Happy Birthday Earth!! – Earth Day 2017
Saturn wears many beautiful ringlets, Mars is red and ornamented with volcanoes, canyons and craters, Jupiter is big and has a bright red spot but no planet is as beautiful and bountiful as Earth. The present state of time when we are inclined to focus on the hazards facing the Earth—a large number of them—it also becomes imperative to take some time out to rejoice in the assorted loveliness of nature that is around our homes.
Every year, on April 22, Earth Day commemorates the birth anniversary of the modern environmental movement dating back to the year 1970. That year big cities all over the world first realized the impact of huge automobiles pumping leaded gas into the atmosphere. Industry oozed soot and factory waste, challenging legal repercussions and the robust media. Polluted environment was perceived as the whiff of development. ‘Environment’ was a word that was seen more in academic books than on the front page of a newspaper. Earth Day 1970 sparked off rising awareness, channeling the people’s energies and putting environmental concerns on the front page.
Our planet is presently losing over 15 billion trees every year, which translates to 56 acres of forest in a minute. As of now, the fight for a pollution-free environment persists with synergized urgency, as the devastation of climatic changes become more evident day by day. Species are vanishing at an alarming rate. We have pushed ourselves into a large scale devastation due to global human activity.
Development is built on the infrastructure of education. The need of the moment is to give shape to a global populace well aware of the intricacies of climatic changes and well-informed of its sinister threat to our planet. We need to bring everyone on board with the knowledge to encourage activity to support environmental preservation. Ecological and climate awareness can be fostered with progressive environmental legislations and policies. A by-product of this will be green technologies and jobs.
Earth Day has evolved over time. In 1990, 200 million people in 141 countries celebrated this day, according to the Earth Day Network. Earth Day 2000 encompassed 5,000 environmental groups and 184 nations. The 40th anniversary of Earth Day in 2010 saw the Earth Day Network launch a campaign to plant 1 billion trees. A target that was realized in 2012, as per the organization. On Earth Day 2016, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon invited world leaders to sign the Paris Climate Agreement endeavored at retaining planet heat level below 2 degrees Celsius. Presently, over a billion people worldwide take part in in Earth Day activities.
On Earth Day, we need to create an environment of public participation to build a carbon-free tomorrow founded on renewable energy that will get rid the dependence on fossil fuels. We need to educate ourselves to consume responsibly and sustainably and generate a new green economy that carves out a better financial life for the poor by creating large-scale green employment. Since the early 2000s, CNG vehicles running on the streets of India have been a major initiative, which have significantly curtailed the pollution levels in Delhi and surrounding cities.
Earth Day runs on the mission of protecting future generations from the aftermath of global warming. The year 2017’s focus is to bring about awareness to create better environmental and climate enlightenment and instruct both, children and grownups on environmental matters. Earth Day celebrations will take place across India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also shared his thoughts on the Earth Day. He said “Earth Day is a day of gratitude to Mother Earth and a day to reiterate our firm resolve to keep our planet clean and green.
It is our duty to live in harmony with the plants, animals and birds we share the Earth with. We owe this to our future generations.
I hope this year’s theme of ‘Environmental and Climate Literacy’ helps create awareness on protecting nature and natural resources.”
(http://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/pms-message-on-earth-day-2/)
The traditional Indian culture is woven with the need for amicable balance between man and nature. All living forms on the Earth are regarded as one family and this fortifies the concept of mutual coexistence. Long before Earth Day came to exist in the contemporary world, the ancient scriptures honored Earth as the mother and human being as the children. Much ahead of climate change predicaments, our ancestors envisaged to become the guardians of the Earth to be passed on to their descendants. We owe it to our planet, and to the future generations to continue this legacy.
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