What Prince Harry Is Calling An End For In A Newly Released Essay
Prince William's effort to make a positive impact on the environment has seen a fruitful start. On October 17, the Duke of Cambridge presented the inaugural Earthshot prize in a London ceremony to projects from India, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Italy, and a group that represented Italy, Thailand, and Germany. The winners received an amount of £1 million ($1.4 million) each, according to The New York Times.
During an October interview with BBC Sounds ahead of the COP26 summit in Scotland, William called the shortlisted individuals "innovators, leaders, and visionaries" and expressed hope that his Earthshot prize would initiate discourse around the dire need to protect the environment. "We can't have more clever speech, clever words but not enough action (at COP26), and that's why the Earthshot Prize is so important because we're trying to create action," he said.
Inspired by former U.S. president John F Kennedy's "Moonshot" project in the 1960s to send humans to the moon, William's Earthshot prize will address five key areas — restoring nature, purifying the air, reviving oceans, creating a "waste-free world," and helping fix the climate — by awarding five innovators annually with a sum of £1 million pounds for the next 10 years, as noted by the BBC.
William has made his move to save the environment. Far away in California, his brother, Prince Harry, is now making his. Like his brother, the Duke of Sussex has much to say when it comes to protecting environmental elements.
Prince Harry called for an end to drilling practices in a river in Africa
In an October 14 open letter for The Washington Post, Prince Harry called for an end to corporate drilling in Southwest Africa's Okavango River, which flows through Angola, Namibia, and Botswana, per WorldAtlas. The Duke of Sussex argued that the river nourishes wildlife and humans in the southern African region for generations.
"The Okavango is a force of life, providing the main source of water for nearly 1 million Indigenous and local people and some of the planet's most majestic wildlife, including critically endangered species," he wrote. "Though drought-ridden for much of the year, the region averages 2.5 trillion gallons of water flow during flooding season. But there is an imminent threat on the horizon: corporate oil drilling."
Harry called out Canadian oil and gas company ReconAfrica for "exploratory drilling" and for receiving a license for the same. "Some things in life are best left undisturbed to carry out their purpose as a natural benefit. This is one of them," Harry added in his open letter. "Further, the world is slowly beginning to adapt to greener energies and the power of nature-based solutions. The ecological, moral and economic imperatives to protect our natural resources eclipse the financial incentives of drilling. ... With their warning in mind, the world must take swift action to transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean, green and renewable energies."
Harry previously pleaded with people in December 2020 to fight for Earth's future in a video for WaterBear Network.