Earth Day is a yearly occasion celebrated around the world to show support for environmental preservation.

The theme of this year's World Earth Day is "Invest in Our Planet," calling for a sustainable economy.

However, due to inappropriate and destructive human activities, the Earth is facing serious environmental crises, such as climate change, ocean pollution, deforestation and species extinction, which have irreversibly affected the planet.

What can people do to protect the earth? The terms "green" and "low-carbon" are closely tied to people's lives; how can we practice a greener lifestyle?

Environment Buzzword 2022: Food waste is not just about food

Globally, nearly a third of all food produced each year is wasted, causing almost 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and hundreds of billions of dollars in economic losses. When a portion of food goes to waste, one in 10 people in the world suffer from food insecurity.

Jackie Suggitt, capital, innovation and engagement director at Rethink Food Waste through Economics and Data (ReFED), a U.S. non-governmental organization dedicated to reduce food waste through data-driven solutions, shared her views.

Suggitt mentioned two causes of food waste that everyone can relate to: lack of understanding of the date labels on produce and the preference for foods with perfect appearance. Also, she outlined the solutions that her organization modeled out to tackle food waste: date label standardization and markdown alert applications. 

Shared by Nature: Working together for a water-secure world for all

Despite covering two-thirds of the Earth's surface, only about 2.5 percent of the world's water is freshwater, and just 1 percent of freshwater is easily accessible to humans. Currently, 2.3 billion people don't have access to safe drinking water, of which over 733 million people, approximately 10 percent of the global population, live in countries with high and critical water stress. 

How can we edge toward a water-secure world for all? Liz Saccoccia, the water security associate at World Resources Institute, expressed hopes for more financial funding in addressing the global water crisis, quantitative targets to hold people accountable and transboundary cooperation. 

Environment Buzzword 2022: When plastics turn into smog...

Roughly 170 trillion plastic particles are afloat in the world's oceans, according to a research paper recently published. Most of them are microplastics – plastic less than 5 milimeters in length. These particles are described as plastic smog and each one can carry toxins.

CGTN Nature talked to Christine Figgener, a marine biologist, and Marcus Eriksen, co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute. They said that a country should take care of its trash on its own land, and not send it to other countries. Also, the treating of trash like a commodity should be banned.

Biodiversity is an important component of the Earth's living systems. Conserving biodiversity helps maintain the interdependence of species and ensures human access to food, water and other basic survival needs, while providing important ecological services for social and economic development.

Every day, up to 150 species are lost. These creatures, like us, once lived on this planet, but for various reasons, they left us.

"When you think about extinction, you think about something that happens in a really long time span, but it is so rapid. It will happen in my lifetime," said Christine Figgener, a marine biologist working on sea turtle conservation. A few years back, she posted a video of her pulling a plastic straw out of the nostril of a sea turtle, which attracted much attention online.

Environment Buzzword 2022: UK's extreme heat and its lessons

We also need to be concerned about climate change. Extreme weather events, including heatwaves, wildfires, floods and droughts, frequently made headlines in 2022.

Data from the UK Office for National Statistics indicates that over 3,000 excess deaths were recorded during the heatwaves last summer. Bob Ward, policy and communications director at Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, shared his views both as a climate change expert and as an individual who has had direct encounters with the extreme heat.

Today the international community recognizes that the Earth's ecosystem is indivisible. A prosperous future is one in which humans and nature coexist together. On World Earth Day 2023, let's take care of the Earth together, we still have a lot to do.

For more

Climate Archive: What is China doing to tackle the extreme weathers?

Climate Archive: 1.5°C, the critical tipping point

Shared by Nature: Working together on extreme weather and climate change

Shared by Nature: From 'frog walk' to biodiversity conservation

'Shared by Nature': How to better facilitate the conservation of land and sea areas on Earth

Shared by Nature: More united efforts needed to preserve biodiversity

Shared by Nature: How technology can help preserve biodiversity

Shared by Nature: How to inspire more commitments to biodiversity finance?