World Environment Day

World Environment Day is celebrated every year on the 5th June and is run and organised by the United Nations to raise awareness of our planet and the environment. This year is particularly noteworthy as it marks 50 years since the first international meeting on the environment – the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment – when the idea for World Environment Day was first suggested.

Every year, World Environment Day is hosted by a different country and the hosts for 2022 are Sweden, where the 1972 conference was held. The slogan that year was Only One Earth and fittingly, 50 years on, it’s the theme once again.

The #OnlyOneEarth campaign aims for us all to celebrate our planet through collective environmental action on issues like pollution and climate change as well as encouraging everyone, everywhere to live sustainably.

Purple Mash activities

To celebrate these topics, we have several resources you can use in the World Environment Day area of Purple Mash. All of the writing projects you’ll find use the newly updated version of 2Publish, giving you much more flexibility over the layout and style of each template. 2Publish is one of the many teaching and learning tools available within Purple Mash, which you can try for free.

Climate Change

To start with, there’s a Climate Change Slideshow that you can use in class to teach children about all sorts of topics from the Carbon Cycle and the Greenhouse Effect to energy saving tips. After going through the slides and stimulating discussion with children, you can put their knowledge to the test with one of the 2 Climate Change Quizzes.

Renewable Energy

Within the World Environment Day area you’ll also see a Renewable Energy leaflet, which children can complete with the different types of energy and the benefits of renewable sources. After that, there’s a big focus on water, including a Water Words exercise and a Water Use leaflet – to describe all the activities you’d miss if you had to go and collect all your water. Imagine that!

Water is vital for our survival and therefore, why not write about why water pollution is so bad using our writing template. Try and persuade others about the importance of fresh and clean water. Or you could write all about how rivers flow and why, describing the features from the source all the way to the sea. You can even tell us what water is used for and look at the features of a river.

Animals and their environment

Why not write about how different animals have adapted to the environments in which they live? Some animals have adapted to the tundra, whereas others have adapted to live in the sea, the mountains and even the desert. What features make them able to survive in different climates?

Pollution

One of the biggest problems facing our seas and our land is that of littering and pollution. We need to ensure that we are working together in stopping all littering and therefore reducing waste which in turn will bring pollution levels down. Use our template to write a report about litter and why it is so bad for the environment, or alternatively create a poster about why littering is bad. You can also let us know why recycling is so important with our writing templates.

Share your work with us

Whatever you are doing to celebrate World Environment Day, we would love to see and share your work. Tweet us @2SimpleAus or @PurpleMash, or go to 2SimpleAustralia on Facebook.

Useful links

World Environment Day

World Environment Day resources on Trello

Earth School from TEDEd: watch and collate video-based lessons, create your own lesson and learn through interactive experiences.