Celebrating the splendour of Mother Earth

KOCHI: With a view to create awareness among the public regarding the need to conserve the planet, environmentalists and nature lovers in the city observed the 42nd International Mother Earth Day on Sunday. Various programmes were held to highlight the need to reduce carbon footprint and the rising dangers of global warming. This year’s Earth Day held an international theme ‘Mobilise the Earth’ which pushes for environmental sustainability, reduction of waste, climate policy and energy efficiency.“We need not search far to see the effects of global warming. Not long ago, our state’s temperature limited itself to a maximum of 33 degree Celsius. However, nowadays, the maximum temperature touching 40 degree Celsius is a common occurrence. If things continue the same way, our food security and biodiversity too will come down,” said environmentalist S Sitaraman. “The concept of Earth Day began with the efforts of Senator Gaylord Nelson of the United States in 1970. His concern towards environmental degradation and initiatives to create awareness among the people regarding the ill-effects of pollution, marked the start of Earth Day. It was on April 22, 1970, that the first official United Nations-endorsed ‘Earth Day’ celebration was held,” he added.“There are many things that we can do as individuals to save our planet. One of the easiest and basic thing to do is reduce our energy consumption. It is not as hard as we think. Taking a bus instead of a private vehicle, switching off electrical appliances when not in use and promoting the optimum use of resources are some of the measures that we can easily adopt. Instead of per capita energy consumption, the  per capita energy conservation should be the yard stick to measure development,” said environmentalist Geo Jose.Paryavaran Mitra, a nationwide initiative to transform two crore students into leaders fighting for sustainability, conducted an awareness programme on ‘Low Carbon Lifestyle’ in the city. The Association for Environment Protection at Aluva also conducted an awareness programme in this regard.