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Hero and Zero

HERO: Students at Brookside Elementary School's upper campus in San Anselmo are spearheading a campaign called "Cancel-a-Car," designed to raise global-warming awareness and give families energy-saving incentives. Kids have been given a booklet of coupons filled with carbon-cutting tips and will be awarded prizes for helping to implement those green ideas at home. Tackling climate change is going to be a marathon, not a sprint, and we've got to start training our eco-runners early (to stretch the metaphor to its breaking point). Kudos to Brookside for playing a part.

ZERO: On the other side of the enviro coin, a parent at Brookside writes us to complain about people who leave their engines running while waiting for their kids after school, unnecessarily spewing CO2. It's a problem that's common countywide—stroll through any parking lot or down any street and you'll see loads of motorists idling away their fossil fuels, going nowhere and setting us all back. Listen up folks: If you're stopped for more than a moment, cut the engine. If saving the Earth isn't incentive enough, it'll also save your wallet.—Jacob Shafer