Earth Hour sees Brno veiled in darkness, but in Prague lights blaze on
Millions of people, institutions and town halls around the globe joined forces in calling for action on climate change on Saturday evening by switching off their lights for an hour. Launched just 3 years ago by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour is now observed by some 50 million people in 35 states. Although in Prague lights blazed on, the country’s second biggest city Brno was veiled in darkness as were a number of other locations such as Liberec, Telč, Třeboň and Děčín. Earlier today we spoke to Vojtěch Kotecký from the non-governmental organization Friends of the Earth about Czech participation in Earth Hour.
“A number of cities joined the action including Brno, the second largest city in the country, also some smaller towns and communities. So Czech participation in Earth Hour is increasing against previous years and we can expect it to get stronger in the coming years.”
“That is not so much about the people of Prague, but about the city of Prague because elsewhere the event heavily depended on the leadership of local councils and local mayors who joined and encouraged the locals to take part. There was no national campaign around Earth Hour in the Czech Republic but there were some very strong and interesting initiatives in some communities and towns around the country.”
Clearly, there is more to it than just switching off the lights for an hour once a year. Would you say there has been a growing environmental awareness in recent years in the Czech Republic?
“I think that Earth Hour is more of a statement – a public and political statement – rather than a real change to the environmental impact of households. But at the same time we can see a rapid growth in “green” behaviour of families and households around the Czech Republic: consumption of organic food is sky-rocketing, we have seen a growth in waste-recycling, people are insulating their homes, they are buying hybrid cars and so on – so there is real change underway which will have a substantial impact on the quality of our environment and our carbon footprint.”
There are indications that the Green Party may not pass the 5 percent threshold needed to win seats in Parliament in May’s general elections. Do you see that as a serious set-back?
“Well, obviously the Green Party in Parliament is a substantial voice for environmental legislation and other public issues but at the same time we will definitely see much more competition from the other parties around environmental issues because they will see that there is no trigger-leader or green agent and they will want to grab these issues which are popular among voters for themselves. So it would definitely be a setback, but at the same time it would provide interesting opportunities to work with the bigger parties.”
