You may have seen people conquering other planets in science fiction films and TV series, but the reality is that we only have Planet Earth. It is our only home for the foreseeable future, so we must protect it. It is facing so many challenges as a result of our actions and some scientists fear that we might be too late to save the Earth.
But every little bit helps. Do you throw away plastic items every day, from polystyrene cups to lunch sheets ? Do you buy soft drinks in PET bottles and throw them away ? It is time to rethink those activities as we celebrate Earth Day 2018 today (April 22) under the theme“End Plastic Pollution”. Plastic pollutionis the accumulation of plastic products in the environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, or humans. In fact, scientists say that by 2050, the oceans will have more plastic than fish by weight. Plastic is a durable material made to last forever,yet 33 percent of it is used once and then discarded. Plastic cannot decay - it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.
We discard millions of tons of plastic a year; only 8 percent of it gets recycled. And a lot of animals die after eating plastic: In 2017 scientists at the University of Bergen retrieved30 plastic bags from the stomach of a dead goose-beaked whale that was found on Norway's west coast. Chemicals leaked by plastics are in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to them is linked to many ailments. There are tens of thousands of landfills across the globe. Buried beneath each one of them, plastics emit toxic chemicals that seep into groundwater and flow into lakes and rivers.
It is time to live plastic and polythene free. We have to minimize our use of plastic. To give just one example, you can buy glass soft drink bottles from the supermarket, which have the added advantage of being recycled as you have to hand over the old bottle to buy a new one. When your restaurant tries to use a polystyrene box for your take-away dinner, ask for a paper pack instead. Carry a bag to the supermarket and avoid using sili-sili bags.
Earth Day first started in 1970 in response to an oil spill in 1969 in the USA. The inaugural Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970 in the USA. Since then, Earth Day has grown dramatically and now sees roughly one billion people from 192 countries around the world participating in various activities. In recent years,combating climate change has also been a priority for many Earth Day activists.
Earth Day follows Earth Hour, held around the world on March 24 where people all around the world turn their lights off for one hour at night to save energy and also go back in time to a time when we were much closer to Mother Nature. We should again get closer to Earth and Mother Nature.