The United Nations celebrated World Environment Day on June 5th by encouraging people to stop using plastic. With the social media hashtags #beatplasticsolution and #cleanseas circulating the web, people made efforts to encourage environmental awareness.

World Environment Day was first introduced in 1974 and has since been celebrated in over 100 countries. Each World Environment Day has a theme of focus; this year’s theme was “Beat Plastic Pollution.” People around the world were encouraged to examine how they contribute to plastic pollution and environmental damage.

Although plastics are often used to for our convenience, the environmental damage they cause is too much to ignore. The #beatplasticpollution initiative is urging all people to make efforts to reduce their daily use of plastic.