June 5 is “World Environment Day”. This Day was decided by the United Nations and it is aimed at raising awareness about the threats nature is facing, and adopting initiatives for the protection of our environment. The celebration of 'World Environment Day' is important because it helps us reflect on the importance of the environment for the entire world population, thus inviting us to realise how important it is to act to preserve it by adopting, for example, environmentally friendly and more responsible business practices.

Deforestation, water, and pollution all of them are elements strictly interconnected and have an influence on our environment. Water is an essential element for life on Earth. For many animal species, the oceans and seas must be protected because oceans and seas are their natural habitat. Also fresh water must be protected and managed in the best possible way: after all, fresh water is essential for all forms of life on Earth, including humans. It is therefore absolutely necessary to avoid and prevent any kind of contamination, because fresh water is a limited resource. Our impact on the environment is huge and we are consuming natural resources at an unsustainable pace, and deforestation is causing loss of biodiversity. Thus, we should all follow simple rules and adopt a more responsible attitude to help protect our environment.

Pollution consist in the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. Not everyone knows but there are different types and forms of pollution: when, for example, the soil is contaminated by different types of pollutants such as plastics, chemicals and/or fertilisers, we speak of soil pollution; air pollution when fossil fuels are burnt and when noxious gases and chemicals get suspended in air; water pollution when trash and chemicals can get thrown into the ocean and lakes; radioactive pollution when accidents occur at nuclear power stations and radioactive substances are dispersed into the environment (this is why we should use more renewable energy sources).

The Paris Agreement was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 (Earth Day) at a ceremony in New York and entered into force on 4 November 2016. The Paris Agreement sets out a global framework to avoid dramatic climate change by limiting global warming below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C; this important agreement also aims to help countries around the world not only strengthen their capacities to deal with the potentially dangerous impacts caused by climate change, but also to help them build a common consensus on all possible actions that can be implemented to safeguard planet Earth, our home.

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle are three fundamental words when it comes to the environment. These three actions help in reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and save the environment reducing waste which otherwise is dispersed. Of course there are many other actions or behaviors you can adopt in order to reduce your impact on the environment. Find out more and read our Tips.

The founder of Earth Day, Mr. Gaylord Nelson (1916-2005), a prominent politician and environmentalist from Wisconsin.

Earth Day is celebrated on April 22. Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970. The celebration, which is observed once a year all over the world, is meant to uphold the importance of protecting the environment and to raise people's awareness on it. Indeed, the Earth, especially today, is asking us for help and asking us to act in its defence: climate change and, unfortunately, also the numerous modifications that man has made to the environment and nature, such as, for example and above all, the extremely heavy damage caused to biodiversity, which is affected by events, even extreme ones, such as rising temperatures, melting glaciers, intensification of agriculture, deforestation and acidification of the oceans (to name few) are seriously threatening the future not only of our planet but also of our own lives.

Plants are able to reproduce through the process of pollination. For sustainable production, about 75 per cent of the world's crops required for human sustenance depend on pollinators. Consider that as many as 87 out of 115 major crops depend on animal pollination. You may be curious to know that even small rodents are pollinators, so not only birds and insects. In fact, there is the black and white ruffed lemur, a mammal that can weigh up to 4 kg, representing the world's largest pollinator.

All of these actions contribute to protecting our environment. As a person we can do a lot in preserving our environment: it is sufficient to change our habits and adopt simple behaviors which can also help us save money and not only help in contributing to protecting our environment.

Avoiding impulse buying and buying only what we really need is a simple behaviour we should adopt every day and turn it into a necessary habit to reduce our impact on the environment. All of us should become ethical consumers and pay more attention to the products we buy: for instance we should opt for brands that are transparent about the material they use and select our grocery items from local vendors who select their goods from local farmers. Also when buying a new lap-top we can choose regenerated computers or have our devices repaired, this certainly contributes to preserving resources and saving and protecting our environment.

Consumption inevitably leads to a direct creation of environmental pressures from the use of products and services. Consumption in fact is the major driver of global resource use. Achieving significant reductions in environmental pressures and impacts will require changing private and public consumption patterns. Thus: it is of paramount importance to control our impulses and behaviour by rationalising our purchases and buy only what we really need, and for businesses to adopt eco-friendly and improved production processes through innovation and better technology.

As climate change and pollution are becoming more severe, countries are enacting new legislation to protect the planet. Single initiatives are taken by many countries. For instance Kenya has implemented some of the most severe penalties for using plastic bags, Norway created a bee highway to protect pollinators. However an International framework is taking shape and the most important legal tool is the Paris Convention which is aimed at uniting efforts to fight climate change. However, more needs to be done starting from educating our children to respect nature and pushing businesses to adopt sustainable production processes avoiding buying items which are not produced in a sustainable fashion.