Prince William Launches Climate Contest And Pokes Fun At His Father

Prince William has just launched The Earth shot Prize which some have dubbed a Nobel Prize for the environment. But with roughly $1.3 million going to each lucky recipient, $65 million in all, it pays more than a Nobel Prize and this initiative has a limited, ten-year window in which to submit ideas.

At the same time he discussed his new project, William took a moment to get in a little good-natured dig at his father Prince Charles who was an environmentalist before it was trendy. He joked he often has no idea what Prince Charles is, “banging on about,” in an interview with BBC Radio 4.

William admitted that in the past he thought Charles’ talk of preserving the environment was “dotty.”

“I regularly wonder what my father’s banging on about and I’m sure every son thinks the same. But no, publicly, with my father’s environmental credentials, he’s talked about this for a long time and long before people cottoned on to climate change.”

“So I’ve always listened to and learned and believed in what he’s saying. But I know it’s a very hard sell, 40 years ago, to predict and see some of the slow-moving catastrophes we’re heading towards.”

The Earth Shot Prize Hands Out Awards For projects Aimed At Saving The Environment

Decades ago Charles was given side-eye in the British media for his environmental views, but today he is seen as a pioneer who rang the alarm on pressing issues such as plastic pollution before it became a mainstream concern.

The project will award five prizes each year for ten years in the categories of protecting and restoring nature, cleaning our air, reviving our oceans, building a waste-free world, and fixing our climate.

William teamed up with Sir David Attenborough for the project and told him in an interview, “The Earth shot Prize is the most prestigious global environmental prize there’s ever been.”

Prince William Has Launched The Earth Shot Prize In An Effort To Derail Climate Change

The judges include singer Shakira and actress Cate Blanchett.

After being announced as a judge Shakira said, “Your children, my children – they have to find ways to reduce carbon emissions, to repair our oceans, to clean the air. So we need young minds to be informed and invested, which is why education is so important. But we can’t just standstill. We have to lead the way and we have to do it now.”

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For her part, Blanchett said, “I know it’s ambitious and I know there will be so many challenges along the way but I also know there will be so many who will rise to the occasion. I feel extremely honored to be a member of the Earth shot Prize Council, and humbled and invigorated to be amongst such extraordinary activists, experts, and leaders in the environmental sector.”

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