A local group dedicated to clearing the air is rolling out the next piece in its campaign to get members of the public to think about their individual contributions to the city's air quality.
The new Prince George Air Improvement Roundtable (PGAIR) video takes a look at the issue of vehicle idling. The 6ixSigma-produced animated PSA features the return of Airianna, a young girl going through her day and repeatedly faced with vehicle exhaust.
"The whole idea of using a child was it's somebody little, somebody vulnerable, somebody we should protect - like we should protect our air quality," said PGAIR board member Dan Veller.
"We're just trying to reach out and find ways to get people to come on board and say 'yeah we do have a problem and if we all do a little bit it makes such an unbelievable difference to our air shed.' And it doesn't take a lot."
According to tips the group has compiled for reducing vehicle emissions, maintaining your vehicle with regular oil changes and tune ups and having properly inflated tires can improve fuel efficiency by up to 15 per cent (and up to 50 per cent if the vehicle hasn't been regularly maintained).
Cutting down on idling, which is particularly prevalent in cold weather, could also be an environment and money saver.
Not idling your car for 10 minutes every day could save up to 85 litres in wasted fuel, said PGAIR manager Tiffany Bonnett.
It's not just industry that has to be held responsible for improving the city's air quality, Bonnett said, pointing to figures from the 2005 emissions inventory that demonstrated there was fairly equal spread amongst commercial, residential, mobile and industrial producers of fine particulate matter emissions.
"We know that there's been improvements in that industrial part of the pie so we need to look at have there been improvements in the other sections of the pie and there probably hasn't been that much," Bonnett said, acknowledging that some areas are more challenging than others.
"How are we going to cut transportation emissions across the community? We don't have a solution for that one. But where we can make change is with individuals.
"Each individual across the community can cut down on idling, cut down on driving time, that adds up among 80,000 residents," she said.
To watch the video, visit pgairquality.com.
