With the help of $5 billion in clean school bus funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, school districts across the nation are ditching their diesel-powered yellow school buses for a quiet, green alternative—the electric school bus.
- Electric school buses don’t produce tailpipe pollution. Diesel-powered buses do. When kids breathe diesel exhaust, they are breathing in particles and chemicals that are known to trigger asthma attacks, cause cancer, and interfere with their ability to learn.
- “Kids deserve a clean ride to school. Period,” Moms Clean Air Force’s Kindra Weid (above) tells Spectrum News 1. No ride to school should cost a child their health.
- Georgia organizer Lux Ho also hailed the health benefits of going electric at last month’s press conference at Clayton County Public Schools. Clayton News-Daily covers the event.
IN OTHER NEWS…
- Diesel pollution isn’t the only threat our kids face at school—a new(ish) EPA report adds heat to that list. EPA’s report on climate change and children’s health finds that the climate crisis poses an outsize risk to our kids. Senior Policy Analyst Elizabeth Bechard calls the report “a call to action,” MSN reports.
- Passion for community runs in the Allison family! East Palestine, Ohio, Moms member Misti Allison emerged as an important voice for her beloved community in the wake of the East Palestine petrochemical disaster. She brought her community’s story to Congress this past spring and, most recently, spoke with Bloomberg for their new documentary. But her young son, Blake, is making headlines too. Salem News recently spotlighted him and his friend in an article about their lemonade stand fundraiser to support The Brightside Project–a nonprofit that serves low-income children in Columbiana County.
- Moms & EcoMadres organizer Ana Rios sat down with La Nueva Radio to talk air pollution (in Spanish). Ana’s Albuquerque home is located just one mile away from an interstate highway and a few steps from a heavy-duty truck company, where trucks are pulling in and out every hour. She is no stranger to the dangers of air pollution.
- Moms are proud to support the teens from Schools for Climate Action who teamed up with their elected officials to write climate policy. Read more about these teens and the legislation they wrote in new reporting from Earth 911.
Honorable Mentions: Over the last couple of weeks, Moms also earned mentions in Telemundo Arizona, a Medium post by the Center for Study of Science, Technology, and Policy, and a Sierra Club Iowa press release.