So it’s no small ask for the teachers at Corrimal High School to take a pledge that they will teach outside to mark Earth Hour.

And when even the roll must be marked on a computer, as is the case at many schools, switching off to mark Earth Hour requires some effort.

The Year Seven extension class has organised teachers to make pledges as to whether they will be teaching outside, or inside with the power off.

Corrimal High science teacher Elizabeth Price said power was integral to the way many classes operated these days.

“Every class has a computer and projector on,” she said. “We also have roving ‘labs’ – trolleys with laptops – so you could have up to 20-30 laptops in your class at the one time.”

It may be particularly hard for a science class to switch off, when experiments and demonstrations can require power. But Miss Price will be taking her three Monday three classes in the open air to mark the event.

Earth Hour was established in 2007 to encourage people to switch off all power for an hour, in order to draw attention to how power consumption and generation contributes to climate change and global warming. It’s officially 8.30-9.30pm Saturday, but students are getting in early.

Miss Price said she welcomed the chance to teach outdoors, especially as the Year Seven students had shown such initiative to organise the event at Corrimal.

“Some of the teachers will be taking the students outside; some will be turning off all the power inside for the lesson,” she said.

“We’ve got quite a large outdoor area; there’s quite a lot of seating.

“It’s beautiful – they’ve just done it up this year so they can take students outside more often.” 

Teachers may even have to hunt down some old-fashioned chalk for the occasion.

“I believe we found some in the storeroom some time ago,” Miss Price said.