[FEATURE]As the World celebrated World Environment Day...by Rosa Domingos | 07-06-2019 16:01 |
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 On the 05 June 2019 in Hangzhou, China – Governments, Industries, communities and individuals around the world today commemorated World Environment Day, the United Nations¡¯ biggest annual event for positive environmental action, encouraging worldwide awareness and commitment to protect our planet. This year¡¯s celebrations, held under the theme ¡®Beat Air Pollution¡¯, called upon people to explore renewable energy and green technologies, and improve air quality in cities and regions across the world. More than 6 billion people – one-third of them children – regularly breathe air that is so polluted it puts their health and well-being at risk. Spearheaded by China, (the official host of the global World Environment Day celebrations) UN Environment¡¯s campaign to #BeatAirPollution culminated into a record number of registered events and commitments. ¡°Protecting our blue skies may be difficult, but our future relies on it,¡± Joyce Msuya who is acting Executive Director of UN Environment, said during the Global Celebrations in Hangzhou. ¡°And they are our blue skies. It doesn¡¯t matter if you¡¯re in Beijing or Beirut, when we look up we see the same sky. And I think when we look to China, we see many examples of how to protect it.¡± A global call for action In the weeks leading up to World Environment Day, photos and videos of people on every continent covering the lower half of their faces with masks, scarfs, their hands or even flowers, food, and clothing flooded social media channels. I also partook in this movement so as to celebrate WED... Each image, accompanied by the hashtag #BeatAirPollution, came with a call for global action and a personal pledge to make individual lifestyle changes to reduce air pollution such as swapping car rides for bike rides, reducing meat intake or powering down electronic equipment when not in use.  World Environment Day 2019 ¡°Today, we face an equally urgent crisis. It is time to act decisively,¡± said by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his official message for World Environment Day. ¡°My message to governments is clear: tax pollution; end fossil fuel subsidies; and stop building new coal plants. We need a green economy not a grey economy.¡± I also believe in the notion of 'taxing' pollution, not just air, but of water and land. There is pledge to join the movement of #BeatAirPollution you may follow the link and join the movement!
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