Anti-idling Initiative

Idling adds carbon monoxide and particulate matter into the air which negatively impacts respiratory and cardiovascular health.  It also release nitrogen oxides and VOC (volatile organic compounds) which are precursor to ground-level ozone, also a harmful respiratory irritant.  Idling for more than three minutes is ILLEGAL.  Students are gathering data, educating the community, and enforcing the rules on our campus to protect the health of students and staff at MHS.  Curious about our action plan and methods? See below: 

Beginnings of the Project:

The anti-idling initiative was initiated after the club decided to focus on educating the community about an issue resulting in climate change. Idling was noticeable and briefly addressed by the Environmental Club in the past, and we decided it was time to take action. Sustainable Jersey Schools and NJ Student Climate Challenge offered ideas and guidelines to complete this project, further motivating us to pursue this initiative. We officially started in February.

What we did:

To start, we took initial data on the number of cars idling for later reference. We wanted to see impact of our efforts after we had finished the project. The club primarily relied on the advertisement of our campaign, and illustrating how idling hurts the environment as well as one’s health and money - this was intensified during our two declared “anti-idling” weeks. We accomplished this advertisement in several ways:

• • Created posters and infographic boards to place around school, included negative effects of idling and connection to climate change.

  • Morning announcements and individual Google Slides created, detailed ‘fun facts’ about idling.

  • Presentations to Driver’s Ed’ classes at the school.

  • Handed out pamphlets to drivers detailing the harm those idling cause, and the benefits those who don't enjoy.

    • Reminded them of the online pledge they signed at the beginning of the year to not idle!

We hoped to place idling information everywhere, while adding variety to our messages. 

Effects of the Initiative:

As mentioned, we took data again to compare with our initial findings, in order to see how much of an impact we actually had. (Weather and temperature were also recognized here, in order to create no bias in our results). 

• • 67% cars idling before our initiative, 34% idling after it!

  • 2 months in-between data counts

Ultimately, we tried to create an environment in which it was very easy to learn about idling in all its determinants. With idling, damage comes from individuals in communities. We tried to break the mindset where “because everyone does it, so can I.” Hopefully this idea cements in our community, and maybe even travels to others in the surrounding area.

This is definitely something we can maintain for future classes to continue spreading the message!