative to spearhead the campaign #BeatPlasticPollution by involving street families in nurturing and conserving our environment. Here are some of the ways Share Some Love Foundation involves street families in protecting our environment:- Planting Trees: Approximately 12 million hectares of forest are destroyed. Deforestation, agriculture, and other land use changes are responsible for almost 25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. But, we can all play a part in reversing this trend by planting trees. For instance, on the 4th of June, the Share Some Love Foundation involved street families in tree planting at Ondiri Wetlands in Kikuyu, Kiambu County.
- Educating and Encouraging Street Families on Waste Management and Value Addition: The Share Some Love Foundation has taken the initiative to educate and encourage street-connected families on proper waste management practices. This also creates a source of livelihood for the street families.
- Clean-up Activities: A good environment is a clean environment. Together with street-connected families, we indulge in environmental clean-up activities within estates, rivers, parks, and town centers. Among other activities, street-connected families can earn a living from innovating ways to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover, and Re-afforestation. Waste is the new GOLD, whether it’s plastic, paper, metal, or food/organic. It should be renamed from Waste to The New Gold.
Bottom Line
World environment day is a call to action for all Kenyans to take responsibility for preserving our natural resources and protecting the environment. Today, the world needs collective actions to restore ecosystems, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and protect biodiversity. We should all use this day to reflect on our contribution to the environment and pledge to make changes that will lead to a sustainable future. Remember, it’s the small actions that will eventually make a big difference.Your generosity makes our work much easier. To support our cause at Share Some Love Foundation, you can send in your donations through:
The article was written by Festus Shigoli. Article edited by David Kaguima.Paybill: 4109645A/C Name: (Your Name)