Members of the Palo Alto High School Environmental Initiative talk during a club meeting on Thursday, April 12. According to Rebecca Navarro, Palo Alto Unfied School District Energy Specialist, the club helped publicize the event “Lights Out” hour, which will take place Wednesday, April 18. 

– Hae-Lin Cho

With the scores of environmental problems all over the world, it seems inconsequential to ask an individual or even a small community to turn off a light bulb for the sake of the world, but that’s exactly what the Palo Alto Unified School District plans to do.

PAUSD students will get the chance to participate in “Lights Out” hour from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18 as Earth Day, Sunday, April 22, nears.

A voluntary, district-wide event, “Lights Out” hour asks participants to turn off all lights for an hour to conserve energy and promote an individual responsibility towards the environment for a greater overall effect, according to PAUSD Energy Specialist Rebecca Navarro. The start and end of the hour will be announced over the loudspeaker.

Navarro added that “Lights Out” is a new event. However, over the course of the hour, the event is expected to save PAUSD around $320 and reduce the carbon dioxide emitted by an amount equivalent to burning 166 gallons of gasoline.

Besides the district, students in Palo Alto High School’s Environmental Initiative Club have also participated in the publicizing and supporting “Lights Out” hour.

“The group actually was working on a similar idea and was excited to learn that we were planning it district-wide, which we all hope will make it an even bigger success,” said Navarro.

Through “Lights Out” hour, Navarro hopes to raise awareness in individual responsibilities towards helping the environment.

“We hope to raise awareness of how much impact individuals can have both alone, as well as when they coordinate their efforts,” said Navarro. “We also hope that people will realize that costs and pollution adds up quickly across the scope of the entire district.”

“We also hope to bring more student awareness of the conservation program, as it has been primarily an initiative that impacts staff so far,” added Navarro.

Besides “Lights Out” hour, Navarro said that individual schools are holding more activities throughout the week before Earth Day, including “waste-free lunches, environmental rallies, and walk/roll to school events.”