MEDIA RELEASE

The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii-a luxury AAA Four Diamond resort located on the Big Island of Hawaii is pleased to confirm its participation on Earth Hour 2010, a global environmental awareness event organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

At 8:30 p.m. Saturday March 27, all 60 of Fairmont’s landmark hotels and resorts around the planet will participate by turning off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour – and in doing so will reinforce the company’s pioneering commitment to operational sustainability and help draw further attention to one of the world’s single largest environmental issues: Climate Change.

Guests of The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii will be able to celebrate Earth Hour by enjoying complimentary hot chocolate and s’mores roasted over an open fire pit oceanside underneath the stars. Complimentary stargazing will be offered with local astronomer Wayne Fukunaga and his team from Star Gaze Hawaii.

The Big Island, amongst the most isolated areas of land on the planet, is well suited for stargazing and many of the world’s top observatories are located atop the well-known Mauna Kea, a short two hours’ drive from the resort.

Guests may dine by candlelight from 8:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. at Brown’s Beach House, the resort’s signature oceanfront restaurant featuring sustainable, organically grown offerings from the Big Island of Hawaii. Guests are encouraged to join in on the Earth Hour celebration by turning off any lights in their guest rooms and colleagues are asked to celebrate Earth Hour by turning their lights off at home.

The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii is an active participant in Fairmont Hotels & Resorts’ Green partnership program. A wide range of programs are in place from support for local, sustainable agriculture through innovative partnerships with farmers, growers and distributors to ongoing water quality monitoring of our oceanfront Pauoa Bay through a cooperative grant with the University of Hawaii at Hilo Marine Sciences Department.

The employee-driven Green Committee actively seeks new ways to minimize the hotel’s impact on the fragile island eco-system by reducing waste i.e., offering canvas bags for groceries, energy-efficient lighting; recycling and water use reduction with linens. The resort also trades its cafeteria food wastes with a local pig farmer.

Earth Hour is a global WWF climate change initiative. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour to show their support for action on climate change.

The event began in Sydney in 2007, when 2 million people switched off their lights. In 2008, more than 50 million people, including several Fairmont hotels around the globe, participated. In 2009, hundreds of millions of people and over 4000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet.

With a long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship and responsible tourism, Fairmont is a strong supporter of WWF, participating in many of their campaigns, as well as being a member of their global Climate Savers program.

For the past two decades, Fairmont has been dedicated to preserving the places in which we live, work and play through its Green Partnership Program. Expanding on this 20-year commitment, Fairmont will continue to actively support a sustainable future and a low carbon economy, understanding that ultimately, we are all in this together.

For more information on Fairmont’s Green Partnership program and the company’s industry leading environmental initiatives, visit www.fairmont.com/environment.

— Find out more:
www.myearthhour.org/