5 June is World Environment Day.
Scientists and campaigners since the 1800s have been alerting the world to the necessity of protecting the environment.Not just for the plants, animals, birds, and insects that call it home - but for our own survival and wellbeing too. There is #OnlyOneEarth, and we need to get serious about looking after it. Only One Earth - the title of a paper by Barbara Ward and Rene Dubois on sustainability and the fate of the planet - was commissioned by and presented to the United Nations at the 1972 Stockholm conference - the first world conference on the Environment.This led to the establishment of World Environment Day.
The Stockholm Declaration...
placed environmental issues at the forefront of international concerns
and marked the start of a dialogue between industrialized and developing countries
on the link between economic growth,
the pollution of the air, water, and oceans
and the well-being of people around the world.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has some awesome - and eye-opening - posters showing the changes in rainfall and temperature in Australia, over more than a century. It makes for sobering viewing.
Thirty Years of Campaigning
2022 marks the 30th year of World Environment Day. Thirty years of fighting for the science to be heard over the scaremongering, scepticism, and self-interest.The theme of this year's event is Only One Earth - also the name of this beautiful azalea. With the Greens now a strong political force in Canberra, it seems us Aussies want a shift from exploiting and selling the planet's resources, to protecting them for all. Want to find out how much you know : about the dangers we face, the threats to the environment, and what we can do about them?Take the World Environment Day quiz here
