Brock University is hosting a sustainability challenge to support Earth Hour and increase sustainability awareness on campus.

Held this year on Saturday, March 26 from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., Earth Hour is an annual event that brings together people from more than 190 countries and territories for one of the world’s largest environmental movements. People are encouraged to turn off all non-essential lights to save energy and demonstrate the power of collective action.

In the lead-up to this event and to encourage students to adopt more sustainable habits in their daily lives, Brock has partnered with Blackstone Energy Services to launch a challenge through the innovative and interactive Blackstone Energy app.

To participate in the challenge, students will log their sustainable actions in the app to gain points. Participants who gain the most points over the weeklong contest will win one of three prizes, including a Grouphug window solar charger, a Cyboris solar-powered Bluetooth speaker, and a Hyrdo Flask donated from the Campus Store along with Stasher reusable silicone bags.

The sustainability challenge runs from Monday, March 21 at 7 a.m. to Friday, March 25 at 5 p.m. Students can register by visiting Experience BU and then downloading the free Blackstone Energy app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

Once the app is downloaded, students must follow these four steps to register for the challenge:

• Review and accept the privacy policy once in the app.
• Create an account using your Brock email and enter Brock’s challenge code: badgers.
• Click the badge icon to join the Brock “Earth Hour Sustainability Challenge.”
• Hit the green “Join Challenge” button.

From there, participants can begin logging sustainability actions. Some examples of actions that can be logged include using a reusable water bottle, turning off lights when they’re not in use, composting, carpooling and more.

The goal of this challenge is to help students learn about and adopt new sustainable habits that they can continue at home, school and in their communities. No action is too small to make a difference and contribute to a healthier planet.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was written by Alexandra Cotrufo, a Master of Sustainability candidate and research assistant at Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre.