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Health & Fitness

Anti-Idling Contest Winner! Environmental Film Series Screening!

Did you know that idling for more than 3 minutes is PROHIBITED in New Jersey? Or, that only 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than turning the engine on and off?  Schools are often the site of frequent and prolonged idling; parents wait to pick up their children, chat with each other or on the phone, enjoy a controlled climate, often with their engines running. Air monitoring studies have established that passenger vehicles waiting to transport children from a school can be responsible for significantly increased levels of air pollution. Lungs of children are still developing and elevated exposure to air pollution can cause and/or exacerbate permanent respiratory problems, such as asthma. The EPA estimates that one minute of idling produces more carbon monoxide than the smoke from 3 packs of cigarettes.

In order to disseminate this information and create a healthier environment, the Millburn Township Green Team together with the PTO Environmental Committees from the 5 Millburn Township School District's elementary schools chose the beginning of the new school year to hold an Anti-Idling Pledge Contest. Families at the South Mountain, Wyoming, Glenwood, Deerfield and Hartshorn schools were asked to sign an Anti-Idling Pledge to "Turn the key and be idle free" and thereby reduce school side carbon monoxide emissions. The school with the highest percentage of signed pledges returned to school would win a tree. The difference in number of families from school to school was accounted for in the tallying calculations. Thank you to Dr. Crisfield, the school principals, and PTO Environmental Committee members for allowing this program to take place and implementing it so well! Thank you Millburn Township elementary school families for signing the pledge and committing to be Idle-Free!

The winner of the tree, having turned in the largest percentage of signed pledges, is the Hartshorn School!!  Congratulations to Hartshorn! The tree planting will take place later this month. Millburn's elementary school communities will be creating a healthier environment for their students by adopting the practice of turning off idle vehicles on pick up lines.  Please choose to turn off the engine while sitting idly in your car for more than a minute. Remember, it's the law!

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To learn more about the effects of carbon monoxide on our oceans and climate, please come to the Millburn Public Library on Wednesday, October 30, 2013 at 7:00 PM for the next presentation of the Green Team's Environmental Film Series. Two short films will be shown, "Climate Change's 'Evil Twin': Ocean Acidification" (12 minutes) and "Do the Math" (40 minutes). This event is free and open to the public. Please join us!


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