As part of a student-led campaign to conserve energy, recording artist Nelly Furtado and the students of Maurice Cody Public School in Toronto created a public service announcement music video featuring Furtado’s “Turn Off the Lights” song.

“As soon as I heard about the idea, I was very excited about it,” Furtado said. “Kids care about the environment more than anybody else because they are more spiritual beings and more connected to nature.”

The video was sponsored by the Ontario Power Authority, Hydro One, the PowerWISE Group, Environment Canada and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

In 2003, Maurice Cody Public School initiated the “Turn Off The Lights” program. Each morning at 10:30, student volunteers play the chorus of the song over the P.A. system. As the music plays, other students around the school turn off lights. With this campaign, the school has reduced greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, reduced other harmful emissions that contribute to air pollution, and reduced the use of non-renewable energy sources while saving energy costs.

As a gold-certified EcoSchool for the past four years, Maurice Cody Public School is proud of its community’s commitment to the environment and wishes to promote energy conservation to other schools and communities throughout the country by producing this video to demonstrate how easy it is to make a change.