Welcome to World Environment Day

World Environment Day (WED) was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

Commemorated yearly on 5 June, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. The day’s agenda is to:

1. Give a human face to environmental issues;

2. Empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development;

3. Promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues;

4. Advocate partnership which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.

The theme for WED 2009 is ‘Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change‘. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests.

This year’s host is Mexico which reflects the growing role of the Latin American country in the fight against climate change, including its growing participation in the carbon markets.

Mexico is also a leading partner in UNEP’s Billion Tree Campaign. The country, with the support of its President and people, has spearheaded the pledging and planting of some 25 per cent of the trees under the campaign. Accounting for around 1.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the country is demonstrating its commitment to climate change on several fronts.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon states that the WED celebration will “further underline Mexico’s determination to manage natural resources and deal with the most demanding challenge of the 21st century – climate change.”

Previous Host Cities

1987 - Nairobi, Kenya
1988 - Bangkok, Thailand
1989 - Brussels, Belgium
1990 - Mexico City, Mexico
1991 - Stockolm, Sweden
1992 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1993 - Beijing, People’s Republic of China
1994 - London, United Kingdom
1995 - Pretoria, South Africa
1996 - Istanbul, Turkey
1997 - Seoul, Republic of Korea
1998 - Moscow, Russian Federation
1999 - Tokyo, Japan
2000 - Adelaide, Australia
2001 - Torino, Italy and Havana, Cuba
2002 - Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
2003 - Beirut, Lebanon
2004 - Barcelona, Spain
2005 - San Francisco, U.S.
2006 - Algiers, Algeria
2007 - Tromsø, Norway
2008 - Wellington, New Zealand

Previous Theme

1974 - Only one Earth
1975 - Human Settlements
1976 - Water: Vital Resource for Life
1977 - Ozone Layer Environmental Concern; Lands Loss and Soil Degradation
1978 - Development Without Destruction
1979 - Only One Future for Our Children - Development Without Destruction
1980 - A New Challenge for the New Decade: Development Without Destruction
1981 - Ground Water; Toxic Chemicals in Human Food Chains
1982 - Ten Years After Stockholm (Renewal o f Environmental Concerns)
1983 - Managing and Disposing Hazardous Waste: Acid Rain and Energy
1984 - Desertification
1985 - Youth: Population and the Environment
1986 - A Tree for Peace
1987 - Environment and Shelter: More Than A Roof
1988 - When People Put the Environment First, Development Will Last
1989 - Global Warming; Global Warning
1990 - Children and the Environment
1991 - Climate Change. Need for Global Partnership
1992 - Only One Earth, Care and Share
1993 - Poverty and the Environment - Breaking the Vicious Circle
1994 - One Earth One Family
1995 - We the Peoples: United for the Global Environment
1996 - Our Earth, Our Habitat, Our Home
1997 - For Life on Earth
1998 - For Life on Earth - Save Our Seas
1999 - Our Earth - Our Future - Just Save It!
2000 - The Environment Millennium - Time to Act
2001 - Connect with the World Wide Web of Life
2002 - Give Earth a Chance
2003 - Water – Two Billion People are Dying for It!
2004 - Wanted! Seas and Oceans – Dead or Alive?
2005 - Green Cities – Plan for the Planet!
2006 - Deserts and Desertification - Don’t Desert Drylands!
2007 - Melting Ice – a Hot Topic?
2008 - Kick The Habit - Towards A Low Carbon Economy

Adapted from

http://www.unep.org/wed/2009/english/content/about.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Environment_Day

Protect our Environment and Save our Blue Planet.

Samantha

http://www.wellnessnrecreation.com

An email has been circulating in the cyberworld warning that there will a devastating Tsunami cause by an Earthquake induced by a Solar Eclipse on 22 July 2009. The tsunami will hit China, Japan, Korean Peninsula, Australia, India and South East Asian countries.

It is true that a Solar Eclipse will occur on 22 July, but there is no correlation between an earthquake and an eclipse according to experts.

Professor Kerry Sieh, from Singapore, said: “In the last 110 years or so, there have been about 85 really big earthquakes — 8 (on the Richter magnitude scale) or greater. And only two of those occurred on the same day as an eclipse. And even those were a partial eclipse, not a total eclipse. They struck in a different place from where the eclipse happened.”

Scientists who have been spending their whole lives studying earthquakes and tsunamis still could not successfully predict when and where one will occur.

Wonder who has managed to successfully predict the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and the subsequent Asian Tsunami?

Although the email has no strong scientific basis, Research does show that parts of Asia facing the Pacific Ocean could be hit by a tsunami.

Although we should be vigilant of our surroundings, we should not help to spread such news without any scientific basis.

The best solution is to constantly aware of our surroundings especially observing animals behavior on a daily basis.

Samantha

http://www.wellnessnrecreation.com