Editor:
David Suzuki’s Nature of Things, “Something in the Air,” which aired Feb. 17, makes us critically aware that vehicle exhaust is still a major health concern; that kids with asthma are the “canary in the coal mine” because they feel the effects before we are even aware of them. Canada has one of the highest rates of asthma in the world – more Canadians die from air pollution than from traffic accidents every year.
Dr. Suzuki’s program, and my closer-to-home encounters with drivers who still have the habit of leaving their engine idling for as long as 10 minutes, prompts me to write about this issue for the first time in 20 years. Back then, a group of us ran a campaign to bring people’s attention to the health effects of idling their car engine. We had violation notices printed and put them on the windscreen of vehicles we came across with their engine running, or spoke to the driver if they were sitting in the idling vehicle.
What can we do, in this day and age of greater awareness of the link between air quality and health, to help our idling neighbours see the light: that when they idle their cars, they are making an exception for themselves at the expense of their children, and ours?
C. Glover, Roberts Creek
