Every year, many events are held worldwide to draw attention to environmental issues. One of them, the Earth Hour, is celebrated in March. This year, the event will take place on 29 March 2025. We talked to Leonid PLIATSUK (professor, DSc in Technology, head of the SumDU Department of Ecology and Environmental Technologies) about essence of the campaign, the main threats to the planet ecosystem and the importance of caring for nature.

How did the idea for the Earth Hour campaign come about? What is its main goal?

– There are several versions of the initiative origin. Some sources link its inception to an event that took place in 1970 in the United States. At that time, US Senator Gaylord Nelson, together with students from Harvard University, organized a campaign in support of the planet, which was joined by about 20 million participants. The environmental movement launched in Australia in the early 2000s gained much more momentum. It consisted of turning off lights and disconnecting electrical appliances for one hour and was called the Earth Hour. The event spread around the world, became an annual event. It aims to draw attention of people, organizations, businesses, and countries to the environmental problems. The campaign aims to inspire people to change something in their lives for the sake of the planet.

What are the main environmental problems in the world today?

– In my opinion, since I am engaged in anthropogenic ecology and applied ecology, the world community should first of all pay attention to the growth of anthropogenic tension and changes in the global ecosystem. Primarily, it is climate change and global warming. Some people remember how in the late 80s and early 90s, snow cover in our Sumy Oblast reached 1.5-2 meters, and the average temperature was around -8 to -10˚C in winter. And compare that with the current temperature regime. Why should we be concerned? Because climate change is causing rapid melting of glaciers in the Arctic. The growth of Arctic ice melting activity is about 4-5% annually. This means that during our conversation, some island in the ocean has already gone underwater. Ice melting also affects the rise of ocean levels. And we are on the verge of facing another major problem: the need to relocate people in a number of countries. This is a dangerous situation and a great challenge for the world.

At the same time, the problem of drinking water shortage is also relevant. It also affects Ukraine. You might think, what is there to worry about? We have large rivers: the Dnipro and the Southern Buh. The country is implementing the European method of water management, which involves monitoring changes and regulating the water balance. The management covers nine river basins, three of which belong to the Dnipro. Water resources are monitored, and modern laboratories have been set up to study these processes. Simultaneously, the country lacks drinking water. Sumy Oblast is in a better situation because it is located in the area of artesian wells. But low environmental culture and industrial emissions lead to man-made problems. Unfortunately, we have examples of wells being shut down because of this. That is, water has become unusable. And this is a big problem, because water is the source of human life. People cannot live without water.

Have environmental problems in Ukraine worsened due to the war?

– Of course, the war affects all aspects of life. It kills people, destroys infrastructure, and harms the environment. If we talk about the negative impact on the atmosphere, it means huge emissions. Nature reserves are affected, black soil is affected, water bodies are affected. Our region borders Russia, and the border is more than 560 km long. For every kilometer, you can calculate the damage caused by weapons. And the enemy uses different types of powerful weapons. The negative impact on the soil is enormous. We have started conducting research in some areas of Sumy Oblast, particularly in Myropillia. We are examining everything: craters, their depth, and technical components. For example, a kilogram of an explosive throws out about 1.5-2 cubic meters of earth. We have results of our work, but they are not very encouraging.

Leonid PLIATSUK noted that the range of research activities of the scientists of the Department of Ecology and Environmental Technologies covers a wide range of topical areas. The focus is on reducing the technogenic load from thermal power facilities through the use of high-intensity gas and water treatment equipment; a systematic approach to bioremediation of soils contaminated with complex oil and heavy metals; development of technology for production and combustion of composite fuels with simultaneous utilization of industrial waste; waste utilization using biotechnological processes to obtain target products (biofuels, digestate and other useful bioproducts); development of technology for utilization and disposal of waste.

Scientists of department systematically carry out research in field of ecology and environmental protection technologies on the topics “Assessment of the Local Technogenic Load in Changing the Industrial Infrastructure” and “Reducing the Technogenic Load on Environment from Oil Production Facilities: Prospects for Use of Biotechnology”.

The department conducts some of its research jointly with colleagues from other departments at SumDU, as well as in cooperation with scientists from leading universities in Ukraine and Europe.

The Earth Hour has many critics who consider the campaign useless. In your opinion, is this event effective?

– Of course, a power outage for an hour does not stop turbines at power plants. And if a power plant shuts down generation, stands for an hour, and then starts to return power, there will be a lot of energy losses, and even more man-made losses. So, we should not expect any economic or environmental effect from such actions. At the same time, I am fully convinced of the expediency of such actions. Global warming, melting glaciers, extinction of entire populations of plants and animals, depletion of the ozone layer, acidification of the oceans, degradation of natural resources. All of these phenomena are caused by us, humans. And every day, we continue to bring our planet closer to environmental disaster. In order to somehow counteract this process, thousands of environmental campaigns are held every year worldwide. I believe there should be even more of them. The purpose of such events is to constantly remind humanity of global environmental problems and the need to find ways to solve them.