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Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

On June 5th World Environment Day (WED) will be celebrated internationally.The theme of UN World Environment Day 2009 is 'Your Planet Needs You - UNite to Combat Climate Change'.

World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. 

It is hosted every year by a different city and commemorated with an international exposition through the week of June 5.

Mexico, a country at the crossroads of the Green Economy and one increasingly in the centre of regional and global affairs will host the international 2009 World Environment Day celebrations. Mexico reflects the growing role of the Latin American country in the fight against climate change, including its growing participation in the carbon markets.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), also created in 1972, promotes World Environment Day to stimulate awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and public action.

Recognising that climate change is the defining issue of our era, UNEP is asking countries, companies and communities to focus on greenhouse gas emissions and how to reduce them. World Environment Day can highlight resources and initiatives that promote low carbon economies and life-styles, such as improved energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, forest conservation and eco-friendly consumption.

Leaders often deliver statements and commit themselves to care for the Earth on this day with serious pledges of permanent resource commitment.

On this WED let us examine the state of our environment. Let us consider carefully the actions which each of us must take, and then address ourselves to our common task of preserving the quality and diversity of all life on earth. 

Linked to WED, the UN runs the ‘Billion Tree Campaign’. This project addresses climate change by encouraging people, businesses and countries to collectively plant at least one billion trees worldwide every year. Forests are a wonderful carbon sink, but at the current rate that natural forests are being destroyed, deforestation contributes more to global emissions each year than the transport sector!

In the UN’s owns words, the main aim of World Environment Day is to “ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future”, so whether you choose to celebrate WED or not, remember that everyone has a part to play. Think local and act local, because even the tiniest actions collectively have a significant global effect.