World Environment Day
Reflection
The planet Earth is a onetime project. There is no second chance. Much can be healed because the planet has extensive, albeit limited, powers of recovery. The North American continent will never again be what it once was. The manner in which we have devastated the continent has never before occurred. We have so intruded ourselves and debilitated the continent in its primordial powers that it can no longer proceed simply on its own. We must be involved in the future of the continent in some comprehensive manner. It is clear that there will be no development of life here in the future if we do not protect and foster the living forms of this continent. To do this, a change must occur deep in our souls
Thomas Berry
Prayer
May I see this earth with clear eyes and a pure heart.
Action
The theme for World Environment Day this year is Time for Nature with a focus on its role in providing the essential infrastructure that supports life on Earth and human development. Think about how we are part of nature and how we depend on it. Take time today to connect with nature in whatever way possible for you.
Suggested Reading
The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all it contains, You have founded them.
Psalm 89:11
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
Psalm 19:1-4
There is something of the marvelous in all things of nature.
Aristotle
Go out, go out I beg of you
And taste the beauty of the wild.
Behold the miracle of the earth
With all the wonder of a child.
Edna Jaques
Sooner or later, we will have to recognize that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans.
Evo Morales
Environmental pollution is an incurable disease. It can only be prevented.
Barry Commoner
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.
John Muir
If you can’t be in awe of Mother Nature, there’s something wrong with you.
Alex Trebek
If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will in the end not produce food, either.
Joseph Wood Krutch
The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.
Robert Swan
Destroying a rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.
O. Wilson
It was in the forest that I found “the peace that passeth understanding”
Jane Goodall
If people destroy something replaceable made by mankind, they are called vandals; if they destroy something irreplaceable made by God, they are called developers.
Joseph Wood Krutch
World Environment Day is observed every year on June 5 and is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to raise awareness of environmental issues and catalyse action on climate change.