World Environment Day 5 June 2021
Humanity is now standing at a cross-roads. We must now decide which path we want to take. What do we want the future living conditions for all species to be like? Greta Thunberg, Extinction Rebellion Rally, Marble Arch, London, 23 April 2019
June 5 is World Environment Day. This day has been celebrated every year since 1974. It’s purpose is to engage governments, businesses and citizens in an effort to address pressing environment issues.
In 1974, I was only 7 living in the outer suburbs of Sydney, Australia . Back then the key environmental issues hitting the press was the Commonwealth Government enacting several key pieces of environmental legislation including the Environment Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act 1974 and in the years to follow the Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975 and the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975.
It was from this period that Australia concentrated on establishing the offices, institutions and administrative functions needed to protect Australia’s natural and socio-cultural heritage. The environmental attack inflicted upon Lake Peddar in Tasmania’s once pristine and once protected south-west, was still causing much grief to the nation.
By the time I entered university in 1988, Australia was in the midst of strengthening its international environmental obligations with legislation covering hazardous wastes, industrial chemicals and (arguably the pre-cursor to the current climate-focussed efforts), the protection of the ozone layer.
I was fortunate to enter the Commonwealth Government in the year that the Australian Greenhouse Office was formed by the government. It was 1998, some ten years after I started university. The Office was a stand-alone agency within the environment portfolio and provided a whole of government approach with importantly, government-sanctioned public information on global warming (climate change). This is arguably the first time that a national government, globally, got behind climate change.
That experience formed my ambitions and ultimately led to me coming to the UK to work for The Prince of Wales’s charities as a sustainability behaviour change advisor helping to build a greener and more prosperous future for the next generation.
Back in 1998, the fundamental shift needed in public policy and populist environmental activism was never before so pronounced.
Today, this need is as important as it was back then, nearly 40 years later.
Every three seconds, the world loses enough forests to cover a football pitch and over the last century we have destroyed half of our wetlands, As much as 50% of all coral reefs have already been lost including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef - the world’s largest.
In 2021, the theme of World Environment Day is generation restoration. On 5 June, the UN will launch the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a global mission to revive billions of hectares of farmlands, from mountain tops to the depth of the sea.
Sixty7.green continues to do its bit in being a restorative ambassador.
In addition to supporting key environmental organisations such as HRH The Prince of Wales’s Sustainable Markets Initiative and The Mullion Group’s FLINTPro, we will be supporting local initiatives to raise awareness and take action on restoring local ecosystems.
Sixty7.green supports companies to consider the way we consume, how we contribute to a greener future, why we should advocate for sustainable food production, urge governments to invest more in restoring the environment and address the climate emergency. We also recognize the need for business and society to support the next generation of emerging leaders to take action that links sustainability to prosperity.
Be part of the movement. Think about where we have come from, what impact we have had, and what we can do to change the course of history. It is time to enter generation restoration, with vigour, with purpose and with determination. Because now, more than ever, the earth needs its guardians to take better care of it.
