Since 2018, the Orange County Sustainability Program has been supporting schools in Orange County in their efforts to reduce vehicle idling on their campuses due to concerns over reduced air quality and its potential to impact the health of Orange County students. Working together with staff at the schools, permanent signage has been posted in English and Spanish at all student pickup areas, and letters have been drafted to inform and encourage parents to turn off their engines while stopped on school grounds.
This work has supported a student-led idle-reduction campaign called Driving is Exhausting led by students at Phillips Middle School's Green Team. These students engaged parent volunteers in assisting them in creating a website and descriptive yard signs to reinforce the messaging of the permanent signage and letter. The website also allows parents to pledge to turn off their engines when parked for more than 10 seconds.