Vermont Coalition to Reduce Vehicle Idling (VCRVI)
“Turn Off the Key and Breathe Free”

Formed in 2009, VCRVI is a broad-based coalition of organizations and individuals working together with the common mission of reducing vehicle idling in Vermont.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Goals
We have joined together to encourage Vermonters to reduce vehicle idling by:

• Informing and educating Vermonters about the benefits associated with reduced vehicle idling; and,

• Supporting the adoption of policies and programs that strengthen efforts to reduce vehicle idling.

Benefits of Reduced Vehicle Idling:

• Saves money: A warmed up, parked vehicle in almost any circumstance should not idle for more than 30 seconds. And when warming up a cold engine, even in subfreezing weather, 30 seconds usu- ally suffices. Driving is the best way to warm up a vehicle. Every minute a vehicle is turned off means fuel is not be consumed – and thus dollars saved.

• Improves air quality and public health: Vehicle emissions result in the release of particulate mat- ter (PM), nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic chemicals – among other pollutants. Elevated levels of particulate matter lead to increased hospital admission for respiratory diseases including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, heart disease and up to 60,000 prema- ture deaths annually in the United States. Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic chemicals are pre- cursors to ground-level ozone which irritate the respiratory system, trigger problems for people with chronic lung disease, lower the immune system’s ability to fight off bacterial infections in the respira- tory system, and cause permanent lung damage.

• Slows the advance of climate change: There is general scientific agreement that human-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gases‚ primarily from the combustion of fossil fuels‚ are the major causes of global climate change. If every driver of a motor vehicle in Vermont avoided idling a motor vehicle for just five minutes a day‚ the state would save millions of gallons of fuel and would prevent thousands of tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere and con- tributing to climate change.

• Improves our national security and conserves energy: Our dependence on foreign oil poses a threat to our economic and strategic security. Reduced vehicle idling is part of the formula to help make Vermont and America energy independent.

VCRVI has ongoing meetings that have taken place at the State Office Complex in Waterbury and at the Amercian Lung Association in Vermont, in Williston.
Coalition members also join in via phone conferencing.

Past meetings have taken place on: April 27, 2009; June 18, 2009; November 4, 2009; July 22, 2010; December 14, 2010; January 24, 2011; February 14, 2011.

For more information about VCRVI, past meetings--including meeting minutes, and becoming a coalition partner, contact:
Rebecca Ryan, Director, Health Promotions and Public Policy, American Lung Association in Vermont
802-876-6500 • rryan@lungne.org