| Communications and Development |  |
Published by Communications and Development
The University of Canterbury has joined the WWF’s Earth Hour campaign, a global project to raise climate change awareness.
In a world first last year, 2.2 million Sydney residents turned off lights and appliances for one hour as a step towards reducing the city’s greenhouse gas pollution. This year, that number is set to reach the tens of millions with 24 cities around the world taking part.
Cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, Chicago and Manila will switch off their lights for one hour from 8pm on Saturday 29 March to mark the first global Earth Hour. Christchurch is the first New Zealand city to join the initiative.
UC’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Science and Sustainability) Professor Ian Shaw said the University was committed to sustainability.
“Joining Earth Hour is a symbol of our commitment and concern. When the lights go out in the University it might just make our staff, students and people living or walking by the University think about their impact on the Earth.”
Professor Shaw said in addition to limiting the use of lighting on campus during the Earth Hour weekend, the University would be advising staff how they could reduce energy consumption. Staff will be encouraged to shut down their computers, turn off unnecessary lighting and shut down office wall-mounted hot water boilers for the weekend.
“But that is purely symbolic. It's not about saving energy and the benefit this might have to the environment; it's about making people think,” Professor Shaw said.
“In New Zealand we have a nice cosy feeling about our green and pleasant land. It lulls us into a false sense of security about our individual impacts on the Earth. In fact, we each have a very similar impact to individuals in other parts of the developed world. New Zealand's impact overall is smaller simply because we have fewer people. We really can't sit around for much longer, we must do something.”
He said the University could influence international attitudes towards sustainability by ensuring students, many of whom return overseas or travel overseas after their studies, are aware of the issues.
For further information please contact:
John MacDonald
Corporate Affairs Manager
University of Canterbury
Ph: (03) 364 2910
Mobile: 021 417 289
john.macdonald@canterbury.ac.nz