WED 2009 has the topic: “Your Planet Needs YOU! – UNite to Combat Climate Change”. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests. This year the host city is chosen to be Mexico City in Mexico, which symbolizes the growing role of the Latin American country in striving against climate change, including its growing participation in the carbon markets.
Watch a short video about WED 2009 HERE.
The initiative of WED is an awesome and extremely important one. But the question is: “Is it enough?” And the answer: “Of course, not”.
As the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said: “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do”. So, in order to produce notable impact we must not only acknowledge the necessity of the environment protection – we must act. And not in just one day in a year, but EVERY DAY and EACH YEAR! And not only by a small group of Nature-loving activists, but by EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING on the planet! Because if one day the consequences of the Mankind’s negative impact reveal themselves, they will hit all of us and will do it very hard and painfully.
“Impossible…” – you may think about this. Well, everything is possible, the “impossible” just takes a little longer and, that is quite a paradox, does not require difficult actions. It is simple – anyone can do it. And the ways are multiple – you can choose the ones that suit your lifestyle and everyday activity the best.
Here is an example of my own. Each weekend I visit one of the city parks to have a walk or a small picnic. In such cases people usually take with them and leave there plenty of trash – one can see cigarettes, paper scraps, plastic bags and other stuff almost everywhere he / she puts an eye on. On the contrary, during my walks in the parks I not only leave zero litter, but also take some with me and throw it in the nearest trash / recycle cans. The same with picnics: after them I take with me not only my own litter, but also collect the one nearby and leave it all in the trash cans. Involving family and friends in such small campaign is even better – it produces three benefits at once:
1) You spend some wonderful hours in a good company;
2) You improve your health by breathing fresh air cleaned for you by the surrounding trees;
3) You contribute to making a piece of our beautiful World a cleaner and better place.
Definitely, one person cannot make significant positive impact at once. But he / she is able to do it constantly and involve others in these simple environment-caring activities. And there is always room for innovations: an idea in this area cannot be bad, bad is to hide it from the others.
Therefore, think about this message, your lifestyle, and how can you adapt it to make you contribute to the environmental protection in your park, city, country, continent, planet.
Make the “impossible”!
And let’s celebrate the World Environment Day… EVERY DAY!
