Today, Friday 5 June, is the World Environment Day (WED); the United Nations flagship day to encourage worldwide awareness and action for the environment.

With about USD200 billion lost annually in industrialised regions by wasting food, this year’s theme is around sustainable consumption: ‘Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care’. WED aims to raise the challenge of creating inclusive opportunities for sustainable development, while stabilising the rate of resource use and reduce environmental impacts. It calls for solutions for re-engineering our consumer culture in order to create a society in which everyone has enough to live well, while respecting the planet’s regenerative capacity.  

Each year, WED has a new host and this year’s global host is Milan, Italy. While the main celebrations will take place at the famous Expo Milano 2015, which runs from May 1^st to October 31^st, the event will be celebrated in many parts of the world led by UNEP Regional Offices and partners. Event details can be found here.

If you are passionate about saving our environment, you can actively participate. For instance, you can join the community by registering an activity at http://goo.gl/y3HC5E or you can join the Dream Team, UNEP’s Goodwill Ambassadors who have formed a Dream Team to encourage the global community to share dreams for a healthier planet and to make pledges in support of the environmentally sustainable development goals: http://goo.gl/sVSKkb.

For more information, visit the UNEP website.