Brookline To Mark Car-Free School Day 2019

BROOKLINE, MA — If you notice more students walking or riding bikes Wednesday around town than usual, that's because Brookline is participating in “Car-Free School Day.” In celebration, hundreds of children will be walking, riding their bikes, or taking public transportation to school rather than catching a ride. Yes, Brookline has long prized its walkable, neighborhood K-8 schools, but not everyone walks.

Roughly 80 percent of Brookline's elementary school students live within a half-mile walk to school, according to the district, although Heath has nearly 50 percent of students living within a half-mile walk. In the 2017, the Brookline Public Schools Family Survey indicated that about 60 percent of K-8 students typically walked to school.

So, on Wednesday, the goal is to twofold: Use alternate transportation to raise awareness about the impact fuel emissions have on the environment and to encourage physical activity among Brookline families.

Parent volunteers will greet walkers and bikers and stamp their hands with the event logo, a green footprint.

"We want kids thinking about their health and how physical activity benefits them while saving our planet as well," Health Commissioner of Public Health and Human Services Dr. Swannie Jett said in a statement last year.

Replacing driving to school with walking, biking, or other modes of travel achieves two goals, he said: 1) It encourages physical activity and 2) It reduces the carbon footprint.

According to the Center for Disease Control, childhood obesity rates in the country have tripled in the past three decades. Biking or walking as a form of physical activity can help slow this trend and prevent chronic conditions, such as diabetes.

Similarly, when families decide to use other modes of transportation rather than driving a car, they help reduce the amount of air pollutants emitted by automobiles.

The event is part of International Walk to School Day, which involves more than 4 million children from 44 different countries. It is observed on the first Wednesday of the month of October.

Car Free School Day is sponsored by the Brookline Departments of Public Health and Recreation, Brookline’s Climate Action Brookline and the Climate Action Committee.

Check out last year's

Brookline Celebrates Car-Free School Day 2018

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).