Sustainable Urban Citizenship

Over the next four months, a group of nine students in Lesley University's M.A. program in Urban Environmental Leadership will be challenging themselves to adopt more sustainable behaviors. Along the way, they'll be documenting their experiences--both the highs and lows--of changing their own behaviors. First up, the cohort will be challenging themselves to eat locally grown foods and cut down on product packaging. Follow this blog to see how they get on!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

No idling, please!

Today I went to pick up my 'kids' from school.

I pulled into the carpool lane and noticed that all of the Mommy-SUVs/Nanny-sedans were shut off and silent. New signs dotted the pick-up lane, quietly screaming "NO-IDLE ZONE".

New regulations stating that it's illegal to idle your car vary from state to state. This is a big conflict in our family since some people (aka, me) have had the wrong impression that idling the car uses less gas than stopping and restarting the car. Actually, idling the car for just ten seconds uses more gas than turning the car off and on again. This is the most simple and easy way to save money, gas and keep our air clean and our kids free from asthma.