Ecobreves – CUBA: Energy Awareness Needs More Than One Blackout

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HAVANA, Mar 3 2008 (IPS) - Conducting a “general blackout” for five minutes on Feb. 29 was “laudable, but insufficient” for generating changes in energy consumption, says Ricardo Bérriz, coordinator in Cuba of the United Nations Environment Program's Global Environmental Citizenship project. The international call was circulated around this Caribbean island by the Cuban Network of Environmental Training, which operates as a link between government agencies, institutions, non-governmental organizations and local projects to educate professionals and citizens.

Bérriz told Tierramérica that initiatives like this help to “mobilize public opinion,” but “deeper processes are required for changes in people's daily behavior, based on policies of respect for the environment that make energy consumption sustainable for the planet.”