Earth Day: Protecting what we have left

With climate change, plastic pollution and a potential sixth mass extinction, the future of humanity seems very bleak.

Climate issues started only recently being known and paid heed to. Scientists in the 1970s had discovered that a certain class of chemicals, often used in aerosol sprays and refrigeration, was eating away the protective ozone layer in Earth’s atmosphere that shields the planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation linked to skin cancer.

In the United States and much of the industrialized world, the air is much cleaner and clearer than it was 50 or 60 years ago when major cities like Los Angeles were choked with smog and even more dangerous microscopic particles in the air. And lakes and rivers were dumping grounds, especially around Ohio, Michigan and Canada. In Nepal too, our sacred river Bagmati has been polluted beyond saving, polluted with industrial waste, and sewages.

On the occasion of Earth Day, the Ministry of Forests and Environment is holding an event at ICIMOD to inaugurate the new land cover map of Nepal. Ministry of Forests and Environment spokesperson Megh Nath Kafle says, “We have been closely monitoring the land situation in Nepal and are going to reveal the new land cover map tomorrow.”

 “People must acknowledge issues like global warming and climate change and take care of our planet. Mankind will only prosper when our earth is healthy, otherwise we will not survive”, he further adds.