Ugh. This week I got a very distressing email from my local precinct that they don’t give out tickets for anti-idling because ” most recently, precincts throughout Brooklyn South have received numerous complaints from the public indicating that the public is upset with this kind of enforcement.” I get it, the fines for idling are hefty–I didn’t set them, the city did. Yet, New York City has failed us and themselves by not enforcing the law.

The anti-idling law was set up in 1972. So we are fifty years into a law that is not working. On their website (https://www1.nyc.gov) NYC boasts “NYC has the longest ongoing air quality monitoring program of any US City,” but according to a recent Bloomberg City Lab article, it is mostly symbolic.

There have been other pushes by citizens to get this law enforced, and it has not gone far. George Pakenham made a movie, it got recognized, but yet things have not changed . HIs movie had famous people, a rally and we are at the same point.

The city has put the responsibility of clean air on its’ citizens. We can video tape trucks, school buses and vans (but not private vehicles), send the videos in and hopefully they will get a ticket. That is a lot to ask of individuals, and also, you can’t erase the air pollution once it is done.

According to the Bloomberg LabCity article, “According to the U.S. Department of Energy, heavy- and light-duty vehicles waste 6 billion gallons of fuel each year through idling. Half of those offenders are private vehicles, which together add about 30 million tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year. If idling stopped tomorrow, it’d be the equivalent of taking 5 million vehicles off the road. A 2009 paper said that idling alone made up 1.6% of America’s total greenhouse gas emissions (August, 2021). We can’t reverse it by sending someone a ticket months later. This has to be done while the offense is occurring if we are really going to help the earth.

Our environment has been in peril for decades. I am slightly hopeful that this new fleet of politicians, who all say they are upset about climate change, will do more than just try and educate. I get it, the fines are hefty, but so is the fine for ruining our earth. Just turn off your car if you are not going anywhere. Even if it is cold. And, NYC–do your job for the earth. Fifty years is a long time to be ignoring your own rule.

Wawayanda State Park October 2021 for a Ragnar Race. These trees are begging you to do your part.