22 March 2009
To: NUS Faculty, Staff Members and Students

Reminder: WWF Earth Hour: Switching off our lights on 28 March 2009, Saturday, 8.30pm to 9.30pm
Earth Hour in NUS

1. Organised by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007 when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008, the event became global with 50 million people switching off their lights. This year, the objective of Earth Hour is to target 1 billion people to switch off their lights to symbolise voting against global warming. WWF will be presenting the outcome of Earth Hour 2009 to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009, where this meeting will determine official government climate change policies to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

2. In Singapore, Earth Hour is supported by many organisations including NUS, NTU, SMU, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NParks, CDCs, Singtel, Microsoft, Alexandra Hospital, The Esplanade Co. Ltd and many more (see www.earthhour.org/news/sg:en for supporting Singapore organisations).

Earth Hour in NUS
3. In support of the WWF Earth Hour global initiative, Office of Estate and Development (OED), Office of Environmental Sustainability (OES) and Students Against Violation of the Earth (SAVE) are working with participating faculties, offices and departments to switch off all lights, except emergency and street lights, on 28 March 2009, Saturday, 8.30pm to 9.30pm. Power supplies are not affected. In the event of an emergency on 28 March, please call Campus Security Hotline at 6874 1616. For maintenance issues, please contact OED at 6516 1515.

4. Participating areas include University Hall, Faculty of Science (S12, S13, S14, S15), Sports and Recreation Centre (SRC) courts, football and multi-purpose fields, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Centre for the Arts (CFA) Studios, University Cultural Centre and canteens.

5. All halls, residences, administrative offices, departments and faculties are encouraged to participate in Earth Hour by switching off their office and room lights on 28 March, Saturday, 8.30pm to 9.30pm. For administrative units, staff are encouraged to switch off their lights on 27 March, Friday evening, before they leave their offices. For enquiries, please contact OES at oesld@nus.edu.sg or at 6516 1983.

6. All staff and students are cordially invited to attend a NUS Earth Hour programme specially organised by SAVE in support of the WWF global initiative. In the event of inclement weather, please proceed to LT 27 for the movie screening.

7. For energy saving tips, please refer to National Environment Agency’s 10% Energy Challenge at www.e2singapore.gov.sg/energy-challenge.html.