Happening now: CoolMom in Fauntleroy, with don’t-idle advice

November 17, 2012 at 1:46 pm | In Environment, How to help, West Seattle news | 4 Comments

(Photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Out in the rain in their yellow safety vests, moms and kids from West Seattle-founded CoolMom are at the Fauntleroy ferry dock this afternoon, with a message for drivers as part of CM’s “Think Outside the Car” campaign. They’re distributing educational reminders including:

*10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than turning off the engine and restarting it

*An idling vehicle emits 20 times more pollution than one traveling 32 mph

*Idling 5 minutes daily emits 30 pounds of toxic pollutants and 300 pounds of carbon dioxide in a year

Idling, of course, is not just a ferry-line problem – drive-throughs are another place you can shut your engine off and help clear the air. You can get involved in the No-Idle Campaign with the info you’ll find here.

4 Comments

  1. During the Spokane street reroutes, I would get stuck in line waiting on a train thru SODO. I would always just shut off and start reading a book or magazine in the car. I always have a book, newspaper or magazine in the car for waiting times.

    Comment by Amanda A — 2:24 pm November 17, 2012 #

  2. Way to go, moms & kids!

    Comment by J — 4:32 pm November 17, 2012 #

  3. Or drive a hybrid, and it’ll turn the engine off automatically whenever it isn’t actually needed.
    .
    I’m all for reducing waste and pollution, but I do wonder where those numbers come from. “An idling vehicle emits 20 times more pollution than one traveling 32 mph” I’ve been looking all over the internet, and I see this factoid repeated many places, but haven’t found a single footnote to a scientific explanation as to why this would be so?
    .
    Of course, it is intuitive that a bunch of idling cars are creating a whole bunch of pointless local air pollution that we’d all be better off without. But precise numbers like those – why is the car making 20 times as much pollution?
    .
    The third statement has the idling vehicle using about twice the fuel that is in similar statements from the EPA.

    Comment by Lura Ercolano — 5:12 pm November 17, 2012 #

  4. Agenda 21 is what it sounds like to me… all the trees here in seattle need that carbon… THEY BREATHE IT

    Comment by Paul — 3:00 pm November 20, 2012 #

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