University of Alberta
ER-2: Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign

EARTH HOUR
http://www.sustainability.ualberta.ca/Events/EarthHour.aspx

Earth Hour is a global event organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and is held on the last Saturday of March annually. The initiative asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. The UAlberta celebration of Earth Hour 2011 included a variety of competitions and programs surrounding the March 26th, 2011 global movement. Examples of the Office of Sustainability’s outreach programming included:
- A “Energy Conservation Lunch and Learn” session, hosted by staff
- The “One Hour, No Power: Campus Challenge” competition in which students, staff and faculty at four Edmonton post-secondary institutions were encouraged to visit a common website and “make their pledge” to participate in Earth Hour 2011.
- The “Darkest Tower for the Hour” competition that ran in Lister Hall, UAlberta’s largest residence complex housing nearly 1,600 students in four towers. Residents were encouraged to participate in the online pledge program mentioned above.
- The “Earth Hour Pledge Party” was a people-powered concert that not only promoted the Earth Hour 2011 online pledge, but also demonstrated the benefit of alternative energy sourcing. Operated entirely by bicycle generators, and in collaboration with the student group Music is a Weapon, this concert was in celebration of Earth Hour.

ONE SIMPLE ACT ON CAMPUS
http://www.sustainability.ualberta.ca/Projects/OneSimpleActonCampus.aspx

A second outreach campaign is the One Simple Act on Campus program. This program invites the campus community to make a personal commitment to an action that reduces their sustainability footprint. This project is delivered in partnership with Alberta Environment and Water and will serve as a model for campus sustainability commitment programs under their original One Simple Act initiative. The project is built on a set of 20 simple actions divided into four sub themes (energy, waste, water and sustainability) that were co-developed with members of the campus community. The project launched in the 2011-2012 academic year and as of January 2012, 418 commitments were gathered from the campus community.

EARTH HOUR
Hundreds of students, staff and faculty were engaged during the promotions for these Earth Hour competitions that included classroom presentations, “do-it-yourself” reused material bag tags and Fair Trade™ coffee handed out in central Quad on North Campus.

In total, 1,582 students, staff and faculty from post-secondary institutions from across Alberta pledged to participate in Earth Hour 2011 during this outreach campaign, 826 of whom were University of Alberta campus community members. About 27 per cent of the Lister Hall residence population actively engaged in the competition, and Mackenzie Hall won for best tower with 45 per cent participation. Approximately 100 people attended the bicycle-powered concert.