The World Environment Day, June 5

Greetings! We wish you all a very happy World Environment Day, being observed today (5 June 2024) around the world with the theme of Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience.

World Environment Day is one of the biggest international day for remembering our relationship to the environment. Led by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and held annually since 1973, it has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach (similar to the Earth Day that has been observed in the United States since 22 April 1970). It is celebrated by millions of people across the world.

Early this morning, as I began my day, I ventured out in our backyard garden, nibbled on a handful of berries that had ripened, and looked at how the garden was doing in the warm, late spring weather. Then later while I bicycled to work, I enjoyed the clean air that I breathed in and appreciated the shrubs and trees that enlivened my way to work. This daily, relaxed way of commuting to work gives me some time to think on what I need to focus on at work and to plan my day to achieve the needed tasks.

Without the natural environment (aka biosphere) that makes life on our precious Earth possible, we simply can’t exist. We owe Mother Nature our immense gratitude for this lifetime of opportunity to experience the incredible beauty and complexity of life.

Let us do everything humanly possible to keep the biosphere intact. Let’s appreciate what nature has sustained for millions of years. Human life has been around for just a small fraction of that time. True, with our intelligence and industry, we are able to alter the natural conditions in our surroundings for our temporary pleasures. And that is a big problem! We don’t see the long-term impact of what our technology and industry, economic and political systems, and greedy ways are able to do.

Land restoration is a key pillar of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, which is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Visit the World Environment Day website.

As we observe the World Environment Day, I would like to leave you with some images I carry with me on my cellphone. Whenever I look at them, I remember my immersions in nature—be it working in the garden, camping, hiking, and wandering through the woods, rafting in a river, kayaking in a quiet lake, or feeling tiny in the vicinity of the Pacific Ocean—that these moments represent.