It's Not Cool To Idle At School
A program for students: Promote clean air by learning about engine idling and advocating to stop it near your school.
Idling is not ideal.
- burning gasoline
- creating smog
- contributing to global warming
- creating a health hazard
Running engines in school zones can be hard on young lungs, triggering asthma and exposing students to harmful pollution.
You can improve air quality near school.
Our toolkit can help 5th-8th grade students raise awareness of the impact of idling in school communities.
Understand the issue. Read our fact sheet about idling and download copies to share with your classroom or student group. Measure idling. Make a plan to observe car and bus engine idling at drop-off and pick-up times at your school. Appoint idling monitors for busy locations near the school and for more than one day, so that you can compare results. Idling monitors will need a stopwatch and this observation form. Calculate emissions. Use the observation data from step two and this calculation worksheet to measure carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds from idling engines. Ask for change. If you want to stop idling near school, you can start by educating people about the problem and then by asking drivers to change their habits. Follow-up observations. Did drivers near your school change their idling habits as a result of your campaign? Choose a time after pledges are collected to repeat step two and monitor idling around the school. Compare your results to the original observations. Report to OEC. We want to know if you've tried this anti-idling program and whether it worked for your school. Tell us your story! We always like to know when students find ways to make this program better.
Part one: Make a plan to share the results of your monitoring with your school community. You might make presentations to classrooms, write letters to the local paper and create posters to hang in the school. See presentations by fourth graders in Portland.
Part two: Ask bus drivers, parents and other drivers who idle near school to make a commitment to shut off their engines while waiting. You can ask them to sign a pledge, and then remind them of their pledge by posting signs in parking lot or drop-off zones.
- Download all of the "It's Not Cool to Idle at School" fact sheets and observation forms here. [PDF]
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See how the fourth grade students at Portland's French American International School used the campaign (photos and video on Flickr).
This project was made possible through grants from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund and the Kellogg Foundation. Thanks to all for helping us provide schools with tools to make the air cleaner with every turn of the key.
