Special Feature

World Environment Day 2011

June 5, 2011

"Forests: Nature At Your Service”

Trees

ABOUT WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2011

World Environment Day (WED) is an annual event that is aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action. WED activities take place all year round but climax on 5 June every year, involving everyone from everywhere.

WED celebration began in 1972 and has grown to become the one of the main vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action.

Through WED, the UN Environment Programme is able to personalize environmental issues and enable everyone to realize not only their responsibility, but also their power to become agents for change in support of sustainable and equitable development.

WED is also a day for people from all walks of life to come together to ensure a cleaner, greener and brighter outlook for themselves and future generations.

The theme of WED 2011 is “Forests: Nature At Your Service.” Forests cover one third of the earth’s land mass, performing vital functions and services around the world which make our planet alive with possibilities.

In fact, 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods. They play a key role in our battle against climate change, releasing oxygen into the atmosphere while storing carbon dioxide.

[Full Article: http://www.unep.org/wed/about/]

U.S. GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

A Timeline of Environmental Treaties

This list of key environmental treaties shows how nations are working together, politically and scientifically, to safeguard our planet and respond to a global threat. The United States, whose pollution control laws serve as models for other nations, remains a leader in identifying, mitigating and remediating environmental hazards. [Source: America.gov Archive] »
U.S. Helping Vulnerable Nations Fight Climate Change

U.S. interests in the world are best served by helping vulnerable countries prepare for adverse effects that climate change may bring, according to U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern. The diplomat, who has a long history in international negotiations on this issue, appeared before a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs subcommittee May 25 to outline the administration’s current policy, with a major meeting of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) approaching at the end of this year. [Source: IIP Digital] »
Thirsty World Needs Trees

If you’ve ever taken shelter beneath a tree during a rainstorm, you may have noticed water trickling down the trunk of the tree. It’s one of several water conservation jobs Mother Nature assigned to trees. To understand the importance of trees to water, consider this: 100 mature tree crowns can capture 380,000 liters of rain in a year. By regulating water for the world’s great rivers, trees secure water quality and supply water for close to half of the world’s largest metropolises — including New York City. [Source: IIP Digital] »
Trees Sustain Wildlife

Scientists are debating how fast species are going extinct, but they all agree that the ongoing loss of habitats, and of forests in particular, threatens biodiversity. This, they say, will ultimately affect everyone living on Earth. Ninety percent of animals and plants living on land make their home in or around trees. Such places can be filled with life that often goes undetected to the human eye. Scientists in Peru, amazingly, found no fewer than 43 ant species living in a single tree. [Source: IIP Digital] »
Global Climate Change

The United States is taking a leading role in addressing climate change by advancing an ever-expanding suite of measures. We have initiated a number of polices and partnerships that span a wide range of initiatives from reducing our emissions at home to developing transformational low-carbon technologies to improving observations systems that will help us better understand and address the possible impacts of climate change. Our efforts emphasize the importance of results-driven action both internationally and domestically. [Source: U.S. Department of State] »
Learn the Issues: Climate Change

Climate change is a problem that is affecting people and the environment. Climate change refers to any significant change in measures of climate (such as temperature, precipitation, or wind) lasting for an extended period (decades or longer). Greater energy efficiency and new technologies hold promise for reducing greenhouse gases and solving this global challenge. [Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] »
National Idle-Reduction Campaign

Here are 25 million reasons why it's important to reduce idling. Take the pledge...the key to reducing idling is you! Clean School Bus USA's newly launched National Idle-Reduction Campaign is a public information campaign that recognizes the important role of the school bus driver as a professional, who is responsible for the safety and security of children. [Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] »
Global Climate Change

Global Climate Change is NASA's eyes on the Earth. It provides vital signs for the planet, as well as evidence, causes, effects, and solutions to climate change. [Source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration] »

PUBLICATIONS

Climate Change Partnerships

Climate Change Partnerships leverage the complementary skills and talents of diverse partners and likely will be among the required responses to global climate change. [Source: America.gov Archive] »
Climate Change Perspectives

This eJournal USA offers perspectives of experts and activists in several key countries on effective policies to curb greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate global warming and adapt to irreversible changes, and features an introduction by U.S. special envoy Todd Stern. [Source: America.gov Archive] »
Energy Efficiency: The First Fuel

Increasing the efficient use of existing energy supplies is widely acknowledged as the fastest, cheapest, and cleanest way to meet future energy needs. Energy Efficiency: The First Fuel examines the strong U.S. record of tapping efficiency as a resource, and the accelerated efforts by individuals, organizations, and governments to squeeze greater productivity from all energy sources. [Source: America.gov Archive] »
The Greening of U.S. Corporations

This issue of eJournal USA delves into what those familiar with the history of the environmental movement in the United States might see as a surprising trend — the way U.S. corporations in recent years have embraced environmentally friendly ways of doing business. What prompts a corporation to “go green”? [Source: America.gov Archive] »
Rachel Carson: Pen against Poison

Rachel Carson was a quiet woman who stirred extraordinary controversy that persists decades after her death. Her 1962 book Silent Spring brought worldwide attention to the harm to human health and the environment wrought by mishandling of a powerful pesticide, fomenting the environmental movement. In the 100th anniversary year of Carson's birth, this publication examines how occasionally in history a book with a powerful idea can bring about peaceful but dramatic change in a democratic society. [Source: America.gov Archive] »