A day when we should all make a decision

What does the June 5 “World Environment Day” mean to Beneath the Wisteria supporters?

Trees are the "lungs or the earth"
 and yet we treat them with
alarming disrespect.

Those of us who gather Beneath the Wisteria on the last Saturday of each month consider our response to climate change, but integral to our discussions are a broader concern about our environment.

Considering that, World Environment Day should be one of the pinnacles of our year or at least a time when we should be thinking about how our various addictions, whatever they might be, are impacting on the world’s eco systems.

The phase “World Environment Day” rolls off one’s lips very easily and so mostly passes without having any lasting impact.

Maybe it is a time when each of us can make a decision to think somewhat more deeply about what it really means and what we can do as individuals to ensure that the environment that was, until recently, ideal for the human species, continues or at least is maintained.

Many things need to be done, but probably the most challenging, and undoubtedly the most confrontational and within that the most disruptive and divisive, is to discuss honestly how we should address our exploding population.

Predictions point to a world of nine billion people by 2050 and with seven billion today the world has already exhausted many of its resources and our environment is truly suffering and so on June 5 it would be appropriate for each of us to think about what role we can play, as individuals, in helping promote a greater understanding of the need for population control.