{"id":15913,"date":"2023-05-30T14:02:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T13:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorersagainstextinction.co.uk\/blog\/?p=15913"},"modified":"2025-01-16T14:04:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T14:04:31","slug":"the-50th-anniversary-of-world-environment-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorersagainstextinction.co.uk\/blog\/the-50th-anniversary-of-world-environment-day\/","title":{"rendered":"The 50th Anniversary of World Environment Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations Environment Programme&#8217;s (UNEP)&nbsp;<strong>World Environment Day<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8211; &nbsp;the largest global platform for environmental outreach, engaging&nbsp;millions of people across the globe in efforts to protect and restore the Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year&#8217;s theme will focus on solutions to plastic pollution under the campaign&nbsp;<strong>#BeatPlasticPollution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of the 400 million tonnes of plastic produced annually, an estimated&nbsp;9% is recycled and 12% is incinerated with the rest ending up in landfill, dumps and other waste management systems,&nbsp;&nbsp;or polluting the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, it is estimated that&nbsp;<strong>19-23 million tonnes of plastic<\/strong>&nbsp;leaks into aquatic ecosystems annually \u2013 from lakes to rivers to seas \u2013 from land-based sources. It&#8217;s not just the plastic you can see that&#8217;s a danger &#8211;&nbsp;microplastics find their way into food,&nbsp;&nbsp;water and even the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The good news is that momentum is building towards a more sustainable, circular economy for plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>World Environment Day is an opportunity to put pressure on governments, companies and other stakeholders&nbsp;to take faster action and to tackle plastic pollution now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Here is what you can do now to help tackle the pollution crisis:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Avoid single-use plastic products.<br>Buy less plastic products; buy more second-hand and reuse.<br>Purchase items with extended warranties that can be repaired.<br>Share solutions when you find them. Tell your friends and share on social media.<br>Make sure your voice is heard. If you see a company using unnecessary plastic (such as single-use covering fruit at a grocery store), call them out on social media or contact them directly.<br>Talk to your local representatives; ask them to sign up to the&nbsp;<strong>Plastic Smart Cities<\/strong>&nbsp;Initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/hubble-live-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/eae\/image_asset\/file\/316\/content_8.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Summary of action points below taken from &#8216;Redesigning systems to end plastic pollution&#8217; speech by Inger Andersen, in Paris, France&nbsp;(Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>to reduce overall plastic in products e.g,&nbsp;&nbsp;deliquefying products or changing the way we package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;to&nbsp;make it easier to repair, reuse, refill and recycle so that circularity becomes possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;to make recycled polymers cheaper than virgin plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>to&nbsp;back research and development on sustainable alternatives to plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>to&nbsp;build waste management infrastructure that can cope with the load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>to&nbsp;create new jobs, new markets and new business opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>to ensure&nbsp;a just&nbsp;transition for everyone \u2013 including waste-pickers, indigenous people and vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>to&nbsp;deal with the legacy of plastic that washes up on the shores of countries every minute, across the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/hubble-live-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/eae\/image_asset\/file\/317\/content_10.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations Environment Programme&#8217;s (UNEP)&nbsp;World Environment Day&nbsp;&#8211; &nbsp;the largest global platform for environmental outreach, engaging&nbsp;millions of people across the globe in efforts&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[517,314],"tags":[623,622],"powerkit_post_featured":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - 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