We said “Every Year, Everywhere, Everyone”. And they heard us. This year will certainly go down as one of the biggest WED celebrations in history. The WED rallying call was heard far and wide, as people of different ages, nationalities and cultural backgrounds came together to ensure a cleaner, greener and brighter outlook for themselves and future generations.

Last year WED was hosted by India and thousands of people across the country marked WED with activities ranging from tree planting to community clean-ups.

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Businesses and civil society also made green strides: ICICI, India’s biggest private bank led a “pledge for the planet” campaign that saw 8,362 bank employees make simple yet impactful environmental commitments such as switching to low-energy bulbs and using the stairs at work.

Meanwhile Infosys, India’s second largest IT firm spearheaded two major activities for employees’ children. The “Petit-Infoscions” took part in a Walkathon to bring attention to the conservation of the rapidly disappearing Bellandur Lake, before planting 20,000 native trees in Ramnagaram Forest in Bangalore.

Coca-Cola India also announced the launch of eKO cool solar coolers designed to be climate friendly while generating more income for rural retailers, who have limited/intermittent access to electricity.

Not to be left behind, various civil society groups and NGOs also organized WED related activities. For instance, the Eco-Needs Foundation launched a Mountain Conversation campaign to petition against the excavation of mountain faces and the resulting deforestation in Aurangabad, Mumbai and Pune.

In addition, there was widespread participation within the religious community as noted by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) - the body that runs one of India's most prolific temples - announcing an eco-initiative to supply biodegradable bags across its network of worship sites:

Nevertheless, WED celebrations were not limited to the host country, and thousands of individuals and organizations, marked the day with just as much fervor and passion as their Indian counterparts. Next door in Pakistan for instance, children took part in an art competition on forests and wildlife:

In Australia, an estimated 10,000 people crowded onto the lawns of Melbourne’s State Library to listen to speakers and music in a family friendly rally with lots of placards, banners and beanies proclaiming the importance of going green.

In Ireland, the furniture retailer IKEA organized a painting and poetry competition along this year’s WED Theme of “Forests Nature at Your Service”. Budding landscape artist 7 year old Matthew Gibson from Bangor painted an oil on canvas woodland scene whilst Botanic pupil and young poet Rebekah Unsworth (aged 9) created an expressive and colourful short poem about woodland paths featuring flowers, trees, streams and animals.Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency also got into the spirit of WED by organizing a competition where followers of the EPA on Twitter stood to win a break at one of the many ‘green hotels’ in Ireland.

In Switzerland, an art exhibit featuring 1,000 used plastic bottles was installed in the Palais grounds by American artist Mona Nicole Sfeir.  Entitled 'The Recycling Labyrinth: A path towards a greener future' the installation includes pathways where people can wander and read environmental messages placed between the bottles, and is shaped like a hand and a tree.