World Environment Day has been observed every year since 1974. Which means we’ve known for at least 45 years that the environment needed to be taken seriously rather than taken for granted. This year, China is acting as host country with the theme of #BeatAirPollution, an appropriate choice for a country that faces some of the most extreme air pollution in the world.

Air pollution is implicated in the deaths of 1.1 million people annually in China and over 7 million around the world. Although China has announced tough measures to fight air pollution, it’s hard to reconcile those actions with continued economic growth – which is what contributed to the pollution in the first place.

World Environment Day focuses on what we, as individuals, can do. Every little bit helps. But with 9 out of 10 people in the world breathing polluted air, maybe the best thing we, as individuals, can do is grow hearts of green and demand the same of our policymakers.

Real change has to be as diverse as the environment itself. It has to break through the hard concrete of old habits, at all levels of society and across borders. And it’s something we can do, but we can’t wait for another 45 years.

Growing a Green Heart on my village road in France. Photo: PKR