Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In

IndyKids is a New York-based school newspaper distributed online and in print nationwide to students in grades four through eight. With its distinctly progressive point of view, the ad-free pub aims to counter the often commercialized infotainment that has been piped into American classrooms for decades. Say the editors: "We believe that kids understand what is happening around them and the truth does not have to be sanitized."

rose_150x150.jpgRose Saad

Judging by this letter to the editor from the current edition, they're right. In response to the question "What Would You Be Willing to Stand Up For?," 10-year-old Rose Saad from P.S. 88 in Queens wrote:

I realize more and more that people do not care about the air that theybreathe. I would be willing to stand up for being an advocate forkeeping the air that we breathe clean and safe. People are smoking,fumes from cars are being spewed out, and factories are creating gasesand toxins that are also affecting the air quality. What can we do aspeople? People should be more considerate about others when it comes tosmoking, thinking first about where they are and who will be affected. People should also take more public transportation and not be soattached to their cars. Cars create a lot of air pollution and justthink about our lungs and how they are dealing with taking in dirtyfumes. And I think car manufacturing companies need to be more mindfulwhen it comes to the amount of cars that are being produced. These carfactories produce terrible waste into the air. People think buying aPrius is being environmentally wise, but in the end the factory burnsso much waste and that is not good. Everyone needs to do some thinkingabout the air that we breathe and how we can make it cleaner andhealthier for all.

Bravo to IndyKids, and especially to Rose, who shows a greater grasp of the perils of car dependence than many who should know better.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

City Considers Fixes for Another Ridiculously Slow Cross-Bronx Bus

Potential bus improvements are on the table for the Bronx's Tremont Avenue, but the Adams administration's failures on nearby Fordham Road loom large.

May 6, 2024

DOT Unveils First Step for Park Row Redesign

The city hopes to make Park Row more appealing to residents and visitors. But the real work is years off.

May 6, 2024

Monday’s Headlines: East New York’s New Bikes Lanes Reduced Crashes Edition

Initial results show East New York's protected bike lanes made Cozine and Wortman avenues safer. Plus more news.

May 6, 2024

Stockholm Leader’s Message to NYC: ‘Congestion Pricing Just Works’

"In Stockholm, people really thought that congestion pricing would be the end of the world, the city will come to a standstill, no one would be able to get to work anymore and all the theaters and shops would just go bankrupt. None of that happened."

May 3, 2024

Friday’s Headlines: Trump Trial Trumps Safety Edition

Is anyone going to bother to fix the dangerous mess on the streets and plazas around the Trump trial? Plus more news.

May 3, 2024
See all posts