Idle-free zone signs were posted outside St. Elizabeth Seton School as part of Earth Day on Thursday.
The Red Deer school partnered with Lafarge Canada Inc., who provided the signs, and had education students do a presentation for the elementary students on environmentally-friendly choices on Thursday. Other signs will be posted at Holy Family Elementary School next week by Lafarge Canada. The schools will be the first Catholic schools in Red Deer to undertake an initiative like this.
Margaretrose Willms, principal at St. Elizabeth Seton School in Red Deer, said the signs are just a reminder not only for parents, but also for anybody who drives by the school about the importance of not idling vehicles and the impact it has on youth.
“It’s awesome to pair up with business and really promote some of the initiatives that are really important in schools, including children safety and what is healthy for them,” Willms said. She said Red Deer Catholic School Division staff are conscious about where the parking lots are in relation to the air intake at the school, which circulates fresh air into classrooms.
“We try to educate a lot of people about it with the brochures and information that went out that there are lots of statistics and factual information that shows that it is harmful,” Willms said.
As part of the day, Lafarge gave students Earth Day bracelets, seeds to plant and information on anti-idling and an anti-idling key chain to bring home to their parents.
Len Chinski, Lafarge Canada Inc. general manager for Central Alberta, said the company dropped by the school to raise awareness for the anti-idling campaign, something they have been practising at Lafarge for the past two to three years. The company is the largest diversified supplier of construction materials, such as cement, ready-mixed concrete, asphalt and other related products, in the U.S. and Canada.
“We just want to get our message out to the community,” Chinski said. “With our environment and global warming and the price of fuel and everything else these days, if everyone just did a little bit it would make a huge difference. We believe applying that to our own company as well.”
In March, the city deferred a bylaw penalizing people who let their vehicles idle, instead choosing a public information campaign. As of January 2009, city vehicles haven’t been allowed to idle more than three to five minutes. Exceptions are made for emergency services vehicles or Transit buses, especially in cold weather.
Earth Day was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. It’s meant to inspire awareness and appreciation for the environment.
sobrien@www.reddeeradvocate.com