A school district is finding ways to be eco-friendly by telling bus drivers to turn off their engines while waiting for students. With the increased interest in living a "green" life, what ways is your school is trying to be eco-friendly?
Poynter's Al Tompkins writes in Al's Morning Meeting:
A Salt Lake City-area school district
is urging school bus drivers
not to let their engines idle while waiting for children in the school
pickup line. They also urge parents to cut their car engines. This is
not only a pollution issue, but a conservation issue.
Where else
do you find lots of idling engines? I see cop cars idle for no apparent
reason while cops chat away or direct traffic.
I suspect there are legitimate reasons to keep the engine running, including keeping the car warm.
The less engine idling may be a simple change, but very effective. The newspaper reported:
Consider: If every school bus driver in the country each day killed the
engine one minute on trips to school, and one minute in the afternoon
pickup, annual emissions would drop by 319 tons of carbon monoxide, 185
tons of nitrogen dioxide and 8.3 tons of small particulate matter,
Erickson said. The action also would save 150,000 gallons of fuel and
reduce bus maintenance costs by the equivalent of 21 million road miles
every year.
How many miles do buses drive each day serving your school? How much
gas do they use? Could make an interesting graphic, perhaps a story
form other than a traditional narrative.
