World Environment Day. The time of the planet has come

A day does not have to be fixed in a calendar to be important, but in this case, it is. Today 5th June is World Environment Day, a date set by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness of the importance of working and acting to preserve nature. 

But let's stop being formal. On a date like today, and especially in this turbulent year, we need to stop and think. Are we really doing everything we can to contribute to the regeneration of the planet? Has the serious situation that we have experienced with the Covid-19 pandemic made us rethink our behaviour and become more aware?

Our way of living so intense and fast has resulted in a total disconnection with the planet. We have continued to pollute the cities, over-exploiting resources, destroying ecosystems, consuming plastic and living at a level that the Earth itself could not digest. And what has happened?

If we look back with perspective, perhaps we will see a call for action to pay attention to what is happening to our world, such as the wildfires in Brazil, Australia and California, the locusts plague in Africa and the thousands of deaths and millions of infections that the Covid-19 has caused worldwide. We cannot fail to notice the alarming statistics on the loss of biodiversity produced by the overexploitation of resources and by climate change. We have listed some relevant data as context of the severity of the problem;

• In the last 150 years the coral surface has been halved. 

• Within a decade, 1 out of 4 species could be extinct.

• In 30 years, the melting of glaciers has increased significantly, which has led to a rise in sea levels and continues to rise every year. 

• Today the oceans contain more than 150 million tons of plastic. 

• Microplastics have made their way into the water we drink and within three years will become a health hazard. 

• In 2019 India and China led the way in pollution related deaths with 2.3 million and 1.8 million respectively.

• Concentrations of carbon dioxide trapping heat in the atmosphere reached record levels in 2018. 

All these shocking facts make us reflect on how badly we are doing and whether we will ever learn to value things in this situation we have experienced. 

The planet has given us a second chance, it has forced us to stop and lower our heads to listen to it. And with our stop we have also made much improvement to the environment, such as the quality of the air we breathe, we have also  reduced the pollution of the cities, so a change is possible. 

From Closca we want to use this platform to make an appeal to society. It is difficult, but together and with small gestures we can make big changes.