Catlin End-to-End celebrates Earth Day

Commits to reducing litter in 2008 event
The Catlin End-to-End event and its organizing committee today joined millions of people around the world behind a Call for Climate, the global warming action theme of Earth Day.
“The End-to-End event, now in its 21st year, has, by definition, been synonymous with environmental awareness,” event chairman Anne Mello said.
“The participants who take part in this event, by moving at a slower pace along our roadways, waterways and the railway trail, can clearly see and appreciate the beauty of our natural surroundings – and can also see the increasing problems created by litter in these natural areas,” she added.
“In 2008, our 21st year, we have decided to do everything possible to ensure our event does not add to this problem, by launching our Bring Your Own Bottle initiative.”
The event organizers have enlisted the help of the Parks Department, charities Greenrock, and Keep Bermuda Beautiful, along with sponsors Catlin, Platinum, the Bank of Bermuda, and M3 Wireless – and special sponsor Pure Water -- to find an alternative to giving out an estimated 60,000 disposable water bottles to participants this year.
This year, each participant will receive a refillable water bottle, sponsored by Platinum, when registering for the event, and will be able to refill it at each of the water stops along the route.
By doing this, Bermuda End-to-End projects that it will be:
(1) Reducing litter and waste - despite its efforts to supply trash containers along the route, there are always bottles falling to the ground leaving trails of plastic bottles along the road side and railway trails. By incorporating BYOB into this event, the End-to-End will not have litter left and will reduce the costs of cleaners formerly needed to collect trash at the conclusion of the event.
(2) Saving energy consumption and pollution resulting from the transportation and production of plastic bottles - instead of purchasing water that has been flown into the island or has been processed using plastic bottles that have been flown into the island, End-to-End will be utilizing the 5 gallon bottles supplied by Pure Water, hich bottles the water locally using local water supplies. Pure Water also recycles each of the 5 gallon bottles which reduces the energy consumption and pollution of those 5 gallon bottles.
Worldwide statistics show that the global consumption of bottled water is on the increase. In 2004, the latest year for which statistics are available, it reached 154 billion litres (41 billion gallons), up 57% from 98 billion litres consumed five years earlier.
Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing — producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy. Although bottled water in the industrial world is often no healthier than tap water, it can cost up to 10,000 times more -- as much as $2.50 per litre.
“On Earth Day, we are encouraging people to reflect on these statistics and how their lifestyles reflect these trends,” said Mrs. Mello.
Some questions to consider are:

• How many times a week do you drink bottled water in a plastic container (not glass)?
• Do you use a refillable container?
• Do you reuse the plastic bottle container?
• When you are travelling, do you drink the tap water or buy bottled water?
• When you go to a restaurant in Bermuda, do you order bottled water or take tap?
• What type of water do you use at home - Pure Water, Tap, Filtered, Bottled Water, All of the above
• Using 500 ml bottle water, how many bottles do you drink a day - Greater than 5, 5 , 4, 3, 2, None

The Catlin End-to-End event, to be held May 3, is organized by the Bermuda End-to-End charitable trust, and is supported by numerous local sponsors and more than 2,500 individual participants. The Catlin End-to-End’s mission is to be Bermuda’s premier annual charitable pledge event, committed to promoting the happiness and well-being of our Island community through all-inclusive activities.
###