by Giovanny, Piper, and Sherlyne of the Language Academy of Sacramento
Language Academy has worked really hard to inform our community of idling and we are well on our way to becoming an idle-free school. When we first got introduced to idling we had no idea what it was, or that it was a problem at our school. We started researching and observing the cars outside on our parking lot. We looked at how many parents were idling, and we noticed that they had no idea that they were hurting their children. We interviewed them by simply asking them if they are aware of the effects, and continued by the effects caused by the fumes from the car. We went into detail with sharing the possibilities of asthma, respiratory conditions, the loss of brain cells, and the possibility of lung cancer. We immediately noticed that after informing the parents, they turned the key immediately.
We created an informational video along with a rap song to help spread the word. We are using our Current Events class to broadcast improvement and do follow up stories on the issue. We are currently submitting a brief announcement on our school newsletter in English/Spanish. There has been a big improvement on our idling movement at least from parents that have waited for their children for up to an hour with the car on. We have heard students observe which cars are idling. Or even staff children reminding their parents to turn the key and not let the car idle.
We know that this is not a big impact but we hope that we made a little dent that can make a big difference. We hope that with this impact other schools will be able to do the same thing.
350 Sacramento received a Clean Air Day grant to fund this project. The Language Academy of Sacramento took the concept of “idling” and led an impressive campaign that we hope to see gain even more traction at schools.
