Barriers to Change:
The Myths about Vehicle Idling

In a Nutshell:

In this activity students will have the opportunity to confront some of the most common misconceptions that surround vehicle idling, and employ the concept of social marketing to initiate change.

Goal:

To give students an appreciation of the impact of vehicle idling on individuals, the environment and climate change, and tools to encourage measurable changes in individual and community behaviour.

Background Learning:

Teachers and high school students should be familiar with the basic science of climate change as reviewed in:

• High School Backgrounder #2: The Greenhouse Effect
• High School Backgrounder #3: Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
• Intermediate Backgrounder #2: Climate Change Impacts: A Changing World?

Intermediate level students should be familiar with the basic science of climate change as reviewed in:

• Intermediate Backgrounder #1: Climate Change Basics: What’s the Big Deal?
• Intermediate Backgrounder #2: Climate Change Impacts: A Changing World?

Learning Outcomes:

Click on the icon for your territory to review the learning outcomes that are addressed by this lesson:

Introduction to Lesson Plan:

In this lesson, students will learn the common misconceptions about vehicle idling, the effects of idling on climate change, and the logic of social marketing (marketing toward behavior change with information and positive reinforcement). When the students understand that misconceptions about idling are contributing to climate change, they’ll realize that they are in a position to initiate change. The main activity requires students to create an action plan to reduce idling in their school’s parking lots and student drop-off zones.

If the students have not done any activities about climate change, greenhouse gases, or energy consumption, review the basics with them, as outlined in the backgrounders recommended for your students’ level. You may choose to make copies of the backgrounders for the students to read themselves. (For ideas on creative interaction with the information in the backgrounders, see the lesson entitled Getting Into the Backgrounders.)

Once students have a basic understanding of the causes of climate change (particularly vehicle emissions), you might ask them to brainstorm what things may be affected by climate change and why this is of concern to us. If students need some guidance, you might put some key words on the board such as ice, permafrost, water, land, animals, and plants. Lead students to a general understanding of the effects, and to the conclusion that we can help the environment by making responsible choices.

If you require more information about the potential impacts of climate change than you find in Intermediate Backgrounder #2, have a look through High School Backgrounders #6–12, which go over the impacts in more detail.

Prior to the activity, you may want to check school policies regarding the posting of signs and acceptable parking lot activities.

Download and make copies of the Climate Change backgrounders, the additional Teacher’s Handout: Introduction to Social Marketing (optional), and Student Handouts.

Activity:

1. Put students into groups of five or six and ask them to write down their thoughts on idling vehicles. They should brainstorm the “positives” and “negatives” of idling as well as the reasons that people leave their vehicles running or why they turn them off. Students can try to come to a consensus on whether idling is necessary or not.
2. At the end of this short brainstorming session have each group contribute a positive and a negative to a list on the board, until their ideas have been exhausted. You might ask groups to explain their position on idling.
3. Distribute the student handouts: Letter from Ford Motor Company and The Truth about Vehicle Exhaust. Have students read the handouts individually or in groups, making notes about the following points:
   
   Issues:
   • Health
   • Safety
   • Production of Carbon Dioxide
   Arguments for idling:
   • Idling to clear frost from the windshield
   • Idling to keep your car warm while you run in somewhere
   • Warming up the engine in cold weather
   • Harm to the engine
   • Starter wear
   • Fuel
4. Lead a class discussion to review the points made in the handouts and ask students to share their opinions. Has the information changed their opinions about vehicle idling? Are there any arguments that haven’t been addressed? If so, ask a group to volunteer to find out if the facts support that argument. There are a number of websites listed in the “More Information” section of this lesson.
5. Discuss with your students the basic concept of social marketing:
   
   Behavior change can be initiated in a community once the barriers to the desired behavior have been identified and addressed. In the case of vehicle idling, the barriers to the desired behavior (turning off vehicles) are the misconceptions (better for my engine, etc). The emphasis of social marketing is direct contact with community members and removing barriers.
6. Ask your students to come up with a plan to apply the concept of social marketing to the issue of vehicle idling. This will require them to create an anti-idling campaign, which involves educating people about the facts of vehicle idling (knocking down the barriers) and having direct contact with the community.
   
   Inform your students that their goal is to reduce idling in the school’s parking lots and student drop-off zones.
   
   Tips for Brainstorming Campaign Ideas:
   
   When brainstorming campaign ideas there are a few staple ideas that can be personalized or elaborated on by the students:
   • Posters
   • Information Pamphlets
   • Presentations to council, school officials, Elders or other youth
   • Letters to editors of local newspapers
   • Articles in school newspapers
   Consider having your students brainstorm a number of actions and assign one to each group. Give the students a time limit for completion.
   
   When designing their campaigns, older students should be able to answer the question: “How will you measure whether or not your campaign is successful?” Answers to this question must be quantifiable. Students will have to monitor the school’s parking lot(s) or student drop off zones before the campaign is implemented to establish baseline data on vehicle idling. Students should also develop performance measures prior to the start of the campaign so they can measure their successes and set backs easily and consistently.
   
   The best times to measure the number of vehicles idling are before and after school, when parents drop off and pick up their children.
   
   If the same locations are monitored throughout the campaign, students will be able to keep track of when their efforts start affecting behavior.
7. Before students print final copies and make presentations, have the groups share their action plans with the rest of the class. Students can show off drafts of posters, read drafts of letters and try out presentations (pretending that they are in front of the local education, community, or band council). For the latter, recommend that presentations be kept short and encourage the other students to play the role of the council receiving the presentation and ask questions about how this program could be implemented at their school and what its benefits would be.
   
   Encourage students to give positive and constructive feedback to the other groups.
8. Set any necessary dates for: implementation of student plans, monitoring and measuring results, and completion of the project.
9. For follow up: discuss the results, responses, etc. What worked? What didn’t? Why or why not?

Handouts:

Click on the icon for the complete set of handouts that support this lesson:

Teacher Handout: Introduction to Social Marketing
Student Handout #1: The Truth About Vehicle Exhaust
Student Handout #2: Letter from Ford Motor Company

Student Web-Exchange

Your students could post a record of the actions they took to educate others in their community to the Student Web-Exchange. Students could challenge other classes to reduce idling in school parking lots, and compete for the least number of cars idling each day/week/month. In this case, the students should agree to a standard method for measuring parking lot activity.

Click on the icon for information on how to post material.

Evaluation:

Evaluate students on their action plans for reducing idling and on their commitment and ability to carry it out. You can evaluate both oral presentations (Activity Step 7) as well as written assignments.

If students are able to give a good presentation to the fictional council (Step 7) and answer all of the questions, then they not only understand the truth about idling, but also have the basic skills to run a successful campaign for social change.

Enrichment Ideas:

Art

Idling Poster or Mural: Have students design and paint a poster or mural on the impacts of idling and why we should stop it. Put it up in a community building such as a library.

About the Author:

Hi, my name is Jennifer Sanders, Coordinator of the Arctic Energy Alliance’s NWT Climate Change Centre in Yellowknife, NWT. I moved to Yellowknife from London Ontario in 1999 to work as a news anchor and reporter, and fell in love with the open spaces and friendly faces that surround a person living in Canada’s North. So when my tenure ended at the radio station, I began looking for another opportunity that would allow me to stay in Yellowknife and work on one of my favourite topics… the environment.

As the Coordinator of the NWT Climate Change Centre I have been lucky enough to visit a number of NWT Communities and give presentations to schools and local community councils. My favourite part of this job is getting to meet and make friends from all over the North.

I hope that you find this lesson plan both fun and informative and I would be very interested to know how your local anti-idling campaigns have worked. If you have any questions… - or results you would like to share - please feel free to email me at info@nwtclimatechangecentre.ca.

Arctic Energy Alliance: 867-920-3333
http://www.nwtclimatechangecentre.ca/