Dear Amy: My neighbor has three kids and a minivan. I work at home and often notice she warms her car up for a long time (often 10 minutes or more) from a remote starter. She is polluting the air we all breathe unnecessarily and wasting gas.

I feel like she is infringing on my rights to live in a clean world where we already have such a climate crisis. Is there a way to address this with her? — Fretting in Oak Park

Dear Fretting: By all means — advocate for the climate, but you could probably make the biggest impact by taking these kids to school in your pedicab. I assume you’ll offer.

If you want to open up a conversation about carbon footprints, be aware that there are real and relational consequences. If you weigh in on your neighbor’s polluting habits, she might decide she’d like to come to your house and evaluate your pollution-emitting carpet, furnace or roof shingles.

If you feel your health is at risk from your neighbor’s vehicle exhaust, you have a right to ask her not to idle her van near your house. Know, however, that while you have the right to make any request you like — unless your neighbor is breaking a local statute or law, you cannot prevent her from doing as she pleases, including “wasting gas.”

askamy@tribune.com