Next week, on June 5, is World Environment Day (WED). And while World Environment Day is slightly less known in America than Earth Day, it is no less significant as a global event that helps us to be mindful about our planet and its sustainability.

Originally founded in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, it has grown to become one of the principal vehicles of the United Nations to stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment. This year, the UN is calling on positive action and charge in regard to how we treat forests.

Along with this theme, the UN has chosen a host country to represent a nation that has taken a leadership role in improving the environment. This year, India will be the host country, affirming it as one of the fastest-growing economies and also one that is embracing a transition to a green economy.

How Is India Making A Difference In The World?

• By instituting a tree-planting system to combat land degradation and desertification, including windbreaks and shelter belt to protect agricultural land.

• Successfully introducing projects that track the health of the nation’s plants, animals, water and other natural resources including the Sunderbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world.

• Manufacturing solar and wind turbines for its Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which underwrites paid work for millions of households via investments in areas ranging from water conservation to sustainable land management.

• Delivering growth, greater equity, and employment opportunities but doing so while keeping humanity’s footprint within planetary boundaries for future generations.

• Since manufacturing solar surfaces with silicon creates toxic by-products, India is working to refine dye-sensitized solar, which is similar to photosynthesis in leaves.

Why advances in green technology are important to restaurant owners.

"I don't think many general managers and restaurant owners really think about how the environment affects them," says Alan Wong, general manger of Kung Fu Plaza. "But, if you stop to think about it, a restaurant is only a few steps removed from it."

To illustrate his point, Wong notes that nearby forests have been directly proven to affect agriculture growth. And since many restaurants, such as his family's, purchase direct from these agricultural areas, the success of their crops directly dictates the price, quality, and taste of the food his family and their chefs prepare in the kitchen.

"We know that every decision we make has a direct impact on the quality and taste of our food," says Wong. "What we would like more people to know is every decision they make in regard to the environment also has an impact on our food. Being more environmentally conscious is the first step toward making everything in our lives better."

Although Kung Fu Plaza is known as the most authentic Thai and Chinese restaurant in Las Vegas, many of the products and ingredients they use are imported directly from Thailand. Thailand's proximity to rapidly growing India has a direct impact on the agriculture in his family's home country. Wong says he is glad to see India is becoming such a strong proponent of sustainable growth.

For more information about WED, visit the special Environment Programme site created by the United Nations. For more information about Kung Fu Plaza, visit the oldest and most authentic Thai restaurant in Las Vegas. It was opened in 1973, after the Wong family immigrated from Thailand.