http://www.sierraclub.bc.ca/quick-links/Turn%20it%20off%20handout.pdf

Idle-Wise campaign: One small action by a single person does have enormous impact.  Alone, it is a symbol – an example to many others.  When multiplied over hundreds, thousands and millions, it can be world-changing.  One small action every person can take is to shut off their vehicle if idling for 10 seconds or more, and to urge others do the same.  Turning off your engine saves gas and money, as well as cutting down on CO2 and air pollution.  We no longer accept people littering or giving us their second hand cigarette smoke.  Vehicle idling has even more serious implications, so let’s shut off our idle engines and educate other people to do the same.

As presented May 26th, 2008 to London City Council.

Presented by representatives of Youth Coalition for a Moratorium on Drive-thrus members:

Daniel Hammond & Jade Morningstar.

drive-thru-presentation-climate-change-ppm

drive-thru-presentation-coc-for-viewing-version

Please print & post in your community.  Thanks!

no-new-drive-thru-poster-idling

no-new-drive-thru-poster-oil

Anti-Idling Programs

Have you ever left your car engine running while you waited to pick up your children, or while you waited in the drive-through line at your bank or a favorite fast-food restaurant? Have you sometimes let your engine idle for several minutes to warm up your car first thing in the morning? Most of us have. But when you leave your car or truck running while it’s parked or sitting still, the engine produces air pollution. This pollution contributes to problems like smog and global warming, as well as being harmful to health.

A great deal of idling takes place at schools, where buses and cars line up to drop off and pick up children, and the children end up breathing the exhaust. Stopping unnecessary vehicle idling is one relatively easy way to contribute to improved air quality and respiratory health in our communities.

This web site offers ideas and tools for conducting an anti-idling program at schools. Materials may also be adaptable for programs at other locations.

Idling Reduction Tool Kit Index – Create your own anti-idling program using our free, ready-to-use, down-loadable materials. Use “as-is,” or adapt for your own anti-idling campaign.

For LOTS & LOTS of Resources:

http://www.airwatchnorthwest.org/anti-idling.htm

Solving the Problem
Municipalities, non-profit organizations and individual activists
have all become interested in cutting back on vehicle engine
idling. Groups like the Oak Bay Green Committee in
Victoria, B.C., have spearheaded community No Engine Idling
Campaigns. This campaign and many others like it are designed
to help people remember that improving air quality can be as
simple as switching off your engine while your vehicle is
stopped. So next time you find yourself in a traffic jam, take a
deep breath and switch off that key. Our health and that of the
Earth is at stake. – NL -
What Can I Do?
If you’re stuck in a traffic jam, waiting for a lift bridge or a
train, or sitting more than three cars back at a stoplight –
where you could be stopped for more than 10 seconds –
turn your engine off.
Don’t press the gas pedal while re-starting your car, or
you could negate the benefit of turning off the engine.
Find out if your municipality has a no-idling bylaw and
how it’s enforced. If it doesn’t yet have one in place,
lobby for one.
Use educational tools like no-idling signs, bumper stickers
and leaflets. (See below for some of these tools and
more.)
Ask your local school board and school bus company
about its vehicle idling policy.
Wherever possible, walk, bike or take public transit.
Learn More
No Engine Idling Campaign in Victoria, BC sells Idle
Free Zone aluminum signs: www.greengatherings.ca
Natural Resources Canada has developed a web-based
tool kit to assist municipalities and community groups
across Canada with taking action to curb unnecessary
vehicle idling at the local level. Visit their website at:

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportation/personal/idling.cfm

In the US, the EPA has a Clean School Bus USA
National Idle-Reduction Campaign for school authorities,
school bus drivers, parents and teachers. Visit:
www.epa.gov/otaq/schoolbus/antiidling.htm
Airwatch Northwest has a website full of anti-idling resources,
including downloadable fact sheets, posters
and other educational materials at:
www.airwatchnorthwest.org/anti-idling.htm

Climate change is a global problem, but a big part of the solution
lies in the hands of individuals – including the millions
of people who drive vehicles. If you have ever left your
car’s engine running while waiting to pick someone up, if you
have ever been stuck in a traffic jam or if you have ever sat with
your car idling while waiting in line at a drive-through teller or
restaurant, then you are part of the problem.
Idling for five minutes a day in a small car will burn 38 liters
of gas a year and release 88 kilograms of carbon dioxide (twice
as much in a large car.) For every thousand small and large cars
that idle for five minutes a day, that’s 132 tonnes!
A recent study suggests that in the peak of winter, Canadians
voluntarily idle their vehicles for a combined total of more than
75 million minutes a day – equivalent to one vehicle idling for
144 years.
According to Natural Resources Canada, for every liter of
gasoline used, the average car produces about 2.4 kilos of carbon
dioxide. If every driver of a light duty vehicle avoided
idling by five minutes a day, collectively over the year, we
would save 680 million liters of fuel and over 1.6 million tonnes
of greenhouse gas emissions.
Idling is Bad for our Health
Research has demonstrated a direct link between contaminants
in vehicle emissions and respiratory problems. Smog –
caused in part by vehicle exhaust – results in increased hospital
admissions, respiratory illnesses and premature deaths, particularly
in urban areas. Health Canada estimates that more than
5,000 Canadians die prematurely each year because of air pollution,
and thousands more become unnecessarily ill. The World
Health Organization reports three million people now die each
year from the effects of air pollution. This is three times more
than those who die each year in auto accidents. Children are particularly
vulnerable to air pollution because they breathe faster
than adults and inhale more air relative to their body weight (approximately
50 percent more per pound than adults, according
to an EPA information sheet on school bus idling.)
For that reason, school buses and parents waiting outside
schools create a major idling problem. Air pollution also causes
unnecessary difficulty for elderly people and those with respiratory
problems, such as asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
These health problems could become even more common
and pronounced as climate change progresses. That’s because
climate change results in more frequent and severe heat waves,
which tend to make smog and air pollution worse.

http://www.naturallifemagazine.com/0710/SeptOct07.pdf