City Hall plays host to Earth Hour

SATURDAY, MAR. 31: Hundreds of people today attended a special Earth Hour fair at Hamilton’s City Hall designed to underline the importance of thinking green.

Around 15 stalls from companies which promote sustainable consumption were on site, as well as films and entertainment leading up to the “lights out” Earth Hour starting at 8:30pm.

Judith Landsberg, president of sustainable development charity Greenrock, said around 200 people had already visited the event around 6pm.

Ms Landsberg added: “We’ve tried to make it a family-friendly environment with lots of things going outside and it seems to be going very well.”

Two films hightlighting the waste generated by plastic carrier bags and water bottles were also due to be shown and awards for local businesses committed to green initiatives were also due to be presented.

Ms Landsberg said: “We’ve got a lot of companies here which people might not automatically think of as green, like Bermuda Air Conditioning, but many companies are making an effort to be more sustainable.”

Ashley Tucker’s “Nourish to Endure” was offering vegan healthy eating options on the lawn outside City Hall.

Ms Tucker, 24, a university-qualified culinary nutritionist, has just started her own business after graduating in Providence, Rhode Island.

Ms Tucker, whose family owns Island Cuisine and Bermy Cuisine, said she could have taken more business-orientated catering courses, but became interested in the manufacture and processing of food.

She added: “I wanted to know about how food can be manipulated and nutritional values.”

Ms Tucker said: “The fair seems to be going really well and I expect it will get busier as the night goes on.”

The event is scheduled to run from 5pm to 10pm, with entertainment during the “lights out” hour provided by African drummers and fire dancers.