#WorldEnvironmentDay on 5 June: Steer your career to study the environment

Posted on June 05, 2022

World Environment Day on 5 June celebrates one single fact that unites the entirety of humanity – we all are on this one planet together, and it’s the only home we have. It is the largest celebration of its kind and is the United Nations' principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for protecting the environment.

We need to take better care of the planet – and things are not going well so far, especially for the species we share the earth with. There is an extinction crisis looming, where many species are being eroded off the planet; take rhinos and pangolins, for instance. The pressures on the earth are also increasing. Climate change is exemplified by extreme weather events like the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal. We are overfishing the oceans, depleting freshwater reserves, and using forests destructively and unsustainably. Plastics and other pollutants are now found in virtually every component of the environment. And all this pressure impacts the very things we require for a prosperous life – like healthy food and crops, fresh water and clean air.

The Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of Pretoria is a world-renowned centre of excellence that advances the scientific study of what species do and how they interact with the natural environment and an increasingly transformed planet. We invite you to consider registering at the University of Pretoria for either the BSc (Ecology), the BSc (Zoology) or the BSc (Entomology) programmes, all of which will expose you to the diversity of life on the planet and the pressures they face, and hopefully, how to make a positive impact to our one, unique Earth.

 

- Author Dr Bernard WT Coetzee

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