Earth Hour

On Wednesday 17th March, during period 5, Senior School shut off the lights for one hour in an effort to reduce Girton’s energy consumption and to raise awareness for Earth Hour.

Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Earth Hour’s objective is to call attention to environmentally sustainable action through the collective impact made when individuals, businesses, governments and communities voluntarily combine electricity conservation efforts. It was started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia, in 2007. Since then, it has grown to engage more than 7,000 cities and towns across 187 countries and territories to raise awareness for energy consumption and effects on the environment.

With all the classrooms across Morey, Naunton, PA block and the Gym becoming actively involved, opening the blinds instead of having the lights turned on, Earth Hour at Senior School was a successful event that we hope to continue once a term. In order to create enduring sustainable behaviour needed to reduce energy consumption, these short-term events need to be converted into longer-term actions. By incorporating Earth Hour into the Girton community, we aim to spark conversations about environmental footprints, the ways in which we can each reduce our own impact and the ways in which we can create environmentally responsible behaviour. 

Now that winter is approaching and the weather is getting colder, one of the most intuitive ways to stay warm is by relying on more layers and using curtains and blinds to keep in the heat rather than pumping the heater. By bringing a reusable cup when getting your hot chocolate, or bringing your own cutlery when buying lunch from the canteen, you can assist in reducing the wasteful use of one-use cups and cutlery.

Thank you to all those who actively participated and encouraged others to do so. Even the small changes add up when everyone is working as a collective. Earth Hour is a great initiative and we hope that everyone will continue to become involved in future Earth Hour’s and other sustainable initiatives we aim to implement into the school community. 

Jemima Davis (12 Jones)

Sam Kennett (12 Aherne)