By Michael Bernaschina, Staff writer
Susquehanna took part in Earth Hour, an annual, worldwide demonstration of environmental support on March 24. Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007 as a lights-out event meant to acknowledge climate change and show support for the environment, per the Earth Hour website.
The event saw 2.2 million homes and businesses turn off their lights that year and since then has spread to over 180 countries around the world, according to timeanddate.com.
An article posted on the LA Times’ website described the mission as “a global call for international unity on the importance of addressing climate change.”
The initiative’s website also offers a description, which states, “Starting as a symbolic lights out event in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour is now the world’s largest grassroots movement of the environment, inspiring millions of people to take action for our planet and nature.”
This year’s Earth Hour began at 8:30 p.m., and saw the Sydney Opera House, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the London Eye, St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Las Vegas strip all going dark for an hour. Joining them for the first time was the Susquehanna campus.
“President Green brought it to my attention hoping we could participate on campus,” said Sustainability Coordinator Derek Martin. “It’s a good way to bring awareness to the amount of power we’re using.”
According to Martin, in previous years the only ones who participated in Earth Hour were the members of Geo Club. “This is the first year where we made a concerted effort to get the campus involved,” Martin said.
“We did an outreach campaign on social media, and chatted with people about what Earth Hour is,” Martin said.
Spearheaded by Martin and the Student Activities Committee, the campaign consisted of posts on various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Once the event had been promoted, Martin coordinated with facilities to carry it out.
The on-campus participation in the event mainly focused on the dorms, according to Martin. Due to safety concerns, lights in buildings, such as the library, were required to stay on.
Martin said that it was purposefully coordinated with the spring concert on Saturday, because students would have turned the lights in their rooms off before attending the concert.
Next year’s Earth Hour won’t fall on the same night as the spring concert, so Martin hopes to organize an outdoors event during that hour which encourages student to turn off their lights and come outside.
“This is the first year it’s happening on campus, so we’re hoping for it to gain traction in future years,” said Martin.
Junior Student Sustainability worker, Ryan Carter, observed the hour on March 24. “I think it’s inspiring to see that the university is taking meaningful action to spread awareness for the protection of the Earth and its natural resources,” Carter said.
Carter is enthusiastic about the hope to continue the event for next year at Susquehanna. “I do hope to see it happen next year,” Carter said.
Along the lines of advertisement, Carter hopes that in the future, the event will be more widely advertised with posters, more posts and that it will be advertised earlier.
SU Sustainability will be partnering with the Johnson Center for Civic Engagement next month for Earth Week, another environmentally conscious event, which will begin April 23 and end on April 27.
More information about Earth Week will be available soon.
Next year’s Earth Hour is scheduled to take place March 30, 2019, where even more people around the globe, not just at Susquehanna, are expected to participate.
