Transportation accounts for more than 41% of emissions in California! That’s more than electricity, agriculture, residential, and commercial air pollution combined! Many Californians get from point A to point B using a vehicle without even thinking about it. Take the Clean Air Pledge on October 3 to find new ways you can improve local air quality.
Grades of Green students are also passionate about air quality. Antonio from Long Beach worked with Assemblymember David Hadley to introduce ACR 160, a resolution to encourage schools in California to implement No Idle Zones around campus. No Idle Zones encourage parents to turn off their car engine while waiting in school pick-up lines which helps improve air quality for students. Several other students have helped improved air quality by implementing No Idle Zones in their schools and communities, encouraging “walking school busses”, and spreading the word about other simple ways students can improve air quality.
Join the movement to improve local air quality today by taking the Clean Air Pledge here!
Grades of Green is excited to share our No Idle Zone Communications Toolkit with you to help spread the word to your school and broader community about why idling at schools is dangerous for our kids and what your school can do about it! Grades of Green student Antonio inspired the passage of ACR 160 in California, which encourages all schools across the state to create a No Idle Zone, simply meaning parents are encouraged to turn off their cars when dropping off and picking up their kids from school. Not in California? No problem! Grades of Green offers an easy-to-follow No Idle Zone Activity to implement at any school across the globe! 29 other states also have No Idle Zone legislation, and with your help, we can make it all 50 states!
SPREAD THE WORD:
In addition to implementing the No Idle Zone Activity, you can use the following tools to spread the news and raise awareness for the cause:
Post on your school’s website or include in the school’s e-newsletter! [Click here for a sample post]
Tweet about No Idle Zones [Click here for sample Tweets]
Make a Facebook post about No Idling [Click here for sample posts]
Inform the school community with a video [Click here for a sample video]
Write an article for your local newspaper [Click here for a sample article]
Get creative! Craft one of our Display Cases or add Grades of Green’s No Idle Zone facts to your morning announcements.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT:
ACR 160 encourages participation in Grades of Green’s No Idle Zone Activity. When you register for Grades of Green here, you can unlock the step-by-step implementation instructions and resources for this Activity, such as research showing why no idling at schools is important for the environment and our kids’ health.
Looking for some tips from other Grades of Green schools who have implemented No Idle Zones? Check out how Robinson Elementary implemented No Idle Zones last year and how to kick it up a notch with their “good tickets” at the parent drive area!
If you have any suggestions for items you’d like to see in this toolkit, let us know at info@gradesofgreen.org.
“Turn it off so we don’t caugh!” chanted kindergarten cheerleaders at Robinson Elementary School in Manhattan Beach during their No Idle Zone assembly on June 7th. Inspired by the No Idle Zone Activity on the Grades of Green website, students at Robinson held a No Idle Zone rally in February that caught the attention of Assemblymember David Hadley. Since February, the entire community has rallied behind Robinson’s student-led No Idle Zone, which encourages parents to turn off the car engine while waiting to pick-up kids from school. Encouraging parents to turn off their car while waiting decreases the amount of carbon emitted from vehicles and increases the air quality our students breath.
Last year, David Hadley met Youth Corps Student Antonio who implemented the No Idle Zone Activity at his school in Long Beach. Assemblymember Hadley was so inspired by Antonio’s passion to decrease carbon emissions and increase the health of school-aged students, he authored a resolution (ACR 160) that will require schools across the state of California to encourage parents not to idle their engines while they drop off and pick up their students from school. The students were so excited about Assemblymember Hadley visiting their school that they made signs from recycled cardboard boxes supporting ACR 160 and made cheers about it! Check out the video below to see what Assemblymember Hadley spoke to the students about! Antonio and students from Robinson will be in Sacramento on June 23rd to see the resolution pass on the Assembly Floor. Want to impelement No Idle Zones at your school? Click here to find out how!