Greenrock would like to remind the entire community to shut off any unnecessary lights this Saturday at 8:30pm in support of the Earth Hour Campaign. As a result of support from the Bermuda Government, Wedco, BELCO, Corporation of Hamilton, Corporation of St. George’s and the Chamber of Commerce, unnecessary lights will be shut off in Dockyard, St. Georges Square, Ordinance Island, City Hall, Pier 6, the Hamilton Bus Terminal and numerous locations throughout the island to highlight our commitment to sustainable living and action on climate change. If you are at home please take one hour to participate with your family and if you run a business please make plans to dim down as much as possible at 8:30pm or ensure that unnecessary lights are shut off before you close for the day.

This year our Annual Earth Hour Celebrations will take place in Dockyard, however due to the high winds and inclement weather forecasted this weekend we have postponed all entertainment and activities until next month on the eve of Earth Day. As a result the 5K Glow Fun Walk & Run, Yoga Glow Flow with Lucky Elephant, Green Vendors, Healthy Food Vendors, and Environmental Educational Activities will now be in Dockyard on Saturday, April 21st from 7pm. Several Restaurants in Dockyard will also be serving candle light dinners featuring special Earth Day Menus so there will be many options for everyone to dine with us in the West End on the night.

Our Glow Store, featuring reusable glow items, and Registration for the 5K Glow Fun Walk & Run will remain open on racedayworld.com and we are still actively signing up corporate, school and gym teams. Likewise, registration for Yoga Glow Flow will remain open until the event next month via the yoga schedule section on luckelephantwellness.com. The ferries organised to transport participants to and from the event will also be available next month and we will be releasing the revised schedule closer to the event.

This year our focus is raising awareness about single use plastic and in particular its impact on the marine environment. We have identified plastic bags, plastic bottles, straws, microbeads, coffee pods, wet wipes and other commonly used plastic products such as single use cutlery, cups and takeout containers, as items that we can all choose to greatly reduce or ideally eliminate from our daily lives. With that in mind we will now be taking the time between Earth Hour and Earth Day to share information about how to reduce our reliance on these items while raising awareness of the impact they are currently having on our environment.

Earth Hour is run primarily by volunteer effort and we are still in need of several volunteers for the event. For more information, go to 5K Glow Fun Walk & Run on the racedayworld.com website and click on the volunteer link. Funds raised for Earth Hour are used to support Greenrock’s community projects and programs which help to create a more sustainable Bermuda. This year we are asking participants to raise pledges in support of our programs and as a result we plan to recognise the top three individual fundraisers, the school who raises the most pledges and the top corporate fundraising team.

If you would like to know more about Greenrock, volunteer or get involved with the Greenrock Council, please visit our website www.greenrock.org, call 292-5406 or send an e-mail to info@greenrock.org.