Today is World Earth Day, the largest environmental event on the planet that involves 192 countries and about a billion people every year. World Earth Day was first established in 1970 to emphasize the need for conservation of natural resources, to understand the problems of the planet, the pollution of air, water, soil, destruction of forests, and ecosystems, and the exhaustion of non-renewable resources; today April 22nd, the World Earth Day, has become an informative and educational event.
In January 1969, in fact, off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, an oil platform exploded that caused the spill of ten million liters of oil, which led to the death of thousands of animals. This episode shook the conscience of the global community to start a debate on the threat of pollution on health; the concept of environmental protection that already emerged in 1962 with the publication of a book titled “Silent Spring” and merited on its author, an American biologist, Rachel Carson.
Currently, after years of disrespectful policies on the environmental crisis, ecology has entered in “mission” statements of the companies, gaining a place in management directions, occupation of its employees with respect to environmental impact, and also in the interests of the consumers who are driven towards sustainable products. Technological evolution and attention to the planet push companies to consider the needs for environmental protection, starting from biodegradable and recyclable packaging, usage of increased renewable energies for industrial processes, to archiving of the data in digital format that limits the use of paper. Such awareness generated by World Earth Day has produced tangible benefits to the environment, our health, and also the way companies operate.
According to WHO, every two seconds a forest the size of a football field is destroyed on the planet, and more than 13 million deaths worldwide are caused by uncontrollable environmental factors; it is time to invest in the health of our planet and to try to block the acceleration of the climate crisis, which stands as the greatest health threat to the humanity.
For our environment provides basic stands of life through the means of air that we breathe, the water that we drink, the food that we eat; investing in our beautiful planet Earth is the theme of this year’s World Earth Day!
By Dr. Antonio Giordano, Founder & Director, Sbarro Health Research Organization at Temple University.
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