Our Mission: We are igniting a movement that inspires parents to protect young children from harmful chemicals. Donate ยป
Charity Navigator 4 Star CharityBlog
School Bus Blues: How to Make Them Green
Janelle Sorensen
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
24 million children ride on school buses for an average of an hour and a half every school day. It’s convenient and it’s safe, but old diesel buses spew a lot of nasty air pollution. And it’s not just bad for the air quality around the bus, it leaks inside the bus where developing lungs are exposed to it the entire ride.
Understanding the health threats old diesel buses pose to kids and the population at large, the US Environmental Protection Agency started the Clean School Bus USA program several years ago. The main goals of the program are to:
- Eliminate unnecessary school bus idling;
- Upgrade (or retrofit) buses with better emission controls or cleaner fuels; and
- Replacing the oldest buses with newer, less-polluting buses.
They have a variety of resources on their website to help schools make healthy changes and they have awarded millions of dollars to school districts across the country to help make these changes.
Beyond the EPA program, many states are making their own strides towards cleaner school buses.
- The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and state PTA are working together to get money to school districts that need help retrofitting old busses. The program is funded in part by money from polluters. When those industries are fined, they can choose to send some of that money to the Clean School Bus Program. The PTA then finds school districts in the same geographic area as that industry to fund bus cleanup.
- The Salt River Project power plant in Arizona will be spending at least $1.25 million retrofitting Phoenix-area public school-bus diesel engines as part of a penalty for illegally emitting pollution.
- California’s largest school bus operator has agreed to renovate more than 2,000 buses in California to run cleaner, settling a lawsuit that accused it of exposing children to diesel exhaust in leaky passenger cabins.
There are also efforts under way in Colorado, Minnesota, Utah and Ohio. And that’s just the latest. Nearly every state across the nation has seen school districts start investing in cleaner school buses over the past few years.
If your child is headed back to school, whether she rides the school bus or not, the EPA recommends these tips:
- Talk with school officials about establishing idle reduction programs.
- Talk with school transportation providers.
- Do not idle your personal vehicle.
Get your school district in gear before your child even steps foot on the bus, by visiting Clean School Bus USA.
Posted by Janelle Sorensen on 08/25 at 12:03 PM
Good point, Sommer! Walking is better for child health and the environment. Maybe with gas prices rising, we’ll see much more of it.
National Walk to School Day is October 8th. If you want to get involved or have an event at your school, visit their website at http://www.walktoschool.org/. They also have links to the Safe Routes to School program which helps communities find the safest ways for kids to walk or bike to school.
Posted by Sommer-GreenandCleanMom on 08/21 at 10:02 PM
I’ll for sure have to link back to this. I just read an article in my local newspaper about more kids walking b/c of gas prices and children not having a bus system anymore. Is this so bad?