High School Kicks Idling Habit

If you're idling your vehicle outside William Aberhart High School, be prepared to have a student knock on your window. That's because idling has been banned at the Calgary school, part of a wide-ranging environmental initiative involving students and teachers.

William Aberhart No Idling Zone"Most young people passing though our school will become future drivers," says Tracy Dalton, a teacher involved in the project. "This program is our opportunity to help them understand the link between the environment and the choices they make on the road."

Students and teachers at the school have created an Air Care Education (ACE) program to focus on cleaning up the atmosphere, with help from ENMAX, the Calgary Board of Education and Climate Change Central. The program started in 2004, when the school was successful in its bid to become an ENMAX Centre of Excellence based on the work of the extracurricular Destination Conservation (DC) Club. Together, the ENMAX committee and DC pursue environmental initiatives, which initially involved onsite recycling and energy efficiency.

In 2005, Grade 10 science classes studied baseline idling data around the school. The ENMAX committee then created an anti-idling zone complete with banners, signs, pamphlets and vehicle hang tags. Now, when buses and motorists idle, students remind drivers that they are in an idle-free zone. A follow-up study will monitor anti-idling progress near the school.

Most of the ACE's projects are integrated into the curriculum. This helps involve the whole school, including students and teachers who may be less ecologically inclined.

"We want to reach beyond the school," says Dalton. "We want to bring energy efficiency and Air Care Education into the homes of students, teachers and the community."

The next planned project is to purchase a roving dynamometer for automotive and science classes. Students will get to see and smell greenhouse gases during emissions-testing sessions.

The community, businesses and other schools are welcome to get involved in the initiative and can contact Pat Heitman (fpheitman@cbe.ab.ca) for more information.