Invest In Our Planet this World Environment Day

This Sunday, June 5th, 2022, is World Environment Day, a global event for environmental protection and outreach. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) started this day in 1973 one year after its conception in 1972, making 2022 the 50th year of UNEP and the 49th anniversary of World Environment Day. This year the event will be hosted in Sweden and 150 countries in the UN will come together to engage governments, businesses, and civil society to raise awareness and celebrate the environment. 

Just because you’re not in Stockholm, doesn’t mean you can’t get engaged with World Environment Day from wherever you are! Following with the theme of Earth Day 2022, this is the perfect time to Invest in Our Planet through individual action and grassroot movements while still encouraging businesses and local governments to also take a stand. 

This year the campaign is designed around the slogan #OnlyOneEarth and the focus is on “Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature.” To promote our relationships with nature and bring awareness to the day, UNEP has designed an easily accessible and comprehensible website that includes a practical guide to sustainable living, a calendar of local and global events, live updates of the world wide movement and #OnlyOneEarth, and features a Build Your Earth Action Number. This tool allows you to measure the impact of your actions, see the actions others are taking world wide, register your events and actions for others to join in, and discover what other steps you can take towards saving the planet. Be sure to check out what events are happening virtually or nearby you this Sunday and join in however you can. 

In the meantime, Earth Day also has great resources that encourage individual changes in practices and behaviors:

•  Take a quiz to test your knowledge on individual action, climate and emissions, or conservation and restoration. 
• Learn and understand the impacts of plastic pollution and make changes towards the movement to End Plastic Pollution. 
• Educate yourself about sustainable clothing and start choosing sustainable brands. A great place to start is right here at our Earth Day Store: look great while supporting our campaigns and supporting the environment. 
•  Become an Earth Day member through annual donations to fund long-term actions towards climate literacy, education, recruitment, and action against climate change. 
• And finally, challenge yourself to implement as many of these 52 Actions and Tips to make a difference. 

And don’t forget: just because Earth Day and World Environment Day only happen once a year doesn’t mean that your actions shouldn’t extend to all 365 days! We have #OnlyOneEarth but it takes only one you to make a difference.