Happy World Environment Day!
On this day, 47 years ago on June 5th 1972, the United Nations “Conference on the Human Environment” was held in Stockholm, Sweden to address the preservation of the earth’s environment. The Result of this 11-day conference is the World Environment Day, an annual UN-sponsored day dedicated to cultivating awareness and promoting action for the conservation of the environment. Later that year, the committee “United Nations Environmental Program” (UNEP) was founded.
“Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal.”, says the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Such evidence includes global temperature rise and warming oceans, rapidly decreasing glaciers and polar ice coverage causing sea level rise, and extreme storms becoming stronger every year. All living and nonliving organisms on this planet are affected by a predicament for which humans and their unsustainable ways of life are mainly responsible. Therefore countless, yet still insufficient actions have been taken to turn the fate of the planet around and provide a stable home for generations to come.
U. S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is leading figure in Congress in taking such actions in congress. With the support of other democrats, she unveiled the “Green New Deal”, a socio-economic proposal to pivot toward renewable energy and economic equality. This economic reform would include inter alia the creation of union jobs, the assurance of clean air and water, and access to wind and solar power that would lower energy bills.
From a local standpoint, Smart Yards Co-Op also does their part in preserving the gifts of our local environment here in the Bay Area. Our sustainable gardens and landscapes are created using natural and renewable resources and are transformed into habitats for plants and animals alike. In order to achieve such natural preservation, we focus on reducing the waste of fresh, potable water of the gardens by planting species of plants that are native to our area and do not have a high need for hydration. In addition we work daily on the cooperative business model to ensure fair wages for fair labor, as promised in AOC’s Green New Deal.
For this world environment day, we welcome you to focus not only on the conservation of our physical environment, such as clean air and water, but also on supporting environmental, social, and economic justice.