Ask Amy: I’ve confronted strangers in the parking lot, and it didn’t go well

Dear Amy: What can I say to people who unnecessarily idle their cars while sitting in a parking lot? We do not need more pollution!

These idlers are generally not happy when I knock on their window and bring up the subject.

What firm-but-polite words can I use? I’m even thinking of printing business cards to leave on the vehicle, because sometimes the owners of the idling car are not even in it!

Greg in Minnesota

Dear Greg: Unless there is a human or animal in the car waiting while the car’s owner dashes into the pharmacy for some life-saving medication, there is no justification for an empty car to sit idling.

Rather than printing up cards, I suggest a very colorful flier, placed on the windshield of an empty idling car.

According to the Department of Energy (afdc.energy.gov), “Researchers estimate that idling from heavy-duty and light-duty vehicles combined wastes about 6 billion gallons of fuel annually. About half of that is attributable to personal vehicles, which generate around 30 million tons of CO2 every year just by idling. While the impact of idling may be small on a per-car basis, the impact of the 250 million personal vehicles in the U.S. adds up. For saving fuel and reducing emissions, eliminating the unnecessary idling of personal vehicles would be the same as taking 5 million vehicles off the roads.”