June 2007 | Back to News
No Time To Lose (NTTL) designates Professor Antanas Mockus as the 2007 recipient of its Grassroots Arts and the Environment Award. The award recognizes Mockus’ innovative approach to environmental education and behavior reform during his terms as Mayor of Bogotá and his continuing work in education and outreach today. Professor Mockus has rightly been described as the man “focused on changing hearts and minds, not through preaching but through artistically creative strategies.”
To reduce water consumption in the Columbian capital, Mayor Mockus filmed a television commercial from the shower. To reduce traffic violations in Bogotá’s chaotic streets, his administration hired mimes to parody lawbreakers. As a result, under Mockus’ leadership water consumption dropped by 40 percent and traffic fatalities dropped by over 50 percent.
Professor Mockus also contributed dynamic ideas at this year's American Association of Museums. In the session titled “Green Light: Environmental Stories in Urban Spaces," he offered recommendations to improve city residents’ quality of life through connections with nature—ideas that will motivate the museum professionals who attended and, through their influence, the institutions and organization they represent.
No Time to Lose was co-founded by Jane Clark Chermayeff under the auspices of the Open Space Institute.