“No Idling” signs are posted at several locations to increase awareness about health risks.
By Marcy Stamper
The request is straightforward: “No Idling. Children Breathing.”
Other signs provide a courteous nudge to shut off your car: “Please turn engine off.”
To increase awareness about air pollution and related health risks, a group of concerned citizens has been posting signs at key locations around the valley with this simple request.
Allison Ciancibelli of Twisp recently worked with the Methow Valley Community Center to place a sign in the center’s parking lot near the Methow Valley Community School playground. The community center decided to post four signs of its own simply asking people to turn off their engines.
While the exhaust from idling cars and trucks can be harmful to everyone, the group targeted the community center because of the heavy use by children and older people. Both groups are at higher risk from the fine particulates that contribute to air pollution, said Ciancibelli.
Ciancibelli says she understands that people leave their cars idling, particularly during the winter, to keep their car interiors toasty or make them comfortable before they start to drive. But air pollution tends to be worse in the Methow Valley during the winter because typical weather patterns trap smoke and soot in the air, she said.
Alexa Whipple of Twisp has been working on this campaign for more than a year. She got cooperation from a day care center in Twisp and from the Methow Valley School District to post “No Idling” signs last year.
Whipple has also mounted a campaign to educate people — from ordinary motorists to bus drivers to school officials — about the benefits of not idling. She pointed to the advantages of simply turning off an engine, including healthy lung function, improved air quality overall, and economic savings and energy conservation.
Ciancibelli and Whipple urge people to get used to warming up the engine — and the passenger compartment — by driving, not by idling.
