Today is World Environment Day, but it’s not just any World Environment Day. Today is the 50th anniversary of the first World Environment Day, held in Stockholm, Sweden. That first meeting, held on June 5, 1972 was not called World Environment Day, but rather it was titled The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, and was the first ever international conference about environmental concerns. This conference formalized the concept of World Environment Day and was responsible for the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme, which now leads the meeting each year.

Every year the meeting is hosted by a different country and focuses on a different theme, which is a major concern at the time. Aptly, this years conference is once again being held in Sweden, and the theme is ”Only One Earth”. The presentations are focused this year on ”living sustainably in harmony with nature.” This theme is highly appropriate as we are currently facing a number of environmental issues including climate change, increased pollution of both the air and water, and the loss or potential loss of many species of flora and fauna.

World Environment Day provides us with a reminder that in order to save the only home that we have, we have got to do better. We need to learn to live in nature and not try to dominate her. We need to learn to appreciate the incredible diversity of life on this planet and do everything within our power to protect it. We need to do better at appreciating that all of nature is interconnected and when we damage one system or environment, we harm everything and everyone, including ourselves. We need to end our dependance on fossil fuels for power. These are issues that each one of us need to address from our legislators down to you and I.

This year, as every year, there are many people taking part in community activities such as planting trees, trash pick ups, and other activities that help to emphasize that we have ”Only One Earth”. There are also people participating in conversations on various social media platforms and at smaller venues, trying to encourage everyone to consider their lifestyle and what can be changed to help our environmental concerns. For myself, I celebrated quietly by taking a long walk along some new trails in the Gothe State Forest. On this walk I contemplated ways that I personally can improve the way that I live and ways to decrease my own footprint. There are plenty of things that each of us can do to help without causing any real disruption to our lifestyles. For example, we can turn the A/C up just a couple of degrees. We can also try to use more environmentally friendly soaps for laundry, dishes, and bathing. I now take my own bags with me when I shop. I have been amazed at how many plastic bags I’m not bringing home any more, and I even prefer using my own bags. They hold more and don’t rip. That’s a total win, simple to do, and actually makes my life easier. If all of us can make these types of simple changes, we can make a tremendous difference in a very short time.