If every Bermudian household that is allowed to own a car exercised that privilege, there would be an additional 4,700 cars on the Island, those who attended this weekend's Eden Project learned - along with a multitude of other environmental tidbits.

Thousands of Bermudians poured into the Botanical Gardens over the weekend to enjoy themselves and learn about the eco-health of the Island over the course of the event - now in its second year.

Moving to the Botanical Gardens from Number One shed lead to a bigger and better fair with a wealth of interesting displays in several pavilions, as well as dance performances, the eco-olympics, animal shows and even a antiques evaluation segment.

Organisers said the event started off a little slowly on Saturday morning but the crowd soon picked up and yesterday was very busy, despite the unpleasant weather.

Eden Project founder Joy Williams told The Royal Gazette she hoped to attract more children to this year's event, as last year attendees were primarily environmentalists.

Organisers seemed to have met that goal as many people turned out with their families and children were dashing about everywhere.

The three pavilions at Eden Project were arranged around themes of Earth, Sky and Sea.

One interesting display in the Sea pavilion enlightened fair attendees on the travels of Bermuda's spiny lobsters.

Bermuda lobsters walk roughly 300 metres each day, scientists learned through a tagging study.

The most athletic crustacean was found to have travelled 53 kilometres over the course of the study.

The full slate of electrically powered vehicles (EVs) available in Bermuda were on display for those interested in environmentally-benign transportation.

Many people will have already seen the EVs being used on a trial by BELCO and City of Hamilton, but a number of other EVs are being sold as well.

Bermuda Motors are carrying the Ford Think ($28,000) while Oleander cycles are selling Tasso Bingo Elecs ($14,000) both are cute two-person EVs. The Gem car is also available for $10,000.

The four-person Solectria Force is probably the EV which looks most like a regular car. It can reach speeds of 70 miles per hour and sells for $35,000.

Electric scooters were also on display with the Peugeot Scoot Elec ($4,250) and the Oxygen Lepton ($3,200) both available in Bermuda.

The bikes can reach speeds of 45 kilometres per hour.

Even if you buy an electric vehicle however, it still adds to Bermuda's over burdened roads, one learned in the Sky pavilion where a display pointed out Bermuda's peak morning traffic volume increased 4.4 percent each year during the 1990's.

In 1980, only 64 percent of households eligible to have a car owned one, versus 83 percent in 1999.

If the 17 percent that could have cars but don't were to buy vehicles, another 4,700 cars would be added to Bermuda's roads.

As well as enlightening attendees on facts and figures of Bermuda's environmental health, however, Eden Project is also a venue to encourage people to move toward more eco-friendly ways of life.

One area encouraged the use of composting; backyard composers such as the Green Cone and the Earth Machine were on display.

Other exhibits focussed on protected marine species, woodland management, methods of conserving energy and water, adopting pets, dealing with hazardous wastes - and very serious subject matter was well interspersed with lighter material making it easy to enjoy oneself while learning as well.

The Eden Project seems well placed to grow in popularity again next year, possibly competing for Ag Show size crowds in the future.