The following article appeared in the November 5 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
Inspired by her environment-focused son, Carol McMullen’s efforts to improve air quality in downtown Guelph are being praised by the David Suzuki Foundation.
McMullen said over the weekend that it is the city officials who listened to her and acted on her concerns who deserve the credit for introducing a groundbreaking anti-idling policy for city buses, which drew the attention of the environmental organization.
Earlier this year, McMullen — sensitized to environmental concerns by her musician/environmentalist son Jonah Kamphorst — was walking downtown and found herself gasping for breath around idling city buses. A greenish light went on in her head and she thought how unnecessary and unclean it was to leave the diesel-belching buses running. She went to the city and asked if they could be turned off. It took some convincing, but eventually the city saw the same light.
“When the policy was actually changed in June,” McMullen said, “it set a huge precedent. Guelph really is in the forefront.”
Councillor Vicki Beard said over the weekend that McMullen’s prompting and prodding were instrumental in enacting the policy in the bus transfer area in St. George’s Square. Beard praised and encouraged individual environmental initiatives, and said there is a push to bring in an overall three-minute idling limit policy. The existing 10-minute policy, which applies to all vehicles, is not effective at cutting down pollution, she said.
“It’s really what we are hoping for, for people with good initiatives like that to keep pushing until other people listen,” she said. “If that idea hadn’t been pushed for by one person who is so dedicated, it would have taken much longer. She does deserve the credit.”
In a podcast posted on the David Suzuki Foundation website, www.davidsuzuki.org, McMullen explains in an interview that her efforts to change the bus idling policy were not without stumbling blocks. She found that there was a prevailing attitude that buses were best left running, because of potential difficulties in restarting them and the need to keep their various systems powered.
McMullen did her homework and used common sense to challenge existing attitudes. She wrote letters to city council and Mayor Karen Farbridge asking for a policy change, and to the foundation asking for advice. Directed to investigate the “idle free zones” that some communities have introduced, and with the example of Vancouver’s anti-idling policy to back her up, she kept pressing until she got the answer she wanted to hear from the city.
“I didn’t for a minute believe that it would make any difference,” she said in the podcast, speaking of her individual initiative. When Clean Air Day came around in June, the city — much to its credit, according to McMullen — unveiled an anti-idling policy for buses in St. George’s Square. Directives were to be given to drivers to shut down when buses were sitting stationary, except in temperatures of -20 C or colder, or when loading and unloading passengers. While McMullen is pleased there is a new policy in place, she said it appears to be taking some time to implement.
“It’s really exciting there is a policy, and it would be really exciting to go downtown and not smell the fumes,” she said over the weekend. “There is going to be a process to move from where there is a policy to where the drivers actually understand the policy, understand the importance of the policy and understand how it is going to be helpful to all of us.
“It’s exciting to be in a city where there is a green city council, and where people are on the forefront of what is happening,” she said. “The Suzuki Foundation doesn’t get this excited about nothing. They really are seeing that Guelph is in the forefront.”
Councillor Ian Findlay said the no-idling policy for buses in St. George’s Square is a first step toward a broader policy. He questions whether the 10-minute limit is being enforced and said many councillors are pushing for a better overall policy.
“I’m very pleased that Guelph Transit adopted this no-idling policy in the Square,” Findlay said. “For many years I’ve heard complaints from merchants and customers . . . that there can be anywhere up to 14 or 15 buses at one time in the square, all idling. Not only is there the noise of the idling, but the exhaust fumes. So this is a great first start.”