Connect
How do you get from place to place? Brainstorm a list of ways you move from place to place and see if you can think of how that might have an effect on you, your family, and the world around you. Make sure you include plants and animals in your thinking!
Designate if each type of transportation is something you use daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.
Watch the video below from National Geographic to learn more about cars and their impact on the earth.
Explore
Driving a vehicle causes air pollution and uses a non-renewable natural resource. Driving to school increases negative effects on the environment and people (they exercise more if they walk or bike to school, air pollutants can cause cancer, asthma and other negative health effects).
How can we reduce the negative impacts of driving?
When children are picked up from school--rather than taking the bus, walking, or biking home--adults usually wait in their cars with the engines running.
Running a car when not moving is called idling. Explore idling and its effects with the video below. Ask your teacher for more information from Idle-Free Schools: Implementing an Idling Reduction Campaign at Your School.
Scientists are developing alternatives to fossil fuel vehicles. This video from the Union of Concerned Scientists compares electric vehicles to traditional gas vehicles.
Ask your teacher about using Woo! Jr’s Green Transportation lessons to learn more about different types of green vehicles.
In this TEDTalk, Carl Safina talks about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He points out the unseen culprits and the uncounted victims.
Engage
After taking a closer look at how you use transportation, are you ready to make some changes?
Advocate for bike lanes in your community.
Organize a National Bike to School Day event at your school (in May).
Create a chart with your estimated gas usage for each location you regularly visit (you’ll need to know the mileage of your vehicles). Then, each time you go to one of those places, tally it in your chart. Calculate your estimated usage at the end of the week.
After you have tracked your transportation for a week, you will know where, when, and how far you go. Find times and places that you can walk, bike, take a bus, or carpool instead of driving.
Students at St. Gerald's are monitoring the air quality of their town. Watch this video and talk with your classmates and teachers about how you might do this at your school.
Ask your teacher to help you find EPA's Idle-Free Schools Toolkit.
Monica Araya of Costa Rica shares what her country is doing to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. Then she outlines what still needs to be done.