Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and held annually on 5 June, World Environment Day creates a spotlight on environmental challenges of our time. Each World Environment Day offers a particular focus for consideration, greater awareness and action.
The 2025 theme for the Day, ‘beat plastic pollution’ highlights the growing scientific knowledge about the impacts of discarded plastic and drives momentum to refuse, reduce, recycle and rethink plastics use. Everyone can take action.
Did you know? The packaging sector is the largest generator of single-use plastics in the world, with around 36 per cent of all plastic produced used for packaging. 85 per cent of this ends up in landfills or as hazardous waste.
World Environment Day also encourages respect for Earth as our common home. In short, we celebrate Environment Day to remind ourselves that every action counts. It unites communities worldwide under one simple truth: the wellbeing of all life depends on a healthy planet.
(Source: UN, UNEP, Pashoo India, SDG Knowledge hub.)
Consider:
“Meaningful action begins with a deepening of commitment within ourselves, our programs and processes to relate to our environment as part of ourselves, and to ourselves as part of the environment. We must become more sensitive in our living, more insistent in our advocacy and more effective in our action.”
– Andrew Hamilton SJ 2024
“We are at a unique stage in our history.
Never before have we had such an awareness of what we are doing to the planet, and never before have we had the power to do something about that. Surely we all have a responsibility to care for our Blue Planet.
The future of humanity and indeed, all life on Earth, now depends on us.”
– Sir David Attenborough 2020
A letter to my granddaughter’s granddaughter
Three-ways-Pope-Francis-influenced-the-global-climate-movement-
“A faster change of course away from today’s throwaway culture and toward greater care for the common good is necessary to ensure the planet’s liveability for future generations.” – Pope Francis, June 2023