World Environment Day Inspires Millions Worldwide To Take Action

Millions are getting their hands dirty to mark World Environment Day on June 5th, an event celebrating action around the globe to help the save the planet.

In the race to clean up a polluted planet, Paris has an ambitious game plan - working around the clock to make the toxic River Seine swimmable for the Summer Olympics next year. “The biggest polluter of the Seine River are the big rain events which bring a lot of untreated sewage in the water through combined sewer overflows,” says Dan Angelescu, CEO of Fluidion, a high-tech company specializing in water quality measurement solutions.

World Environment Day is giving workers an extra push to finish the job. “Our main goal of course is the Olympic Games,” says Colombe Brossel, a city representative for sanitation in Paris.

Four thousand miles east, a sea of toxic foam covers one of India’s most polluted and sacred rivers. Activists are calling on the government to wake up and help clean up the Yamuna River. Residents have endured filthy water for decades. Environmental experts estimate about 80 percent of wastewater from households pours into the river untreated.

With plastic pollution plaguing the planet, efforts are underway worldwide to get rid of it. In West Africa’s Ivory Coast, there’s a financial incentive as volunteers get cash for bottles they sell to recyclers. "Quite simply, the idea of cleaning up the shoreline came from the need to clean up the environment in which I live. I'm here all the time and the garbage comes in all the time too, so I decided to start by cleaning up where I live,” says local resident Charles Gore Bi.

The United Nations says that’s what it’s all about, everyone doing their part to create a more sustainable world.

It's the 50th anniversary of World Environment Day. This year's theme is "Solutions to Plastic Pollution" with people encouraged to share ideas using #BeatPlasticPollution.