Residents in Winnipeg, MB, began to breathe a little easier when students at École Stanley Knowles School became concerned about the amount of exhaust from idling cars driven by waiting parents who failed to turn off their vehicles. This school’s parking is only available on the roads that border the school fence. Students noted that parents were arriving early in order to secure the best visible position.
Learning Support Teacher and Green Team advocate, Caity Long, explained, “By conducting an anti-idling audit, students wanted to see if this was a worthwhile action project to pursue.” As there is always a large number of cars waiting for thirty minutes before students exit for the day, it was decided to begin auditing one half-hour before the final school bell rang. Although not all drivers had motors running, approximately five hours of idling minutes were calculated during that first half-hour of tracking time. Long added, “I think it is arguably longer than that because of kids taking a while to get to their parents’ cars. What’s more, this test was done on a day when weather conditions were favourable. Students anticipated this number would be higher on typical cold winter or hot summer days.” Mason, a Green Team student, stated, “These stats prompted us to take on the anti-idling challenge!”
Although most municipalities have a small, metal anti-idling by-law sign posted on many school properties, they are often ignored. Therefore, students purchased seventeen anti-idling signs from Learning for a Sustainable Future using a grant they received through its funding program. These signs accompanied the two posters already designed by students. A teacher’s husband offered to weld metal strapping to attach the signs to the school fence.
Long added, “We followed up by creating an info-graphic and emails to send out to the families. I think it’s kind of early to tell how big of an impact we had. This is one more step in the process of working towards a more sustainable school community. I would like to continue to do idling audits as time goes on to see if the signage has affected behaviour.”
This Winnipeg Green Team has paved the way with its initial testing and signage, which could be adopted by all schools where waiting parents’ vehicles spew exhaust. Within schools, there could be artistic students who would enjoy designing posters that could include anti-idling facts and a graph showing the lowering of emissions.
❁ ❁ ❁
When the City of Kamloops, BC, announced that 66% of their greenhouse gas emissions stemmed from transportation, the environmental club at Valleyview Secondary School—named The Environment Strikes Back—felt it was significant enough to encourage students and staff to consider alternatives to driving. Teacher/ librarian Dianne Bell, one of the teacher sponsors for the school’s active group, explained the club’s name, “During the club’s beginning, we had some big Star Wars fans and the name just stuck.”
The Environment Strikes Back surveyed over 700 students about their attitudes and experiences regarding public transportation and cycling. The group wanted to determine how often, where, and why the students used buses and bicycles. The data gathered was shared with the city’s transportation department, which used it to incorporate improvements to bus shelters. Hopefully, they will continue to enhance scheduling and address safety concerns.
Also, they learned that a lack of safe end-of-ride storage for bicycles was a big reason that students and staff were hesitant to cycle to school. The team worked with its metal shop classes to develop and install a new bike and scooter rack. Utilizing the BC Active Transportation Design Guide to plan the racks and their location, both designs were easily reproduced to expand storage for future demand.
Bell explained, “The school library purchased locks and helmets that students can borrow so that the barriers to cycling are reduced. Also, two extra bikes were added to our Outdoor Education class activities.”
The interest in cycling is slowly growing. Last year was the first time that this school had a bike rack in over twenty years. As everyone becomes more comfortable riding and rolling to school, the popularity of bicycles and scooters will grow. The school’s Outdoor Education classes are already able to store bikes when students bring them for class rides. This will definitely help spread the word that there are safe places to park your bike or scooter on school property. Also, when elementary feeder schools visit, students need not travel by bus as there is a place to lock up their teen-powered vehicles!
Bell added, “I went for a ride with the Outdoor Education class, a simple, easy ride, and most of the students said how much fun they had, and how stress relieving it was! This is what we want to encourage.” This environmental club’s students have since graduated, but their initial data and encouragement for upcoming grades to enjoy the freedom of cycling still applies. Current student Fi Ganstal said, “I have been biking to school since I was little and was really happy when Valleyview added more bike racks. I love biking to school because it gives me fresh air to help wake me up in the morning. It also gives me independence over transportation without having to worry about catching a ride.”
The Environment Strikes Back students have also created posters to promote the new cycling culture. With enthusiasm, creative teens can literally ‘exhaust’ their community with unique posters featuring puns, limericks, poems, riddles, cartoons, superheroes, graphs to view the progress, and even advertisement slogans. Not only can they be displayed throughout the school, but they may also be accepted wherever local bicycles are sold and repaired. Having citizens enjoy creative posters is an important aspect that will help change habits.
Author’s note on another topic: Across Canada, the retailer Staples offers recycling boxes for spent writing materials and other school supplies.
Related Links
https://ourcanadaproject.ca/place/anti-idling-campaign/
https://ourcanadaproject.ca/place/active-transportation-storage/
https://tnc.news/2025/01/04/ottawa-bans-vehicle-idling/
https://lsf-lst.ca/programs/action-project-funding
(note: LSF funding is annual and will reopen in fall 2025)
https://www.staples.com/stores/recycling
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Larraine Roulston
Larraine writes children’s illustrated adventure books on composting and pollinating. To view, visit: castlecompost.com
This article is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Spring 2025 issue.
