World Environment Day takes place on Wednesday, June 5.

Many people in East Devon have environmental concerns and World Environment Day aims to encourage worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment

Hosted by China, this year's event will be focusing on air pollution, and invites people to consider how we can make changes in our daily lives to reduce air pollution which, in turn, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and benefit people's health too.

Air pollution is identified as the most important health issue of our time, but also harms our natural environment, decreasing the oxygen supply in our oceans, making it harder for plants to grow and contributing to climate change.

But the good news is that air pollution is preventable.

As part of World Environment Day, organisers are calling on people to consider planting trees; cleaning up rubbish and finding ways to commute without polluting.

World Environment Day was established by the United Nations in 1972 and has a different theme each year. In 2018, the theme was to reduce plastic waste, which has been gaining traction in recent times.

Groups such as Sidmouth Plastic Warriors, Plastic Free Ottery and Plastic Free Axminster are working with Surfers Against Sewage towards reducing use of single-use plastics.

The Sidmouth group was started in with the purpose of reducing plastic waste in the town, clearing up what is already there and helping to push forward.

Plastic Free Axminster and Plastic Free Ottery have also been created with similar aims to work towards reducing the use of single-use plastics.

All these groups are part of a community network across the UK that are tackling single-use plastic, wherever it is found.

For more information about Sidmouth Plastic Warriors, visit www.sidmouthplasticwarriors.org and both Plastic Free Axminster and Plastic Free Ottery can be found on Facebook.

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