bd EnergY LinK

Green earth for green economy

Mohammad Shahidul Islam

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. -Native American Proverb

World Environment Day (WED), celebrated on 5 June each year, is one of the major modes through which the United Nations instigates worldwide awareness of the environment and widens political attention and action.

The World Environment Day catchphrase for 2010 is “Biodiversity – Ecosystems Management and the Green Economy” followed by ‘Your Planet Needs You – UNite to Combat Climate Change’ 2009.

Green life style should be the urge of the hours; UNEP has sincerely asked countries, companies and communities to point up on Ecosystems Management and the Green Economy within the best capacity.

Everyone must fight with weather change to protect flora and fauna and to strengthen their economies. Everyone should keep their effort to increase their economies and relations all over the world.

The main international celebration of World Environment Day 2010 is taking place in Pittsburgh as the North American host city, so celebrated last year in Mexico.

We are convinced that the main theme of celebrating the World Environment Day 2010 is “Reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect flora and fauna, and save the Earth”. All the People, government and non-government authorities, societies and young groups, commerce and trade, the media and other organizations will conduct many social activities to renovate their commitments to protect the environment and society.

Special attention must be devoted to highlight resources and initiatives that promote low carbon economies and life-styles, such as improved energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, forest conservation and eco-friendly consumption.

According to some of the world’s leading international and development groups, global warming threatens to reverse human advancement and make unattainable all UN targets to lessen poverty. In a journal, Oxfam, Greenpeace, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, WWF and 15 other groups state that rich governments must immediately address climate change to avoid “obscene levels” of worldwide poverty. “Food production, water supplies, public health and people’s livelihoods are already being damaged and undermined,” the journal says. “There is no either/or approach possible. The world must meet its commitments to achieve poverty reduction and also tackle climate change. The two are inextricably linked.”

Bangladesh will be greatly affected by global warming. If we really want to save Bangladesh from the ferocious claw of global warming, we need to do something immediately, apart form the government’s plan and policy. The word “green” should be spread out across the country.

Green day, green night, green university, green city, green tourism, and so on, should be the buzz words not only of the people of Bangladesh but also of whole world. Above all, we have to welcome “Green Technology” in our day-to-day life.

Bangladesh is a country filled with natural wonders and untouched reserves and home to a variety of unique and magnificent creatures. With hills, valleys, forests, beaches, lakes and rivers, eco-tourism in Bangladesh is ideal. Nature and environment has sustained the traveling phenomena of the world.

The entire world is now under the peril of ecological damage, Bangladesh included. The above efforts to reduce environmental impact are not excessively troublesome to a vacation routine, and can help greatly in reducing pollution and interference with the local environment. Responsible tourism publicity and campaigns may effectively result in making travelers green.

Bangladesh is also afraid of undergoing the decay of its environment. The environmental problems faced by the world today are getting worse day by day.

We are failing to protect resources and ecosystems. We are failing to invest enough in alternative technologies for betterment of environment.

Understanding of the environmental challenges we face is alarmingly low. It is imperative that environmental issues must be fundamentally repositioned in the policy-making arena. The environment must become better integrated into mainstream economic policy of Bangladesh.

The government must not only create environmental agreement, awareness and festival, they must strictly enforce them as well.

Our surrounding continues to face serious environmental degradation making situations unbearable to live in. Man is armed with both weapons of destruction and also those of construction and development, man’s weapons of reconstruction and development have negative consequential results affecting us in different ways.

A refinery is producing fuel for all our needs but the same refinery is polluting our atmosphere, as well, making habitation unbearable. Vehicles carry us to any destination but same vehicles fill our atmosphere with carbon monoxide, which can equally kill us. Testing of chemical, biological and nuclear military weapons has created an irreversible disaster for the world environment and atmosphere. There is a lot of finger pointing when it comes to environmental issues. There seems to be a tug of war between developed and developing countries.

The developed countries blame it on the developing world, by citing areas, such as over population and illiteracy for environmental degradation. Developing countries, however, argue that developed countries are the ones that dump their wastes in lakes, seas, oceans, deserts and forests. Ironically, they are the ones contaminating the air from their big factories and industries; and by testing weapons in the oceans and deserts.

Climatic change represents a serious threat to every part of the globe, and it would be ridiculous to believe that this is just another issue being pushed by the developed countries down the throats of the developing world.

Until a decade ago, there was very little understanding of the financial, social and health effects of environmental degradation and the subsequent costs they impose on the economy.

As environmental concerns and assessment of impacts of environmental degradation gained prominence globally, awareness regarding these issues has increased in Bangladesh as well, prompting government as well as civil society institutions to focus on understanding and dealing with these issues.

World Environment Day needs not to be seen just a day set aside in a year to discuss, undertake and solve environment issues as they affect the world. But the day must continue to be everyday. It should not be just one day in a week, month, a year or decade but every day of our lives.

We should celebrate our accomplishments of World Environment Day and do so with a renewed sense of purpose and energy.

The challenge is how can we discuss, experiment and improve the environment through this single day set aside in a year. To most of us, if the day is over, environmental issues are suspended till the next World Environment Day.

We need to change such coldhearted attitude for a clean future. Rather, we need to examine critically the state of our environment and to consider carefully the actions which each of us must take, and then address ourselves to our common task of preserving all life on earth.