We’ve all seen them, been in them, and wanted to get out of them. I’m talking about the school pick-up line. We sit in our cars, scrolling through our phones or listening to a podcast as the air (cool or hot) is blowing, and we wait for the school dismissal bell to ring. We line up one exhaust pipe to another’s front bumper as fumes disperse from our car into the air.
How long do you sit in line with your car idling while waiting for your kiddos to get out of school? Ten minutes? Thirty minutes? An hour? Monday through Friday? Maybe in multiple pickup lines if you have kids attending different schools? That’s A LOT of idling. And that’s a lot of greenhouse gas emissions. Toxic emissions from gas-powered vehicles are the largest contributor to poor air quality in our area.
I know, San Antonio weather sometimes makes it pretty difficult to sit in a car without the A/C turned on, which means the car engine is on. The trouble is, idling is a threat to our health, especially our children’s, due to the pollution it creates. Emissions from vehicles combine in sunlight to form ground-level ozone pollution. Ozone pollution affects everyone, but it can be especially harmful to those with asthma and other lung diseases. The risk for children is greater, as their lungs are still developing. We need to talk about solutions to reduce air pollution especially around our kids’ schools. We don’t want to be knowingly causing risks for respiratory illness.
So what is the solution?
It’s pretty simple really. We need to turn off our engines.
On July 18, 2018, the EPA designated Bexar County as a non-attainment area due to its level of air pollution. You might wonder what that means. It means San Antonio has surpassed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s health-based clean air standards. Bexar County currently falls in the marginal attainment category with the least strict corrective regulations. However, if it slips to the moderate level, you can expect mandatory emissions testing for all vehicles.
The city is working on ways to reduce pollution and get back to an attainment designation for the good of all its citizens. There is plenty each of us can do to help achieve this goal and regain cleaner air for our kids.
Breathe Today, SA Tomorrow
The City of San Antonio’s Office of Sustainability has created the Breathe Today, SA Tomorrow public awareness campaign to educate and inform residents and businesses about ways to reduce air pollution. While Ozone Season is March 1–November 30, it’s important we pay attention to our emissions year round.
That might sound overwhelming, I know. But really, it’s not. If each of us committed to doing the following three things, we could significantly reduce air pollution for our kids:
- Be idle-free (at school, in drive-through lines).
- Fuel up vehicles after 6:00 P.M.
- Maintain vehicles (by scheduling regular oil changes, replacing air filters, maintaining proper tire pressure, etc.).
School Anti-Idling Tool Kit
How else can we help? We could even take it a step further and make reducing air pollution a larger, group effort at our children’s schools. Talk to your child’s principal about becoming a Clean Air for Kids! school and reach out to Julia Murphy at the City’s Office of Sustainability to get started: [email protected] or (210) 207.6372. Your school can become equipped with signage, pledge forms, and educational materials. The initiative could even be led by a science teacher who will be given information on how to conduct observations and report findings. Be one of the first schools in San Antonio to sign up and start cleaning up your air today!
