World Environmental Day, in special honour of our life sponsor: Planet Earth.
Let’s start with a brief overview of what this day is all about…
World Environment Day (WED) – 5th of June every year, so for all of you nature lovers, put it in your calendar. This day is all about encouraging environmental awareness as well as motivating people to take responsibility for their actions. 1974 was the first time this event was held and ever since participants from over 143 countries have joined forces in the battle against pollution, wildlife crime and global warming. This year’s focus is on – ‘’ ‘Connecting People to nature – in the city and on the land, from the poles to the equator’’.
One of the reasons this day is becoming more and more important is because people are starting to realise the severity of this problem and how fast the situation is escalating. However, there are still others who continue to undermine its importance and carry on with their lives as if nothing is happening.
Therefore, this year WED has decided to organise a ‘’small’’ event. The aim – to create the world’s biggest nature album. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ll start with our own little green corner, Ireland.
Did You know? …
… Some environmental facts about Ireland
As you are probably aware, Ireland is part of many initiatives aimed at reducing greenhouse emissions, improving sustainability and introducing alternative solutions. Moreover, it is also part of the Paris Climate Agreement which requires the country to reduce emissions by 40% until the year 2030. Unfortunately, Ireland is not doing a very good job compared to other Member States. However, there are some aspects of sustainability for which the country is making good progress.
- Household energy consumption has fallen by 32% between the years 1990 and 2015. This was helped by improved energy regulations for buildings, energy programmes and ratings.
- Ireland is successfully decreasing the amount of residual waste send to landfills. More and more black bin waste is now exported for energy recovery.
There have also been less positive results from Ireland’s sustainability plan. One of the main issues at hand would be agriculture:
- Agriculture is the largest emission contributor in the country, scoring approximately 33,3% of the total amount. You can imagine that is quite a big number. Inevitably high production results in a high usage of transportation and energy. Thus, putting them in second and third place with 19.5% and 19.1% respectively.
How can I get involved?
- Try to eat less meat, simply because cow manure is the number one contributor to greenhouse emissions.
- Support small businesses. Try to buy locally produced food.
- Recycle your waste responsibly. A little effort from your side would be of great help to our lovely planet Earth.
- Turn of the electricity when you are not in the house.
- Same goes for water. If you have a loved one, it gets even easier. Take a shower together, less water consumption and more time for you to spend together.
- Spread some knowledge. Even if you think people are aware of the situation, an extra push would never hurt anyone. You know, just in case 😉
- When organising your holiday, try choosing eco-friendly facilities. As you can imagine massive hotel chains are one of the major pollution contributors.
- Go camping. It’s good for the body and even better for our planet. Just don’t forget to clean up after yourself. If you’re not the camping type, then you could always go for a hostel… If so you could check out Glenmalure Hostel in Wicklow. It is the perfect place for those who wish to escape from reality and leave behind their responsibilities, just beautiful scenery and some peace and quiet.
As we already mentioned, this year the focus is placed on exploring nature and all that it has to offer. Whether you are in the city or somewhere in the outskirts you can always find a great spot to relax, enjoy and maybe take a picture or two. For 2017 WED would like to encourage all of you to share your passion of the world by simply taking a picture or video of your favourite spot and share it on our Facebook page using the hashtag #WithNature.
Tell us why this place is special to you and maybe just maybe we will be able to inspire others to share as well. Hopefully, more and more of you will take part in this initiative to creative awareness for this growing concern. Can we do this? If you have any doubts just remember: “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” – Henry Ford
Now GO! Turn off all devices and go to that favorite place of yours… and don’t forget to take a picture.
If you want to learn more about what we do to promote the environment to young people in Ireland, please subscribe to our monthly newsletter.
