On World Environment Day, Jordanians express love to nature by environment-friendly initiatives

AMMAN — Repositioning humanity’s relationship with environment, World Environment Day this year calls for urgent action to revive damaged ecosystems.

Celebrated every year on June 5, this year’s World Environment Day official celebrations are hosted by Pakistan, shedding light on ecosystem restoration under a theme titled, “Reimagine.Recreate.Restore.”

“Ecosystem restoration is a global undertaking at massive scale,” wrote UN website, adding that ecosystem restoration involves repairing billions of hectares of land and bringing back plants and animals from the brink of extinction.

Ecosystem restoration also includes “the many small actions everyone can take every day: Growing trees, greening our cities, rewilding our gardens or cleaning up trash alongside rivers and coasts”.

Baraa Ahmad, a Jordanian citizen, started a neighbourhood initiative two months ago, with the aim to plant a tree in front of each house, to increase the area’s green space. 

“There are many easy ways to help our environment,” said Ahmad, expressing her love to everything that is green, which made her start by planting trees.

“Trees help clean the air, help fight climate change, provide more oxygen in the air, absorb carbon, in addition to creating sustainable benefits to the earth,” she added.

Noor Shabsough, a young avid environmentalist told The Jordan Times over the phone on Saturday that she started utilising reusable bags when she goes shopping.

“There is no need to use plastic bags. We need to stop being self-centred. We need to start thinking of our only home,” Shabsough noted.

Using reusable bags reduces the impact of plastic bags on the environment, she added, noting that all people need to care, by starting with simple environmental-friendly acts.