Havel supports greenhouse gas emission campaign

CzechNews
15. 4. 2009 17:55
Former Czech president goes green by joining the Rainbow Movement energy saving drive
Václav Havel goes green
Václav Havel goes green | Foto: Ludvík Hradilek

Prague - The Czech environmental movement Duha (Rainbow) has won support of one of the major Czech celebrities for their greenhouse gas emission campaign -  former president Václav Havel.

"We feel honored to have such an authority supporting our campaign," Duha head Petr Michálek told Aktuálně.cz.

The goal of the multi-million campaign called Big Challenge (Velká výzva) is to promote a law that would set a target to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by 2 percent every year.

Apart from Havel, Czech writers Michal Viewegh and Miloš Urban and singer and actor Jan Budař have helped to promote the campaign, too.

President Klaus not interested

But incumbent president Václav Klaus has not shown much interest in the project yet.

Despite the fact Václav Klaus is an outspoken critic of global warming, Duha program director Vojtěch Kotecký thinks they could find some common ground, for example in the economy sphere. New eco-friendly technologies could help boost the Czech soaring economy, says Kotecký and that is precisely what the president could find interesting.

The Czech Republic with its 12 tons of carbon dioxide per capita per year is among the "record-breaking" European countries.

Both - economy as well as households - could be benefiting from the Duha energy saving project, says Kotecký.

Families can save in their family budgets if they insulate their houses properly, for which they can receive EU funds. That will also reduce the country's dependency on the oil import.

"The Czech Republic spent CZK 390 million last year only for the oil import," Martin Hikeska of Duha Movement said. "Well-insulated houses and other measures may reduce the energy consumption by 60 percent," he added.

 

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