Ladies, stop your engines

There's an elementary school near the public library, and I run past it once in a while. I did so today, about 2:20PM, and saw yet again something appalling. There are vehicles, mainly minivans, parked on the streets near the school, as the parents (invariably mothers) wait for their youngsters to get out at 2:30.

In many cases, close to half I would say, the vehicle is sitting there with its motor running. Remember, this is not a case where Janie or Bill Jr. is running out the door and Mom cranks the engine, this is 10 minutes before the final bell. And Mom is sitting there, reading a magazine, maybe listening to some tunes, as precious petroleum drifts away into the sky.

I've read that idling expends as much gas as running the vehicle at 30 mph. It also pollutes the atmosphere around the school, putting the young lungs of children at risk (an article here from the New Yorker discusses a project in Brooklyn to combat this).

The irony of this is clear. Undoubtedly, there are units during the school year to teach environmental awareness, urging recycling, and so forth. But we don't let kids walk to school (though there is an International Walk to School Day in October; some kids get goodie bags just for walking, so bribes do work), and we're fine with running the minivan engine.

Some people have accused me of being too negative, railing against problems without proposing solutions. If you read this blog, you'll probably agree. But there are a lot of solutions out there (tomorrow I'll be reviewing a book that's chock full of them), and we're not exactly jumping on them.

The problem, I think, is that, for long-term changes, attitude has to precede action. Until people believe, truly believe, that our earth is in danger, they won't modify their behavior. And most people don't believe, not deep-down. There will be a technological fix, or gas will come back down to 50 cents a gallon, or we'll discover teleportation.

In the face of that, modifying behavior without changing minds leads to resentment. Many people have proposed a gas tax; drivers may be forced to fill up less often, but they won't automatically understand the need for conservation.

If you think that reading a magazine is more important than saving limited fossil fuel, you're going to resist any attempts to get you out of that seat. All the hectoring in the world won't change that, at least not until there is no more gas to be had. What a shame we have to wait for a crisis.