1. World Earth Hour – Saturday 28 th March 2015 - 8:30pm-9:30pm Notre Dame Earth Hour – Wednesday 25 th March 1015 – Period 2 ‘Use your power to change climate change’

2. What is Earth Hour? Earth Hour started in 2007 as a ‘lights off’ event to raise awareness about climate change. More than 162 countries now take part. Earth Hour this year is on Saturday, 28 th March 2015 at 8:30pm (local time). Watch this video to find out more: Official 2015 Earth Hour video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxIMib4e8f8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxIMib4e8f8

3. What will happen during Earth Hour? Residents in 162 countries will turn off their lights and use minimum electricity for 1 hour between 8:30pm - 9:30pm (local time). You can do the same! Instead of watching TV, eat dinner with your family, play board games or read a book by candlelight. Perhaps you could look out of the window and try to spot some star constellations!

4. What will happen during Notre Dame Earth Hour? The teachers will be teaching their lessons with the minimum amount of electricity and resources, where possible for one period. This will be Wednesday 25 th March 1015 – Period 2 See if you can spot the changes your teacher makes!

5. So why is everyone doing this? Because we are using too much unnecessary electricity and this contributes to greenhouse gases which causes climate change. Earth Hour raises awareness of these issues. Why 60+? We need to be taking action towards climate change beyond Earth Hour. But what can we do beyond these 60 minutes……?

6. Beyond Earth Hour…… 1. Walk, cycle or take public transport whenever you can. 2. Be energy efficient – switch off lights! 3. Only fill up the kettle with the water you need. 4. Eat local and seasonal food. 5. Go meat free for just a few days a week - roughly 18 per cent of greenhouse gases are caused by livestock farming. 6. Reduce your waste and recycle - rubbish buried in landfills produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. 7. Cut down on the length of your shower in the morning to save electricity. 8. Fly less - air travel leaves behind a huge carbon footprint. 9. Get informed - follow the latest news about climate change. 10. Get involved - take a few minutes to contact your political representatives and the media to tell them you want immediate action on climate change. Remember you should be trying to take these actions all year, not just for Earth Hour.

7. Thank you! We hope you will join us and thousands of other people in raising awareness of climate change both during our own Earth Hour at Notre Dame and World Earth Hour.

8. A Prayer for our Earth Most gracious God, we come before you to pray for the wellbeing of the planet. You alone know the full extent of the destruction we have wrought to your beautiful handiwork, and what needs to be done to remedy it. We pray for the people around the globe who suffer because of environmental damage. We pray for the defenceless creatures harmed or made extinct by our selfishness and ignorance. We pray for the oceans, air, mountains, plants, and soil, that life and health may again pulse in them. We pray that we humans have a change of heart and stop harming the planet. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us that we may have the passion and wisdom to work effectively to restore your creation. Guide us in our personal, church and community efforts. Give us strength to continue on with this work when it is difficult and requires sacrifice. Bless the Earth and all its life in every way. We make this prayer through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

9. World Earth Hour – Saturday 28 th March 2015 - 8:30pm-9:30pm Notre Dame Earth Hour – Wednesday 25 th March 1015 – Period 2 ‘Use your power to change climate change’