In our 2015-16 Idle-Free Schools campaigns,\u00a0Shelburne Community School reduced idling by 79%, the best result! This means that SCS, over a school year, will potentially reduce\u00a0fuel consumption by 195 gallons and CO2 emissions by 3,900 pounds. Not to mention better air quality for the students and everyone else.<\/p>\n
SCS teachers\/leaders, Lisa Phelps and Peg Rosenau and their students (with great support of school administration) ‘went the whole nine\u00a0yards’ in their campaign to make it a huge success!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Shelburne STEM educator Lisa Phelps estimates that the school’s traffic circle sees between 80 and 100 cars per day during the peak pick-up time of 2:45-3:15 p.m. Some cars take as long as eight full minutes to enter and exit the circle.<\/p>\n
Community residents open to change — with caveats<\/h2>\n In general, community response to the campaign, and the driver interactions, were positive in nature.<\/p>\n
Deb, a resident of Shelburne, commented of the students, “I thought they did a good job. They explained the project that they’re doing, and gave me some good information on the difference it can make to not leave your car idling while you’re waiting. I was impressed.”<\/p>\n
However, some drivers remained unconvinced. Ryan, another community resident waiting at the circle (with his engine off), offered: “I think if it was colder out, that could be a problem. I know if I was waiting here for ten minutes and I was freezing, I’d probably turn my car on and get the heat going.”<\/p>\n
Students change protocol in response to driver behavior<\/h3>\n There was one unintended consequence of the Idle-Free campaign specific to Shelburne Community School. After the initial round of driver-interactions, students and staff noticed a marked drop-off in the number of cars. That was quickly explained when they discovered some drivers had moved their cars to the other side of the school. This led the students to petition educator Phelps to undertake the second portion of the campaign —\u00a0 the non-interactive measurement portion — with a degree of camouflage.<\/p>\n
“We were not very camouflaged our first couple days out,” reported Phelps. “And we actually saw a dramatic decline, just because we felt that people knew we were out there watching. [The students] brought it up. They had their clipboards and we were all prepared with all our paraphenalia and they said, ‘No, we don’t want to do it this way.’ And they decided to have their backpacks. And they blended in just like all the other kids then.”<\/p>\n
According to Phelps, this year’s 8th graders, inspired by last year’s project, are interested in running the campaign again starting this fall.<\/p>\nPhoto credit: Idle-Free VT.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"8th grade scientists tackle carbon emissions at a busy traffic circle This past year, Shelburne Community School middle grades students took part in Idle-Free VT‘s ongoing efforts to reduce carbon emissions from idling cars near schools. The students’ outreach efforts led to a 79% measured reduction in carbon emissions at the school’s traffic circle, while … <\/p>\n
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![\"community](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/community_based_learning.jpg\")
This past year, Shelburne Community School middle grades students took part in Idle-Free VT<\/a>‘s ongoing efforts to reduce carbon emissions from idling cars near schools.<\/p>\n![\"Measuring](\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/6HNEviOopYY\/maxresdefault.jpg\")