Earth Hour is this Saturday, March 29, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.
As in past years, parts of Brock will go dark on Saturday in support of the annual worldwide event. And as part of this week’s lead up to Earth Hour, the University will also be unveiling a couple of new sustainability initiatives on campus.
The first is a sustainability website for the Brock community. The second is a University-wide recycling initiative aimed at reducing the amount of coffee cup waste that makes its way to landfill.
Both initiatives will be launched Thursday, March 27.
The new website will be “live” Thursday morning, and the recycling initiative will be launched at an 11 a.m. event happening at the Student Centre Starbucks. The University’s annual waste audit results for 2013 will also be announced at the event.
In addition to these two new sustainability initiatives, Brock will once again be turning off all lights in parking lots T, U and V, as well as the lights on the University’s main entrance sign from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The majority of non-emergency lights in the Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex will also be turned off. The same goes for the Walker Complex, Union Station, the General Brock Store and BUSU’s offices. The Guernsey Market will be open, but they will be dimming the lights in the Market Hall seating area.
The University’s Residence Life Staff Environmental Committee will also be promoting Earth Hour in residences at Brock. They will be raising awareness about the lights-out event by handing out light-switch covers and glow sticks in residence dining halls.
Staff, faculty and students are invited to help out by switching off all unnecessary lighting within their areas during this time.
However, please ensure that it is safe to do so and that no candles are used.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) first launched Earth Hour in Australia in 2007. The annual event uses the simple action of turning off non-essential lighting for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.
