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Prince William has told Cate Blanchett he feels like a ‘stubborn optimist’ when it comes to tackling the climate crisis.
The Duke Of Cambridge was a guest on the Climate of Change show, which was hosted by the actress, and said he believes ‘huge strides’ can be made in solving the planet’s environmental problems if we all band together.
The royal stressed that he was focusing on increasing the Earthshot Prize, an international award for the environment that encourages change and helps to repair the planet, over the next ten years.
William said his appreciation of the natural world was ‘piqued’ by his father and grandfather’s ‘passion’ for it, and described boyhood memories of climbing trees, digging ditches and being out in the ‘wild and the wet’.
He also revealed the run-up to the first awards ceremony for his environmental Earthshot Prize was ‘terrifying’, but thankfully the event passed without too much of a hitch.
When Cate said William appeared ‘quite hopeful’ that we may be able to ‘work our way out of what seems to be a crisis’, he replied by quoting Christiana Figueres, chair of Earthshot’s board of trustees, saying he felt like a ‘stubborn optimist’.
He added: ‘She’s given me a lot of hope that this can happen and I believe it, and I’m seeing it with my own eyes. It’s really inspiring, it’s really hopeful. We can make great strides, I believe.
‘The same way the Earthshot to me is a team game, and as you know Cate, I said that to the prize council members, to all of you, it’s everyone doing their bit and helping and supporting what we’re trying to do – it’s all of us in it together.
‘In the same collective spirit, it would be great if we could tackle climate change and environmental things the same way.
‘I really do think it can be done in much quicker time than we anticipate because the solutions are out there. There are real solutions to these problems.’
The inaugural Earthshot Prize ceremony took place last October at Alexandra Palace, London. Emma Watson, Harry Potter star, was one of the celebrities who walked the green carpet.
The ceremony saw £1 million in prize money presented to each of the five category winners – protect and restore nature; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a waste-free world; and fix our climate – and organisers have said if their ideas are realised by 2030 it would improve life for all.
Nominations are now open for the 2022 Earthshot Prize in the USA. The duke said that they have yet to pick a host city and he was eager to have a greater representation of nominees.
The duke travelled to the Bahamas last month where he visited the winners of the revive our oceans category – the Coral Vita project which grows coral on land to replant in oceans, giving new life to dying marine habitat.
Asked about his interest in the natural world, he said Sir David Attenborough’s documentaries had revealed there was a ‘wider world out there to explore’ when he was younger.
‘And I think my grandfather, my father, both kind of having a deep passion and interest in this area for many years, has sort of piqued my interest and my curiosity,’ he continued.
‘So, growing up, I was surrounded by kind of this adventure and this idea of exploring and being out in the garden. I used to spend hours climbing trees, digging ditches and all sorts of things – hiding in dens and all sorts round the garden.
‘So I used to love being out in the sort of wild and the wet.’
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