L-R: General Manager of Security & General, Terence Rollins, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Atlantic Medical Insurance, Lynda Gibson and Vice President of Colonial Pension Services, Larry Gibson discuss their companies’ plans to commemorate Earth Hour. All three companies will shut off their electricity for an hour on Thursday, March 27, 2014. (Photo/Terrance Strachan for The Counsellors Ltd.)
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Nassau, Bahamas - Three leading insurance and pension
companies will spend 60 minutes plunged in darkness, joining millions of people
around the world who will observe the global environmental initiative known as
Earth Hour.
Colonial Pension Services, Security and
General Insurance and Atlantic Medical Insurance will turn off all their lights
for an hour on March 27 between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
They are taking action in the run-up to
Earth Hour, which will be observed on Saturday, March 29.
They’re not alone.
The Empire State Building, Buckingham Palace
and the Golden Gate Bridge are also observing this initiative, which started in
2004 in Australia and has since spread to more than 7,000 cities and towns
worldwide.
Vice President of Colonial Pension
Services, Larry Gibson said while the group is starting with a very “narrow
nexus” it could spread out to church groups and other organisations.
“In our own little way we think we can
help and make a contribution,” he said.
“As a group, all of our companies are very
socially minded. That’s a key part of our whole corporate mission.”
General Manager of Security &
General, Terence Rollins explained why companies should follow in their
footsteps.
“The whole concept of uniting people to
protect the planet is a great idea,” he said.
“This is something that costs nothing to
people to take part in. In fact, it actually saves them money. It’s a great
thing to do for our future and it’s just a great way of getting people aware
about protecting their environment and getting them not to use too much
unnecessary energy and of course to be conscious of the fact that we’ve got a
depleting ozone layer and that we’ve got rising sea temperatures and all of the
hazards that these things bring about, which are clearly very important for us
as an insurance company group, but should be important for everybody in the
globe to be mindful of.”
Mr. Rollins also noted that his
company tries to eliminate all unnecessary lighting overnight in a bid to
reduce its energy consumption.
“It’s really just a case of going around
the office and trying to encourage people not to consume unnecessary
electricity and just to be aware of the environment,” he said.
Executive Vice President and General
Manager of Atlantic Medical Insurance, Lynda Gibson said her company is in the
process of inviting some of its corporate clients to join in on the initiative
on Thursday.
“We’re sending out invites to some of
them now and we are encouraging our staff to take one hour on the weekend of
this event to turn their power off in their homes. So, it’s not just in the
office. Hopefully this will start something for them as well because we’re all
guilty of having the computers and the chargers plugged in. You’d be surprised
to know what happens once we unplug these things and turn the lights off,” she
said.
She added that Atlantic Medical’s energy
consumption has been reduced over the years.
“I think it’s gone down because on the
weekends and after hours we turn our AC off. We have timers involved. If we
have staff coming in on the weekend we make adjustments so that they’d be
comfortable, but we don’t leave the power on all weekend or after hours,” she
said.
Meantime, Colonial Pension Services
also has a major event coming up in May.
It has contracted the services of two-time Emmy Award-winning TV host
and New York Times bestseller, Suze Orman. She will discuss retirement
financing.
Atlantic Medical is also preparing for
its 16th Annual Fun Walk, which will be held on April 12.
