On Saturday evening, Vanderbilt will join tens of millions of people by turning off its lights for Earth Hour.

Earth Hour, which was created in 2007 by the World Wildlife Fund in Australia, is now a global event in which participants worldwide turn off non-essential lights for one hour. According to Andrea George, Director of the Sustainability and Environmental Management Office, Vanderbilt's first participation in Earth Hour will unite the university with people in more than 240 cities. She also said it will allow "(these cities) come together to make a bold statement of concern about energy conservation and climate change."

"(Earth Hour) will raise awareness throughout our student body of the importance of energy conservation and how thinking of just one thing you can do each day to conserve energy can really add up," George said.

For George, this forthcoming event emphasizes ongoing efforts on campus to raise awareness about the environment and implement environmentally responsible behavior.

She views the rise of student groups, such as SPEAR, NetImpact, and the Vanderbilt Biodiesel Initiative, as indicators of an active student body seeking to spread awareness about environmental issues.

George also noted the effectiveness of Vanderbilt's administrative policies, pointing out that all the Commons buildings boast newly acquired Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design qualifications.

George said that the increasing number of students who are taking active steps by recycling, using reusable water bottles instead of buying bottled waters, biking or walking instead of driving, and using reusable bags reflects veritable environmental concern which she believes will continue to grow in our student body.

Some students, however, feel that while awareness of environmental issues is prevalent on campus, students are still not taking action as environmentally responsible citizens.

First-year student Wenyu Qu said, "Residents of the Commons fail to understand that even turning the lights off when you leave your room can make a difference. Students are wasting too much energy."

While Vanderbilt's reputation in the domain of sustainability was somewhat tarnished by a grade of C+ given by "Green Report Card," George said that this was not a valid assessment of the university's positive steps toward environmental efficiency because it is focused primarily on endowment.

"Since we are a private institution, we do not make our endowment information publicly available, which leads to lower scores on those criteria," said George. "However, our operational measures were considerably higher."

According to George, regardless of the rating, Vanderbilt's "overall goal is to continuously improve Vanderbilt's environmental impact by prioritizing solutions that are economically, socially and environmentally responsible and improve the well-being of our students, faculty, staff and the Nashville community." She hopes Earth hour "will raise awareness throughout our student body of the importance of energy conservation and how thinking of just one thing you can do each day to conserve energy can really add up."