World Environment Day (June 5)

UN.org, June 5, 2023; Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Plastics are the largest, most harmful and persistent fraction of marine litter, accounting for at least 85 percent of total marine waste (InsideCreativeHouse/Adobe Stock/UN.org)

Solutions to plastic pollution

Is eating plastic waste bad for humans?

More than 400 million tons of plastic is produced every year worldwide, half of which is designed to be used only once. Of that, less than 10 percent is recycled. An estimated 19-23 million tons end up in lakes, rivers, and seas annually.

That is approximately the weight of 2,200 Eiffel Towers all together. Microplastics – tiny particles up to 5 mm in diameter – find their way into food, water, and air.

• World Environment Day activities

I'll just pick up this ocean trash...oops!

It is estimated that each person on the planet consumes more than 50,000 plastic particles per year – and many more if inhalation is considered. Discarded or burned, single-use plastic harms human health and biodiversity and pollutes every ecosystem from mountain tops to ocean floors.

With available science and solutions to tackle the problem, governments, companies, and other stakeholders must speed actions to solve this crisis. This underscores the importance of this World Environment Day in mobilizing transformative action from every corner of the world.

Fifty years celebrating World Environment Day

Every citizen will one day take a stand (or seat).

Led by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and held annually on June 5th since 1973, World Environment Day is the largest global platform for environmental public outreach and is celebrated by millions of people across the world.

In 2023, it is hosted by Côte D'Ivoire. Why take part? Time is running out, and nature is in emergency mode.

To keep global warming below 1.5°C this century, we must halve annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Without action, exposure to air pollution beyond safe guidelines will increase by 50 percent within the decade, and plastic waste flowing into aquatic ecosystems will nearly triple by 2040. We need urgent action to address these pressing issues. More

Who do you think you are? Greta?

"I'm the solution"? Look, Kids, you should be getting arrested just like Greta. She's so brave.

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Keep carbon resources in the ground.

By now sensible people may have noticed that dear Greta Thunberg is being used as a tool to both drive the climate change movement and to destroy it.

It's controlled opposition. Great Greta turns off more people than she turns on, with her simplistic messaging, perceived hypocrisy, and erratic emotional outbursts. This is not an emotional issue but an existential one.

I didn't ask for white privilege or riches, to be attractive or propped up by the powers that be.

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Issues, issues, there are so many issues.

No one wants to live in a dirty environment. Citizens aren't the ones profiting from dirtying it; yet we're the ones being shamed into cleaning it up.

Why not turn attention to those entities that profit from spoiling nature, appropriating resources, and leaving a toxic mess for all of us to breath in and eat? Go vegan. It's the best thing one can do for the world. And if protesting, protest the real villains.