Idle-Free Campaign
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Idle-Free Campaign Kit IdleFreeCampaignKit ExecutiveDirector: EvaLigeti,CleanAirPartnership ResearchersandAuthors: KarenScottie,CleanAirPartnership GabriellaKalapos,CleanAirPartnership ShaziaMirza,CleanAirPartnership Acknowledgements: CAP would like to thank Ontario Ministry of the Environment’s Community Go Green Fund and the TorontoCommunityFoundationforitsgenerousfundingofthisresearch,aswellastheCityofToronto andtheTorontoAtmosphericFundforitsongoingfinancialsupport. ©CleanAirPartnership,2009.Allrightsreserved. Formoreinformation,contact: CleanAirPartnership 75ElizabethStreet Toronto,OntarioM5G1P4 Canada (416)3926672 www.cleanairpartnership.org AbouttheCleanAirPartnership The Clean Air Partnership (CAP) is a registered charity that works in partnership to promote and coordinateactionstoimprovelocalairqualityandreducegreenhousegasesforhealthycommunities. Ourappliedresearchonmunicipalpoliciesstrivestobroadenandimproveaccesstopublicpolicydebate onairpollutionandclimatechangeissues.Oursocialmarketingprogramsfocusonenergyconservation activitiesthatmotivateindividuals,government,schools,utilities,businessesandcommunitiestotake actiontocleantheair. 2 IdleFreeCampaignKitTABLEOFCONTENTS IntroducingtheIdleFreeCampaignKit 4 LearnAbouttheIdleFreeIssue 5 BaselineDataCollection 7 CampaignLaunch:InformingtheSchoolCommunity 8 AwarenessCampaignandPostLaunchDataCollection 10 EvaluatingtheData 11 IdleFreeSchoolCelebration 12 PostCampaignDataCollection 13 APPENDIXA:CampaignMaterials:Forms,LettersandScripts 14 SampleLettertoParents 15 SampleLettertoBusCompany 16 StudentObserver’sInstructionsforBaselineDataCollection 17 BusIdlingObservationForm 18 GeneralIdlingObservationForm 19 SampleDialogueswithDrivers 20 CommitmentInterventiontoReduceVehicleIdling 21 APPENDIXB:FactSheets 22 IdleFreeCampaignBackgrounder 23 HealthImpactsofVehicleIdling VehicleIdlingFacts 26 CalculatingfueluseandCO2Emissions 28 EnvironmentImpactsofDrivethroughEstablishments 31 APPENDIXC:ResourcesandLinks 33 IdleFreeGame 34 IdlingQuiz 35 SampleSkit 39 HelpfulWebsites 41 Grade5CurriculumLinks 42 3 IdleFreeCampaignKit Introducing the Idle-Free PROGRAMGOALS Campaign Kit Thiskithasanumberofgoals.Thefirstisto An IdleFree school assures students and createanIdleFreeschool.Asecond,butno parentsthattheairtheybreathewillnotbe less important goal is to give students the polluted by vehicles idling on school huge educational benefits that come with property. Children are more vulnerable to citizen action, including knowledge and vehicleemissionsthanadultsbecausethey understanding, skills and aptitudes, values breathefasterandtheyinhalemoreairper and dispositions, and key concepts. All kilogram.CleanAirPartnershiphascreated these can help prepare young people for thiskitwiththeultimategoalofmakingall active and informed participation in adult schools IdleFree. The kit is designed as a roles, responsibilities and duties. The onestop resource for an IdleFree school campaign also provides opportunities to campaign.Itcontainsallyouneedfromthe satisfy curriculum expectations in moment you decide to make your school mathematics,science,languagearts,media IdleFree, including stepbystep ‘how to’ literacy, the arts, social studies, physical instructions and data collection after the educationandhealth. campaign. It includes a fund of additional resourcessuchassampleletterstoparents, HOWTOUSETHISKIT datacollectionforms,andfactsheets. 1. LearnAbouttheIdleFreeIssue Wehopethattheentireschoolcommunity 2. BaselineDataCollection willparticipate,butacampaigncanalsobe runbyasingleclass,oragroupsuchasan 3. CampaignLaunch:Informing afterschool environment club. You can SchoolCommunity pickandchoosethestepsand/oractivities for which your school/class has time, or 4. AwarenessCampaignand thosemostrelevanttoyourobjectives. PostlaunchDataCollection Good luck and congratulations on your 5. EvaluationofData decision to make the air you breathe 6. IdleFreeSchoolCelebration cleaner. 7. PostCampaignDataCollection 4 IdleFreeCampaignKit Learn About the Idle-Free asthmasymptomseachyear.2Childrenare Issue particularly vulnerable to air pollution becausetheybreathefasterthanadultsand DEFINITIONOFANIDLERFREESCHOOL inhale more air per kilogram of body weight. An IdleFree school is one where all non movingvehiclesonschoolpropertydonot CLIMATECHANGE have their engines running. Parents in vehicleswaitingfortheirchildrenwillkeep When a vehicle is idling, it releases more their engines off. Buses and other service carbondioxide(C02)thanwhenitismoving. vehicles will also have their engines off C02 is known as a greenhouse gas (GHG) whentheyarestopped. because it contributes to the Earth’s greenhouse effect, which occurs when Why be Idle-Free? greenhousegasesbothnaturalandartificial radiate the sun’s heat back to the Earth’s surface. Like a greenhouse, this heats up HEALTH the Earth. Excessive GHG emissions are believed to have caused an increase in Studies by Health Canada and community global mean temperature. One possible health departments and agencies show a catastrophic effect of a continued rise in direct,significantlinkbetweenairpollution globaltemperaturewouldbethemeltingof and respiratory health. These studies the polar ice caps and flooding of major conclude that poor air quality and smog – coastalcities.3 causedinpartbyvehicleexhaust–resultin increased hospital admissions, respiratory SAVEMONEY illnessesandprematuredeaths,particularly inurbanareas. Ifhealthandclimatechangearenotenough In fact, the Canadian Medical Association toconvinceyoutogoidlefreeperhapsthe estimates that in 2008, 21,000 Canadians fact that idling costs will. “Idling gives you willdiefromtheeffectsofairpollution,and zero miles per gallon”.4 In addition idling that over 620,000 doctor’s office visits will willincreaseyoumaintenancecostsofyour beduetoairpollution.1 vehiclesince: Research for Toronto Public Health (2004) found that in Toronto, exposure to fine 2TorontoPublicHealth:AirPollutionBurdenof particles in the air contributes to about IllnessinToronto. 6,000emergencyroomvisits,12,000cases http://www.gtacleanaironline.ca/index.jsp ofchildhoodbronchitisand72,000daysof 3ClimateChangeNorth http://www.climatechangenorth.ca/sectionR bg/BG_HS_02_O_E.html 1NoBreathingRoom:NationalIllnessCostsofAir 4NaturalResourcesCanada,FleetSmartProgram: Pollution. IdlingGetsYouNowhere. http://www.cma.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/86830/la_id/1. fleetsmart.nrcan.gc.ca/documents/PDF/idling htm booklete.pdf 5 IdleFreeCampaignKit Excessive idling can actually damage your Idle-Free Campaign engine'scomponents,includingcylinders, Resources: Appendices sparkplugsandtheexhaustsystem.That's becauseanidlingengineisnotoperatingat IntheAppendiceswehaveincludedallthe its peak temperature, which means that resourcesyouneedforyourcampaign. fuel combustion is incomplete. This leaves fuelresiduesthatcancondenseoncylinder Appendix A includes the templates and walls, where they can contaminate oil and scripts you will need to inform school 5 damageenginecomponents. community members of your campaign. In additiondatacollectionformsareavailable: Why Hold an Idle-Free Campaign at Your School? APPENDIXA:cAMPAIGNMATERIALS Sampleletterstoparents Vehicle idling directly affects children. Datacollectionforms Parents and children benefit by Studentactivitiessuchastrivia understanding the problem as it relates to quizzes,skitsandgames their health and the health of the Aresourceguideofusefulweblinks environment, and they should be included in the solutions. Children are one of the Appendix B equips you with the facts best channels to educate parents and behind theneed foran IdleFree school. It community members, but a schoolbased provides you with a backgrounder, fact campaign is only the beginning. This sheetsandacalculatorfordeterminingfuel campaign will help spread the message useandCO2emissions. throughoutthecommunitythatidlingisno longersociallyacceptable–inschoolzones APPENDIXB:FACTSHEETS or anywhere else. Vehicle idling is a IdleFreeCampaignBackgrounder “gateway behaviour”. Raising public HealthImpactsofVehicleIdling consciousnessofarelativelyminor,easyto VehicleIdlingFacts change action (idling in a school zone) can EnvironmentImpactsofDrivethrough open the door to more meaningful Establishments behaviour changes relating to energy efficiency, air pollution and climate 6 Appendix C supplies classroom activities change. suchastheIdleFreeGameandQuiz,anda sample skit. It includes web resources, as well as links to the Ontario Grade 5 curriculum. 5 http://vancouver.ca/oneday/takeaction/idlefree.ht m 6CleanAirPartnership,IdleFreeCampaign. 6 IdleFreeCampaignKit Baseline Data Collection How to Organize It Beforebeginningacampaigntomakeyour Organizebaselinedatacollection,bysetting school IdleFree, you need to collect up a schedule so that participating baseline data on the current situation. students/observers each take data for 30 Later, you will compare the baseline data minutes.Studentscanworkindividuallyor withthedatacollectedafteryoulaunchthe in small groups. Depending on the pattern campaign. ofvehiclearrivalsatyourschool,youmight schedule students/observers 30 minutes Ifyouareateachercoordinatingaschool priortothestartofschoolinthemorning, wide campaign, you may want to recruit and30minutesafterschool. your own students to collect data. This activityisidealforgrades4,5or6asitcan SEEAPPENDIXAFOR: fulfill the data management strand in StudentObserver’sInstructionsfor mathematics. Baseline