Fife College Switches Off For Earth Hour

Fife College is showing its support for Earth Hour by hosting a special event on March 25. Fife College staff are pictured previously picking up an award on behalf of the college for its Green Vented Salon, situated at the Halbeath Campus.

Earth Hour will take place on Saturday, March 25, at 8.30pm, and is celebrated around the globe with millions of people, businesses, and landmarks switching off their lights to help increase awareness of climate change.

As the College is closed at this time, they have decided to hold this event on Wednesday 22 March so that all students can show their support for Earth Hour.

Organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Earth Hour has become an international phenomenon, with the aim to make as much noise as possible for action on climate change.

Landmarks all over the world have taken part in previous years, including the Eiffel Tower and Sydney Opera House, so the College has decided to stand up and play their part in engaging with this important event.

During the event, which will begin at 10am, all unnecessary lights at each College campus will be turned off, and wherever possible equipment use will be eliminated or reduced. This will minimise all power consumption during the hour. Following this, the building monitoring systems will be analysed to determine how much energy was saved and carbon emissions reduced.

By simply turning off all unnecessary lights for one hour, the College is showing its support by recognising the importance of climate change.

Christina Laing, head of department for Hair, Beauty, Sport and Fitness at Fife College and chairman of the College’s Sustainable Development Group (SDG) is delighted that the College is taking part in this important event and has already seen such great enthusiasm from both staff and students.

Christina said: “We plan to dedicate the hour to discussing sustainability, climate change and how staff and students at Fife College can make a difference. One of the main purposes of Earth Hour is to raise awareness of the issues affecting our planet and that is why these discussions will be so valuable. With approximately 1,000 staff, and over 20,000 students, the chance to have so many people thinking about, and talking about the changes that are happening all around us is a great opportunity for the College to make a real difference.”

Fife College started to fulfil their commitment to sustainability by introducing the Inspired Salon, an eco-friendly hair salon, offering traditional treatments with fitted ventilation at their Halbeath Campus in Dunfermline.

The College also recently launched an online sustainability module recently which can be accessed by anyone through the College website- www.fife.ac.uk/onlineresources/Pages/SustainabilityModule