World Environment Day 2018 is celebrated on June 5^th of every year and it is designated by the UN. The earth is getting polluted with the various types of pollutions. These are occurred due to the ignorance of the human beings and extreme usage of the artificial and non-biodegradable things.

 Plastic is one of them. The World Environment Day celebrations had started in the year 1974 and each year a country is officially selected as the host. And then there is a theme for each year. The celebrations were made officially from the host country globally.

 India is the Host of this year’s World Environment Day

 India, the second most populated country is the host for the WED celebrations this year. The theme is Beat Plastic Pollution. And there are many other countries joining the WED celebrations around the world too. 143 countries are officially registered to organize events and spread the awareness among the people about the importance of protecting the environment and cutting the usage of plastic items.

 India is home to different cultures. It is the democratic country where the right to freedom is given to all of the people equally. With 132.42 crores of the population, India is also the home for the high usage of commercial goods and other businesses.

 Among them, plastic usage stands tall and that is why plastic pollution is rampant.

 

Plastic usage in India

When we talk about the plastic many people will defend its usage by quoting the term recycling. If we think practically, the amount of plastic we use daily in the country cannot be equally recycled and there are many regions where plastic has formed heaps on the streets.

 Dealing with the plastic wastage is a big challenge, and India is not fighting alone in this. The developed countries like U. S have the similar problems with the plastic usage and only 10% of the wastage is recycled and the rest goes into the landfills.

 Some government projects to encourage the usage of plastic in India, this is hard to digest, and they collect the plastic wastages on the streets and recycle them. But to what extent this recycling is made is important here.

 In some regions of India the usage of ultra-thin bags which are made of polyethene, which is a non-biodegradable product of the petrochemical. And in such regions, the government should act and take the necessary steps in the recycling.

 On this World Environment Day 2018, it is our duty to spread the awareness and on the other hand, we have to take an immediate action wherever possible without a fail because this is the serious issue which many countries are dealing with.

 

How can I be a part of World Environment Day 2018?

 You and I can be a part of World Environment Day 2018 by participating in the campaigns which are conducted near us. At the offices, schools, NGOs, industries etc. If you can’t find any such events near you, then make a team with your friends and neighbours and plan some programs for at least few hours which will aware the people about the World Environment Day.

 There is no need to be a crowd always, if no one supports, go solo and make the change for the better future. We are free to choose here.

 WED 2018 is not only about the governments, it is for all the people. Everyone must and should participate in this event as we are only doing this to protect the environment from getting more affected by the plastic.

 

You can play a Tag – Game

In order to spread the awareness, here we can take the part by participating in the tag game. As a child, we all had enjoyed this game a lot. Now we can use it as a covenant between us and the environment.

 Give up one single plastic thing, it may be anything. The steps are simple.

• Choose which type of single-use plastic you’re ready to give up
• Take a selfie (photo or video) showing yourself with the reusable alternative that you’re ready to embrace
• Share your selfie on social media and “tag” three friends, businesses or high-profile people to challenge them to do the same within 24 hours. Be sure to use the #BeatPlasticPollution hashtag and mention @UNEnvironment
• That’s it! Thanks for helping to launch the global movement to #BeatPlasticPollution

Here’s my Instagram post for the tag game

I tag these celebrities for the #worldenvironmentday #taggame to give up any plastic thing. I give up usage of plastic bags and replacing them with the paper/cloth bags. #beatplasticpollution @unenvironment

A post shared by Prasanna Dasari | WS (@worlds.showcase) on Jun 5, 2018 at 7:55am PDT

 

The sites which initiated this game are global site and Unenvironment.org.

 

Celebrate World Environment Day right where you are and follow these steps to spread the awareness about protecting the environment

 Nothing is easy when we have to participate in a social campaign to spread the awareness. Because there is a number of challenges we have to face while organizing or just taking part in the event.

 We will be asked many questions from the fellow people and to answer all of them personally is highly impossible. These challenges can be checked if we do some teamwork.

 Try to gather few like-minded people and plan an event. It may not require any big types of equipment or banners. Make it simple, design a presentation if possible, mention the points which you would like to showcase the people.

Approach them and first ask them about the World Environment Day 2018 and why it is celebrated.

 With this simple question, you will understand how much the other person knows about the event. Then you can begin explaining the awareness program and how we can together keep a full stop to it.

 It’s never an easy task, but we need to do for a better future. Focus on the theme of WED 2018 and write the points which will inspire the listener. Be a masterpiece in your work and move on.

 

How to avoid using plastic

The usage of plastic is dangerous to the entire lifecycle of all the living beings on earth. This non-biodegradable thing will cause a damage which will be a life threat later.

 We have seen many animals consume these plastic bags which are made of polyethene and die. These are not digested by them, cows, dogs and many other voiceless animals suffer to death because of the mistakes we made.

 We can avoid these plastic bags usage by taking a strong determination. Let us achieve the good and safe plastic free environment in the future.

 

Things to do for a plastic-free nation

 If someone denies the usage of the plastic bags or bottles, explain them about the dangers of using them. If they won’t listen try another time. Just don’t give up on the idea of eradicating the usage. Since it is a good work, you will be satisfied in the end. Use the Internet to explain creatively

 At the shopping malls don’t encourage the packages which are made of plastic. Usage of cloth made bags will benefit to nature and as well as it will provide an employee to the poor people who will make the bags. Because our India is also suffering a lot with the poverty.

 Carry your own water bottle when you go out. If you are on a long trip use fresh water public taps at railway stations, bus stations or at the airport. They will definitely provide the water facility. The government must also take the steps in arranging the fresh water tap connections at the centre points of the city and at the crowded places like markets etc. Don’t ever purchase a water bottle in the stores, avoid it.

Force the food packages to be a plastic-free one at the food outlets. Ask them to use the biodegradable packings if not carry a box.

 You should act seriously if you find any plastic on the road while you are walking. Pick it up and try to approach a recycling agency or throw it in a dustbin.

 All these things can only be possible if the people and the government work together. Without the teamwork, we are going to bury ourselves in the plastic in the near future.

 The following are the list of the host cities from the beginning of the WED

Year	Theme	Host city
1974	Only one Earth during Expo ’74	Spokane, United States
1975	Human Settlements	Dhaka, Bangladesh
1976	Water: Vital Resource for Life	Ontario, Canada
1977	Ozone Layer Environmental Concern; Lands Loss and Soil Degradation	Sylhet, Bangladesh
1978	Development Without Destruction	Sylhet, Bangladesh
1979	Only One Future for Our Children – Development Without Destruction	Sylhet, Bangladesh
1980	A New Challenge for the New Decade: Development Without Destruction	Sylhet, Bangladesh
1981	Ground Water; Toxic Chemicals in Human Food Chains	Sylhet, Bangladesh
1982	Ten Years After Stockholm (Renewal of Environmental Concerns)	Dhaka, Bangladesh
1983	Managing and Disposing Hazardous Waste: Acid Rain and Energy	Sylhet, Bangladesh
1984	Desertification	Rajshahi, Bangladesh
1985	Youth: Population and the Environment	Islamabad, Pakistan
1986	A Tree for Peace	Ontario, Canada
1987	Environment and Shelter: More Than A Roof	Nairobi, Kenya
1988	When People Put the Environment First, Development Will Last	Bangkok, Thailand
1989	Global Warming; Global Warning	Brussels, Belgium
1990	Children and the Environment	Mexico City, Mexico
1991	Climate Change. Need for Global Partnership	Stockholm, Sweden
1992	only One Earth, Care and Share	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1993	Poverty and the Environment – Breaking the Vicious Circle	Beijing, People’s Republic of China
1994	One Earth One Family	London, United Kingdom
1995	We the Peoples: United for the Global Environment	Pretoria, South Africa
1996	Our Earth, Our Habitat, Our Home	Istanbul, Turkey
1997	For Life on Earth	Seoul, Republic of Korea
1998	For Life on Earth – Save Our Seas	Moscow, Russian Federation
1999	Our Earth – Our Future – Just Save It!	Tokyo, Japan
2000	The Environment Millennium – Time to Act	Adelaide, Australia
2001	Connect with the World Wide Web of Life	Torino, Italy and Havana, Cuba
2002	Give Earth a Chance	Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
2003	Water – Two Billion People are Dying for It!	Beirut, Lebanon
2004	Wanted! Seas and Oceans – Dead or Alive?	Barcelona, Spain
2005	Green Cities – Plan for the Planet!	San Francisco, United States
2006	Deserts and Desertification – Don’t Desert Drylands!	Algiers, Algeria
2007	Melting Ice – a Hot Topic?	London, England
2008	Kick The Habit – Towards A Low Carbon Economy	Wellington, New Zealand
2009	Your Planet Needs You-Unite to Combat Climate Change	Mexico City, Mexico
2010	Many Species. One Planet. One Future	Rangpur, Bangladesh
2011	Forests: Nature at your Service	New Delhi, India
2012	Green Economy: Does it include you?	Brasilia, Brazil
2013	Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint	Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
2014	Raise your voice, not the sea level	Bridgetown, Barbados
2015	Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care.	Rome, Italy
2016	Zero Tolerance for the Illegal Wildlife trade	Luanda, Angola
2017	Connecting People to Nature – in the city and on the land, from the poles to the equator	Ottawa, Canada
2018	Beat Plastic Pollution	New Delhi, India

Source: Wikipedia

 

We at our training centre, YTC, AISECT, Bellampalli, celebrated the World Environment Day 2018 along with the students and staff. We had planted the plants and made the students do the same.

 

 

In the later session, the below presentation is displayed and delivered the speech about the importance of protecting the environment and how to contribute to the #BeatPlasticPollution.