Want to reduce emissions? Start by reducing the time your car is idling.

If you want to take a more active role in the reduction of emissions from your car or truck, you can start by reducing the time you spend idling. A quick Google search using the word combination, “anti” “idling”, brings up nearly a half a million links to information describing the benefits of curtailing excess idling of combustion engines and the various idle reduction campaigns throughout the country.

I’ll save you the search, here’s a good one to start with: http://www.thehcf.org/antiidlingprimer.html. At the Hinkle Charitable Foundation website they mention, “Americans waste approximately 3.8 million gallons of gasoline by voluntarily idling their cars. While all idling is bad for the car engine, this primer addresses only voluntary idling, which occurs when the car is not actually being driven in traffic.”

I’m probably taking my personal anti-idling initiative to extreme by turning my car off at traffic signals, when it’s safe to do so, but it feels good to sit there knowing I’m contributing, however small. After doing your own research, you may consider turning off the engine the next time you’re waiting at the bus stop waiting for the kids, at a railroad crossing, or stuck in traffic waiting for the tow truck to clear the accident in front of you.

The next time you're idling near a bus stop think about all those invisible and harmful emissions children are breathing on the way to the classroom. Last I checked, Carbon monoxide, Nitrogen dioxide, Sulphur dioxide, Benzene, Formaldehyde, Polycyclic hydrocarbons, and Lead weren’t on the list of ingredients of the breakfast of champions.