Beyond One Day

Every June 5, World Environment Day arrives with fanfare—speeches, rallies, plantation drives, and social media pledges. But once the posters are rolled up and saplings left unattended, the environment is forgotten—until the next June. In a country as ecologically vulnerable and populous as India, this tokenism is not just insufficient—it is dangerous.

India does not lack laws or policies for environmental protection. Municipalities have waste segregation mandates. Plastic bans are notified in state after state. But what is missing is public will. The disconnect between policy and practice is glaring. Garbage bins exist, but people still hurl waste on roadsides. Plastic wrappers choke drains. Tourists litter Himalayan trails without a second thought. We are quick to blame the government, but the problem begins with us. Charity, after all, begins at home.

The Himalayas, once pristine, are now bearing the brunt of this apathy. From Sikkim to Uttarakhand, the menace of plastic waste is growing—polluting glacial rivers, threatening biodiversity, and destabilizing fragile ecosystems. Locals and tourists alike discard bottles, wrappers, and bags as if the mountains were a dumping ground. This is not a policy failure alone. It is a mindset failure.

Environmentalism cannot be a once-a-year ritual. It must become a daily ethic. And for that, we need a cultural shift. Children must be taught environmental responsibility not just through textbooks, but through lived practice—clean campuses, zero-waste activities, and community action. Likewise, adults need continuous engagement through neighbourhood drives, waste audits, and penalties for littering. Environmental stewardship must be ingrained as a civic duty, not an optional virtue.

But civic sense alone won’t suffice without institutional support. India urgently needs stricter enforcement of environmental laws. There must be fines that bite, surveillance that works, and accountability mechanisms that do not collapse under bureaucratic apathy. Garbage management systems should function beyond paper promises. River and drain pollution must attract swift penalties, not endless notices.

The health of our environment is not just about climate change, glaciers, or distant futures—it is about clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, and dignified spaces to live in. One day of environment celebration cannot undo 364 days of indifference. What India needs is not just World Environment Day—but a people’s environmental movement, every single day.

If we do not change our mindset today, we will not have much left to celebrate tomorrow.