Muffy's Car Campaign

Summary
Muffy worries that a petition to help protect the environment may put Crosswire Motors out of business.

Plot
In the cafeteria at school, Binky, Buster, Muffy, Francine, and Arthur notice that some of their favorite vegetables are no longer being served. Mrs. MacGrady explains that she is only serving in-season, locally-grown vegetables because they are better for the environment. She then explains air pollution and climate change, comparing pollution to a lid trapping the heat around Earth.

Muffy's Car Campaign

This inspires Francine to start a group called "Eco Kids" to brainstorm ideas of how to help the environment. The kids plan to start a campaign encouraging parents to turn off their cars while waiting in the school parking lot; they use the slogan "don't make us cough, turn you engine off!" This campaign goes very well, with a sign featuring the slogan being installing outside the school.

Francine suggests that the next campaign should encourage kids to bike to school. The other kids like this idea; Francine adds "maybe one day we could make all of Elwood City totally car-free!" This alarms and worries Muffy, whose father owns Crosswire Motors.

The "Eco Kids" plan to make a petition for the increase of school buses; Muffy is chosen to present the signatures to the principal. However, Muffy interrupts the brainstorm, and says that the group should focus on discouraging air travel instead of cars. This idea is turned down because it doesn't involve the school.

Francine becomes suspicious of Muffy; she watches as Muffy tosses the signatures in the recycling bin instead of bringing them to the principal. Francine reveals this to the rest of the group as Muffy explains that she did it to protect her dad's business. Francine tells her that environmental issues are "bigger than just you and your dad."

Weeping, Muffy explains the problem to her father, who tells her "part of being of being a good businessman is learning to change with the times." He tells her that Crosswire Motors will begin selling the Mallard, a new electric car, which is better for air quality.

When she returns to school, Muffy reveals that her dad has asked the Mallard company to buy the school several electric school buses. The kids, Mrs. MacGrady, and Mr. Crosswire all take a ride in one of the new buses as the episode finishes.

Major

 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Francine Frensky
 * Ed Crosswire
 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Binky Barnes
 * Brain

Minor

 * Leah MacGrady

Cameo

 * Jane Read
 * D.W. Read
 * Mr. Morris
 * Bailey
 * Beulah McInnerny
 * Candy Coco
 * Bakery Guy
 * 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
 * Maria Pappas
 * Ladonna Compson
 * Cisely Compson
 * 4th Grade Male Dog
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * George Lundgren
 * David Read
 * Francis Haney
 * Emily's mother
 * Helen
 * Kenny
 * Alex
 * Jessica Simmons
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
 * Kiefer
 * 3rd Grade Male Rabbit

Mentioned

 * Pal
 * Cecilia Tingley

Trivia

 * Ed Crosswire is revealed to be allergic to dogs.
 * The sticker Binky puts on the car is a similar model to the 2003 Subaru Forester.
 * PBS alerted local stations that this episode (along with "Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone") could be potentially controversial, given its content regarding climate change and environmental issues.
 * Karma: Muffy ruined her friends plan to save the earth, so her friends ditched her.
 * Timelime: Mr. Haney is seen in his home, so he probably returned to Elwood City after building a school in Africa (see "The Hallway Minotaur") and is now in retirement.
 * Moral:
 * Have a heart, do your part.
 * Dont try to sabotage stuff for your own benefits.

Episode connections

 * In one scene, Muffy has a box of Tuvalunas from "Too Much of a Good Thing."

Cultural References

 * The episodes message is similar to The Green House

Errors

 * Mr. Morris is seen as the custodian, yet Ladonna is at Lakewood and Ms. Tingley is the acting principal. While Arthur episodes are not shown chronologically, it was established that Mr. Morrison's retirement ("April 9th") came before the Compsons' arrival ("Based on a True Story"), while Ms. Tingley's promotion ("The Hallway Minotaur") came even later

Production notes

 * D.W. can be heard saying "woah" when the Mallard buses arrive at the end of the episode. This line is delivered by her old voice actor from Seasons 1 through 3, Michael Caloz, instead of her current voice actor, Ethan Pugiotto.

Home Video
DVD:
 * Arthur Celebrates Community