There’s a Push to Get More Electric School Buses on the Streets — Moms Are Driving It
Receive stories like these directly to your email inbox. Sign up for Newsletter.
When the Cartwright School District made the decision to purchase the very first 84-seat electric school bus in Arizona, it was a momentous day for mothers like Erika Cortez. She had devoted months of her time as a volunteer to make this dream a reality.
Being part of the first electric school bus in our district was incredibly exhilarating," said Cortez. Alongside her eldest daughter, she spent countless hours making phone calls in 2020 to support the school bond that would provide funding for the necessary infrastructure for the electric school bus. Other organizers went door-to-door and distributed flyers, while Cortez held presentations for parents to raise awareness about the dangers of air pollution, particularly in the Phoenix neighborhood of Maryvale, where she used to live.
Cortez, a mother of four, had been collaborating with Chispa, which is the Latinx division of the League of Conservation Voters, through their grassroots Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign. When the bond was successfully passed, "it was a major victory for our community because it truly began from the ground up," said Dulce Juarez, the co-director of Chispa AZ. "Mothers are actively organizing to safeguard the health and well-being of their children."
Cortez is part of an expanding movement of mothers and caregivers who have been exerting pressure on school districts, as well as state and federal officials, to transition to electric school buses. They have even worked with Vice President Kamala Harris to secure funding. Their advocacy has yielded tangible results at the state level. In 2019, Governor Steve Sisolak of Nevada signed a bill into law that expanded a subsidy program to assist school districts in the expensive transition to electric buses. Similarly, in Michigan and Ohio, Chispa successfully influenced the states to purchase electric school buses using funds from a national $2.7 billion settlement against Volkswagen for cheating diesel emissions standards.
Underprivileged neighborhoods like Maryvale bear a disproportionate burden of the effects of climate change. Due to a lack of investment in green spaces like trees and parks, as well as other discriminatory practices such as locating interstates and industrial facilities in communities of color, these neighborhoods experience higher temperatures compared to wealthier areas of Phoenix. The elevated temperatures trap pollutants in the air, leading to the formation of smog and worsening air quality.
As a result, children in Maryvale suffer from asthma emergencies at higher rates, as indicated by a 2016 analysis conducted by Cronkite News. This is why it was crucial for Cortez and others in the school district, where around 90 percent of students qualify for free lunch, to invest in an electric bus.
"Thankfully, my children are healthy, but there are many kids who struggle with chronic issues or have asthma problems," Cortez expressed. "Air pollution exacerbates their health problems, increasing the likelihood of asthma attacks or worsening conditions."
Mothers mobilizing to protect the health of their children is not a new phenomenon. They have been leading the fight against fracking, air pollution, and contaminated water in their communities. According to researcher Joyce Barry, who has studied the connection between gender and environmental activism, women play a significant role in advocating for environmental justice, constituting 90 percent of grassroots organization membership across the country.
Groups like Moms Clean Air Force, boasting over a million members (including other caregivers like grandparents and fathers), and Mothers Out Front, in collaboration with other nonprofits, have also made an impact at the national level. In 2019, they collaborated with then-Senator Kamala Harris to draft the Clean School Bus Act, which aimed to establish a federal grant program for the electrification of school buses.
"She is a true champion for clean school buses," stated Molly Rauch, the public health policy director for Moms Clean Air Force. "School bus advocates were thrilled when she became vice president because we hoped she would bring her commitment to this cause into her role."
The transition to electric buses is of utmost importance for mothers like Rauch. They are highly aware of the detrimental health effects of diesel pollution, which is cancer-causing and triggers asthma attacks, as well as hampers brain development and learning. Rauch emphasizes that school buses, being in close proximity to children’s homes, schools, and play areas, are major contributors to exposing children to diesel pollution.
While the injection of billions of dollars is a positive step towards advancing this cause, Rauch believes it is just a small part of what is needed. Currently, there are around 480,000 diesel school buses in the country, and the cost of an electric school bus can go up to $400,000.
"We had anticipated a much higher level of funding," Rauch expressed her disappointment. "We had requested $25 billion specifically for electric school buses."
Instead, the proposed bill allocates $2.5 billion for electric buses and an additional $2.5 billion for "clean school buses," which could include those powered by propane or biofuels. However, Rauch and Moms Clean Air Force do not support this idea as they are also concerned about the climate impact and burning of fossil fuels.
The transition from diesel to electric buses is also a matter of environmental justice. Research published in The New York Times highlighted that areas previously affected by redlining practices (a discriminatory practice where banks would deny loans and mortgages in neighborhoods primarily inhabited by Black residents) have higher rates of air pollution in 202 cities.
Dr. Afif El-Hasan, an expert in childhood asthma and a member of an Environmental Justice Advisory Council in Southern California, notes that children living in heavily polluted areas are likely to have underdeveloped lungs compared to those living in clean air environments. This disparity can have long-term consequences, leading to reduced lung capacity in adulthood.
While school buses represent only a small fraction of the overall heavy-duty vehicle fleet that contributes to this disproportionate pollution, Rauch emphasizes the urgent need to address air pollution from trucks, buses, and all diesel engines nationwide. Such pollution is responsible for significant health risks, causing the loss of thousands of lives each year in the United States.
In Arizona, Chispa has expanded its efforts to mobilize and pressure city officials to transition to electric public transportation fleets.
"Our responsibility lies in holding political leaders accountable for improving our infrastructure and updating our local transportation systems," Juarez states. "We must take action to safeguard the lives of our children and future generations."
This article was originally published by The 19th.
