The #1 Underutilized Way Schools Can Impact Sustainability

As the world becomes more environmentally conscious, it’s important for schools to take steps to reduce their carbon footprint and create a more sustainable future. If you’ve ever been outside a school around dismissal time, you have witnessed the number of buses revving their engines, and the long lines of cars spilling out into intersections. The constant idling of cars in a school car line contributes to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, which can have serious health and environmental consequences. 

Traffic and Our Environment

Did you know that emissions from vehicles contribute about 60% of all CO emissions?”  This can add up to over 22.05 tons of CO2 per year being emitted by each school. This contributes to the increase of the CO2 rate within the community and results in a higher rate of health issues as well. To counteract that, you’d need to maintain 26 acres of forest for a year, per school! 

As cars, buses, and trucks pass by schools, the trail of long car lines can cause traffic jams leading to hours of increased traffic congestion in a day. With all of these vehicles idling longer than necessary, they too increase CO2 emissions. 

Every second that goes by during arrival and dismissal, a school can either contribute to or reduce its impact on the environment – and the community as a whole. 

Not only does this lead to higher rates of health issues within the community, it also contributes to the increase of the CO2 rate in a community.

So what can a school do to make a significant impact?

Technology and Sustainability

One way to make school car lines more sustainable is to encourage alternative modes of transportation, such as walking, biking, or carpooling. Schools can work with parents to create a carpooling system, reducing the number of cars on the road and decreasing emissions. Encouraging students to walk or bike to school is also a great way to reduce emissions, promote physical activity, and improve air quality. However, it is understandable that due to timing and proximity to work and school, this is not always an easy option for parents.

Another way is if each school worked to decrease the number of minutes it takes to run their arrival and dismissal on each school day. With fewer minutes spent waiting in the car line, schools help make an impact you can measure. 

By decreasing the car line by even 10 minutes each day, schools reduce the amount of emissions on average by 33%. That’s the same as recycling 318 bags of trash instead of sending them to the landfill or switching 279 incandescent lamps to LEDs!

As the car line shrinks, traffic jams that involve cars having nothing to do with school dismissal also reach their destination quicker and spend less time idling as well. Not only does this make a positive impact on the environment, but it also creates a positive change in the whole community. 

With technology readily available, every school can make an impact by utilizing software that streamlines arrival and dismissal. This empowers schools to speed up the car line and spend more of their time and energy educating students on various ways to increase sustainability. 

With Pikmykid, the school safety and dismissal platform, schools have sped up their car line by 33% and reduced carbon emissions by 7.35 tons per year. That’s equivalent to planting 3 tree seedlings every day at your school. 

Pikmykid works to reduce the car line traffic by giving every parent the ability to announce when they arrive at school. As soon as they get there, the teacher in their student’s classroom receives a notification and is able to send the student out to meet their parent at approximately the same time their parent pulls up to the front of the line.

That way, the student can get into the car at just the right time and the line continues moving. They no longer have to wait for staff using walkie-talkies or megaphones to corral students to and from the classroom. 

Implementing affordable and easy-to-use technology to streamline dismissal allows each school the opportunity to make an impact on environmental sustainability – and make their school dismissal experience stellar and safe for everyone involved. 

Small Changes = Big Impact

The school car line (and bus line!) can have a significant impact on the environment and community safety. By streamlining the school dismissal process and reducing emissions, schools can help schools achieve their sustainability goals and create a healthier, more sustainable future for their students.

Request a demo now to see how Pikmykid can help streamline your school’s dismissal process.

To read more about Pikmykid and creating a sustainability plan for your school, click here to read this study by Marc Steelman on how your school can do just that!