Parents, if your children are riding to school in buses built before 2007, the air they’re breathing inside the bus may contain more than five to ten times higher the diesel pollution found outside the bus. Alarming, isn’t it?
Even more disturbing are the studies showing that these older school bus diesel engines spew nearly 40 toxic substances, smog-forming emissions and particulate matter, better known as soot. Your children, who breathe in more air per pound of body weight than adults, are at an even higher health risk because their lungs are still developing.
Why am I telling you this? Because there’s hope on the horizon for those school districts that act fast and apply for new funding that could help make their school buses cleaner.