Bermuda to participate in global Earth Hour on March 26

This global event is led locally by the non-governmental organization Greenrock.  Their tireless work will allow Bermuda to celebrate Earth Hour on a national level.

Last year Earth Hour was celebrated by hundreds of millions of people from more than 128 countries & territories.

The Government’s Green Paper on Energy revealed that Bermuda’s carbon dioxide emission per capita is 15th highest in the world at 11 tons a year (which is the weight of about seven Volkswagen Beetles)! 

This fact alone should be a wake-up call to us all. We need to change our consumption habits.

Our wish, and indeed our challenge, is to increase the level of commitment to Earth Hour within our local community.

So, on Saturday, March 26 we wish to invite all of Bermuda’s residents to participate in this global event and turn off all non-essential electric powered items at home for one hour starting at 8:30pm, and to do the same at work and school before leaving for the weekend.

We also encourage those that remain at home to use this time as an opportunity to strengthen family bonds.  For example, why not take an after supper walk, or perhaps tell some stories around a candle-lit room with friends? 

Our students will also be encouraged to enter an essay contest to write about green energy and have the opportunity to win prizes for themselves and their schools.  The judges will be representatives from the Bermuda Youth Library and the Earth Hour Council.

All of us need to know the importance of the unsustainable path Bermuda is on with our current energy consumption pattern. 

We need to protect our natural scenic environment which is a major attraction of tourists that visit our shores.

Government’s support for this event should be seen as another step towards leading the effort to change our current consumption practices.

The upcoming and soon to be released White Paper on Energy and our support for Earth Hour are both consistent with the commitment contained in our Sustainable Development Plan.

The Premier, along with my Cabinet colleagues fully support this initiative and we invite the whole country to participate in Earth Hour 2011 and to let this be the start of a sustained effort to conserve our energy usage beyond the hour. 

Let’s switch off and surpass our 2010 effort.

Thank You.