Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 15/02) - Say what you want about Doug Ritchie, but he practises what he preaches.

Living in a quaint compound of wooden buildings just off Madeline Lake, his house is powered almost exclusively by four solar panels on the roof. He car pools to work and calls neighbours to pick up a copy of the Saturday Globe and Mail on weekends, so he doesn't have to drive to town.

Doug Ritchie stands in a cloud of smog. He wants people to stop idling their vehicles to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in Yellowknife. - Nathan VanderKlippe/NNSL photo

And when a photographer wants to take a picture of him in a cloud of exhaust, he takes a few moments to think about it: is it worth running the vehicle 60 seconds?

Finally, he gives in to the photo.

But he's not giving in to idling on Yellowknife's streets. Ritchie is a member of Ecology North and he comes armed with a letter from Ford Canada. Signed by Wyman Pattee, manager of vehicle emissions and fuels for the company, the letter says "cold weather idling is largely a waste of fuel. It is also a source of unwanted air pollution."

The letter states that "except in the most extreme conditions once an engine has been started and the warning lights of indicator gauges show 'normal' a vehicle can be driven away -- gently ... extended idling is of very little benefit."

Ecology North recently started a campaign against car idling, approaching people who left their vehicles running and handing them bright red pamphlets that scream out "Idling is killing our environment."

"To put it bluntly, I think we're poisoning ourselves," said Ritchie.

In Yellowknife, the temperature drops low enough that the pollution is visible: on cold days, huge contrails of smoke hang over Franklin Ave. as vehicles pull away from stop lights.

There's plenty of support for the initiative in town. The Arctic Energy Alliance has run a series of humorous TV commercials about idling, and city council passed a bylaw allowing municipal enforcement officers to assess a $40 fine to people who leave their vehicles idling running more than 20 minutes.

Ritchie is pushing for daily monitoring of carbon monoxide and ground-level ozone -- two by-products of idling cars. Carbon monoxide is a noxious poison, while ground-level ozone can make breathing difficult for people with respiratory problems.

The average car produces about 2.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide per litre of fuel.

But that monitoring already takes place, although it is only reported once a year by RWED. Charts included in the 2000-2001 report indicate that ground-level ozone levels are at their lowest from October to February, climbing to a peak in April and May. However, even at the highest hourly peak of 110 micrograms per cubic metre of ozone in April 2001, levels in Yellowknife were substantially below the maximum acceptable level of 160 micrograms per cubic metre: the average for the two years was 40.

At least one person thinks people have been idling their cars less as educational efforts reach a broader population.

"From personal observation, it's been getting to be less and less of a problem," said Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

But others say more needs to be done.

"People are probably a little bit more aware of (problems with idling), mainly though just from an economic point of view. When you leave your vehicle idling it, eats up a lot of gas," said Coun. Kevin O'Reilly.

"But there's a lot more that we can and should be doing."