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Andrew Larsen
Communication 1050
Professor Williams
May 7, 2014

Reducing vehicle Exhaust for Idling Car
As many of you may know, the superintendent, Sir Isaac Newton, has devised a plan he
would like to implement immediately. Its that pertaining to the exhaust given off from the idling
cars of the parent waiting to pick up their children at the end of the school day. In short, the
problem is such that we as responsible human beings can no longer overlook it, especially
because its our kids who are paying the higher price. We have begun to roll out a new plan that
may reduce these emissions and improve the air quality in the Wasatch area, followed with an
incentive program we hope will help get everyone involved.
Realizing that were fighting habit, our first step needs to be to inform the parents of the
very real issue that can arise just from the average four minutes of time they spend idling their
vehicles in the loading zone. We have created a variety of fliers we hope will be catchy if not
clever, e.i. Turn off your car, If you care, Its right on par, To spare the air. On the bottom of
the flier, we intend to list the terms of the incentive program as well as the need to improve and
why, which we will go over in a bit. We have also color coded these fliers and we plan to add
posters in choice locations that have heavier parking habits, including bus loading zones. We
have also considered the use of Facebook and other popular media such as mass texting to spread
the message.
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We will need four volunteers every other day on each of the four campuses during the
first week of the roll out (thats 3 days total), so we need to contact the teaching staff and ask
them if they know parents that are on stand-by to assist and if they themselves would like to
participate. Have them sign up on the clip board given to Mrs. Diers including phone numbers
that we might contact them in the event of question or issue. If you know of anyone who has a
desire to be involved, please let us know, or contact Mrs. Diers. You can call or email and one of
us will respond within 24 hours.
The incentive program is listed on the bottom of the flier. First, it begins by explaining to
the parents, staff, students and even the bus drivers the dangers of idling while waiting for the
kids, even for the seemingly few minutes it takes. According to our research, one car dropping
off one child at one school in one month generates about three pounds of emissions. In addition
to this children breathe about 50 percent more air per pound than adults. It doesnt help that those
residing within the Wasatch Valley have increased their mileage by 70 percent.
Secondly, we hope that providing this information to the parents with encourage and
inspire them to turn off their vehicles. Its quite possible that throughout our day-to-day
something so simple is simply over looked. We believe informing them in this way is crucial to
spark a change. And finally, we want the let them know about our plan to reward the classrooms
that have the most participating families. We felt it was important to really hit home with some
of the truth of the problem and then immediately give the easy solution and add a bit of fun to the
equation to ensure progression of the roll out.
The incentives are as follows: there are 36 classrooms on our four campuses and the top
three total will be able to win a pizza and ice cream party. The way to tally who the winners are
will depend not only on the driving parent, but on the student and a faithful volunteer. Step one
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of the following four weeks (after the fliers have been handed out): the parent turn off their car
while waiting in the loading zone; step two: a volunteer waiting in their assigned locations will
hand the parent a stamped ticket; step three: the parent gives the ticket to the student; step four:
the student passes that ticket off to his or her teacher; step five: we tally the tickets. Its important
that we display this in a concise and appealing manner.
I also think it might take eight volunteers per campus during the four weeks of ticketing
the parents. That way if there is a day where a parent or two are missing in action we can still
move forward as planned. We will need a volunteer coordinator who isnt afraid to step up to the
challenge. This position needs someone who isnt shy. 32 volunteers per day for four weeks
(thats 20 days of school) is a lot to keep on top of. Note that for the first week of ticketing we
need to make sure the parents know to give the tickets to their kids and hand them another flier
to make sure they stay in the know. The kids will be informed during school hours what to do,
and the teachers will each be given jars to gather the tickets until theyre ready to be counted.
And finally, well count the tickets in order to determine the winners.
The financial aspect of this project is important. We have a budget of $5300. To start
with we know were going to be purchasing printed paper for the fliers and the posters, then
well need to buy the ticket stock and the jars for the teachers, and lastly, well need to purchase
the pizza and ice cream for the students. For the first two weeks we intend to hand out fliers
every other day. Thats a total of three days on four campuses. There are 36 classrooms filled
with kids and there are approximately 24 children in each class and about 55 percent of those
kids are dropped off and picked up each day. Thats a total of 5703 fliers needed. At five cents a
copy that comes to $285.12. After that the ticket stock are $5.35 each, and with 32 volunteers
holding their own tickets that comes to $171.20. The jars for the teachers that we have selected
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are $3.50. Since there are 36 classrooms, that comes to $126. Finally the largest expense of them
all is the pizza and the ice cream.
Thanks to the generous contribution of basin Robins, were have a 15 percent discount to
look forward to when purchasing our quarts of ice cream which is normally $17.50. They have
also agreed to provide paper bowls and spoons. We may need to purchase napkins if the school
does not already have them available in their budget. We believe one quart will feed four
children. So if we have 3 classes with 24 children in them (thats 72 kids) we will need 18 quarts
of ice cream. Since they are 15 percent off that makes them a total of $267.75.
We plan to spend about $550 dollars on pizza and plates since the deals available keep
changing daily. All together that comes to $1400.07. Even though we are certainly within budget
we are going to leave the option of addition prizes open. I believe that Sir Isaac Newton may
have something special in mind.
Taking all of this into consideration, we hope that you will decide to be a part of our roll
out program. Even though we cant fix the emissions problem entirely we certainly hope to
reduce the problem by at least 50 percent. With your help and the help of the parents I believe
that we can make this project a reality and make a real change that will be long lasting.

* * * *

I hope this is the paper that youre looking for, but I guess Ill start to briefly explain
some of the theories and processes involved in creating this plan in case adding it was
necessary. First, I used the organization Information Theory to better help me take a
problem, turn into a solution and provide a way to distribute that solution to the masses.
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This theory was also involved in the manner information was displayed in the paper,
from the step-by-step to the cost. I also tried to organize the plan in chronological order
as much as I could.
Next, I used the Symbolic Interaction Theory. Since people, according to this theory,
consist of actions and responses instead of simple expression, I felt it was important to
cause an action by delivering a problem followed by a solution and an incentive. I
thought it also allowed families to work together and create a team out of the community.
This plan involved everyone from the parent to the student and from the teacher to the
bus driver.
After that, I relied on the Social Exchange Theory to help me implement my idea. I
believe the majority of my influence would most likely come from the mass text and the
Facebook, even though it requires the least amount of effort. The fliers would hit both
harder to distribute, it would allow us to target those neither who have a phone nor
Facebook. It would also be a chance to reiterate the message as well as remind the kids
who have been told in classes earlier. I hoped the idea would be enticing, despite the fact
that the message originated on a very serious topic. If I was lucky the cost of my plan
would be worth the expenditure of everyones time, energy and budgeted money.






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Works Cited
West, Richard, and Lynn H. Turner. Introducing Communication Theory Analysis And
Application. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.