From the Baltic Chain to the Velvet Revolution: Environmental Movements as Catalysts of Political Change in the Baltic States and Czechoslovakia

This paper examines the role of environmental movements in the political dissent of the Baltic states and Czechoslovakia during the 1980s, culminating in the Baltic Chain and the Velvet Revolution of 1989. We explore how severe environmental degradation under Soviet production-oriented policies catalysed these movements, influencing broader political transformations. Starting with Charter 77 and the Baltic Charter, the analysis traces the evolution from local environmental protests to cross-national solidarity. By framing environmental issues as fundamental human rights concerns, activists bridged local ecological crises with broader calls for freedom, making environmentalism a powerful platform for dissent. We argue that the shared environmental mobilisation fostered solidarity across national lines, laying the groundwork for revolutionary shifts and the eventual collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe. The study also addresses the post-1989 legacy of these movements, demonstrating how initial environmental concerns were overshadowed by political and economic transformations during the early 1990s.