Photos & Video: 2017 Earth Hour Celebrations

March 26, 2017

Last night, Greenrock and a number of other organisations hosted the annual celebration of Earth Hour in Bermuda, bringing the island’s people together for both fun and raising awareness of environmental issues.

The evening’s featured activity was a 5K Glow Fun Walk and Run through the City of Hamilton during the “lights out” period from 8.30pm to 9.30pm. ‎The event saw live entertainment on stage, together with vendors, henna painting, BELCO bikes, electric vehicles and aerial performance demonstrations.

Executive Director at Greenrock Jonathan Starling was joined by Denton Williams, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of BELCO, and Minister of the Environment, Sylvan Richards in addressing the gathered crowd. Remarks from Hamilton Mayor Charles Gosling, who was unable to attend, were read out by DJ Felix Tod.

40-minute live video replay:

Executive Director at Greenrock Jonathan Starling said, “Greenrock would like to express its gratitude to everyone who came out to support the 2017 celebration of Earth Hour in Bermuda, with live entertainment at City Hall and a 5k Glow Fun Walk & Run throughout the streets of the city.

“Earth Hour is recognised throughout the world at 8:30pm local time, with about 187 countries and territories taking place and over 3,000 landmarks switched off their lights. In Bermuda City Hall, Wedco and businesses throughout the island joined together in participating in a symbolic hour of darkness.

“Earth Hour serves to remind us about sustainability, and the global theme for 2017 was ‘keeping up with climate change’. We now know that 2016 was the warmest year on record, and indications are that the trends influencing that year will continue to make themselves felt throughout 2017.

“The challenge of Earth Hour is to ‘go beyond the hour’ and make sustainability a part of our daily life, be it in our personal lives, our workplaces or even at the national level.

“Greenrock would particularly like to thank our sponsors for this year’s Earth Hour celebration, the members of the Earth Hour Council that organises the celebration, the police for helping with traffic control and the many volunteers and workers who, together, made Earth Hour 2017 such a success!

“This year’s sponsors and key supporters were City of Hamilton, BELCO, Axis, The Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, CHUBB, Sun Life Financial, Butterfield & Vallis, Orbis, One Communications, Oil Management, XL-Catlin and Be Solar.”

Remarks from Hamilton Mayor Charles Gosling:

“Here in Bermuda we are one small but important cog on the worldwide wheel, which is moving forward, to promote the universal effort to recognise the urgent need for energy conservation, emission controls and minimising our carbon footprint.”

“The City recognises the global need for environmental change, and it supports 100% the initiative put forth by the Greenrock Organisation, along with the many partners here tonight, to raise awareness throughout Bermuda that action must be taken to protect and preserve the planet.”

“We must all do our part, as responsible global citizens, to protect our planet, our home, not only for ourselves, but for the future generations to come. They will learn from us and take up the cause and continue to reverse the effects that we already endure and witness of climate change.”

Remarks from Minister of the Environment Sylvan Richards:

“This annual event gives us an hour to contemplate the effects of climate change and also gives us an opportunity to consider Bermuda’s role in bringing awareness and action to one of the most important environmental issues of our generation.

“Data released in January from NASA and the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that, globally, 2016 was the hottest year on record. As a small island nation, many would say it is hard for Bermuda to make effective change on a seemingly insurmountable issue like global climate change.

“However tonight, during Earth Hour, as we watch cities around the world go dark, it reminds us that we are all working together towards a global goal and we Bermudians are prepared to do our part.

“At the Ministry of the Environment our mission is to provide a balance between development and the conservation of Bermuda’s natural environment. The challenge of managing the effects of climate change on Bermuda is an issue that runs across the work of all the developments in the Ministry.

“The number of severe weather events in our part of the world is predicted to increase as a result of climate change. We have seen this over the last three years with the visits of Hurricanes Fay, Gonzolo, Joaquin and Nicole. One goal of the Ministry of the Environment is to deliver long term strategies to meet the challenges of climate change.

“For example, climate change is making our weather more unpredictable, which increases the threat of a major disruption to our ability to trade, therefore we need to look for better ways to feed ourselves.

“The links between air pollution, particularly greenhouse gases, and climate change are well documented. This year the pollution control section of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will be examining the Clean Air Act and suggesting amendments to improve this important legislation. The Department will continue to monitor air quality to make sure Bermuda is doing our part to reduce air pollution as much as possible.

“Bermuda may be a small place, but we can be a barometer for the rest of the world and could be an example of stewardship. I encourage all of us to take this hour to examine the sustainability of our lifestyle.

“I would like to take the opportunity to thank Greenrock and its supporters for taking the lead on championing climate change issues in our community, including staging this annual Earth Hour event.”

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