(Let’s see now, if one cm of a new metro cost between $400 and $1000.00,
what about this for New Mobility cost/CO2 effectiveness.)

This morning 351 small French children walked to one school here in Paris.
It’s not a big deal of course, but just possibly a story worth sharing with
you.

A young teacher at a school in the seventh arrondissement in Paris, Louise
Assad, together with her colleagues, have been working to increase the
children’s environmental awareness, including of their own role in both the
problems and solutions of our present planetary dilemma. One of the main
sources of their inspiration ha been the “Earth Challenge” (Defi pour la
terre) program of France’s most popular and esteemed action ecologists,
Nicolas Hulot. You can see all about his program at
http://www.defipourlaterre.org/ <http://www.defipourlaterre.org/> .)

As part of a build-up to their first “Walk to School Day” (scheduled for
this morning) Louise invited me to pop over to the school last Friday and
talk with the kids about what all this might mean in the greater scheme of
things. Great idea.

So I prepared the attached informal outline to guide a lively a 30-40 minute
session to meet in two sections, one for the 8-10 group and the second for
the big guys (11-12). We then met in our two groups and sat down on the
floor of their little gym, and ran through the several points that you will
see outlined in the following that I developed to guide our time together.
We more or less followed this outline and it worked out to be a pretty
active session with lots of participation and excitement, and, as the saying
goes, we all had a great time.

Then this morning was their first Walk to School, in which the children
gathered at half a dozen appointed rendezvous points each about a ten minute
walk and proceeded to make their way to school together, talking all the
way. You know how that works.

Louise Assad put it like this: “The children, teachers and parents all
commented on how much they all enjoyed the experience of just being together
in an entirely unstructured environment of walking and talking outside of
school. An exercise of socialization. And what was striking was the calm in
our street in front of the school. The usual obstreperous SUV-jousting for
a let-off place, honking and angry parents seemed relaxed, and our day at
school started with serenity and a gentleness that one only imagines in
country schools.”

They loved it and are now all excited about how they can do this more often.
Maybe even all of the time. They have the beginning of a plan with those
rendezvous points that they have now tried and seen can work for them.

One small step at a time. Large numbers of small things. That’s the way
sustainability works.

Eric Britton

PS. But the devil, as they say, is in the details. On Friday there was a
light rain and so instead of taking my bike to the school as usual for our
sessions, I in a cowardly moment took my car. And punishment was at hand. No
parking place in sight, so I parked illegally. Not dangerously I must
insist, but nonetheless illegally. Poetic justice! When I came ever so
righteously out of our terrific session, I found in my parking place an
embarrassing void. Oops. The authorities had, I quickly found out, towed my
old banger away just minutes after I had made my false move, so all there
was to it was for me to make my way to the far distant car jail and hand
then no less then 136 Euros to get it back. This is Paris. The noose is
tightening on indiscriminate car users. It’s great. But I guess I now have
to get some decent rain gear. Won’t do that again. ;-)

23 March 2007 : Louise Assad, Eric Britton and the children of de la
Rochefoucauld, 11 rue Cler, Paris
The Planet and You: A Let’s talk about it
The climate, global warming and you
Are YOU the problem ?
1. Introduction : Louise Assad. “The Earth Challenge” -
http://www.defipourlaterre.org/


2. Eric : Do we have a problem? Environment? Climate” Global warming?
* Is it a serious problem? Very serious> if yes, what is the
problem?
* Do you think you might be part of the problem? (and me? And Miss.
Louise? . . .)
* Or is the problem strictly someone else’s business?


3. Let’s take a small example: The trip to school. (A self-census and
team commentary)
* Eric’s team of census takers ( 6 volunteers)
* Miss. Louise is our secretary (and needs one assistant)


4. Okay. How did you get to school this morning? (Show of hands. Let’s
do the sums)
* By car
* Alone?
* Two or more in the car?
* By taxi?
* By public transport
* Bus
* Metro, Train?
* Wheel chair
* By foot
* Push scooter
* Roller skates
* By horse?
* Other (tell us in two words)


5. Now, let’s talk about it
* Which is the best way for the child? For you? Explain.
* Which is the best way for the planet. (Comment on the options)
* What is it that we can do in order to do better
* The school
* The city
* You and your family


6. Do you now about the Ecological Footprint? -
http://www.myfootprint.org/ <http://www.myfootprint.org/>
* 15 Questions : Housing, what you eat, heating and lighting,
transport (very important)
* Oops. My test this morning showed me with a score of almost 5.
(This means that if everyone on the planet did like me, we would need three
planets to accommodate us all.)
* And yet I have the feeling that I try quite hard to have a light
footprint
* And in the North America, it’s even worse. More than twice of what
we do here in France. Why ?
* So we have to do better. Here’s an idea for something you can do
with your family at home.
* Try their test at http://www.myfootprint.org/
<http://www.myfootprint.org/> and discuss it with your family. Then talk
about it in school.


7. Your Walk to School next Tuesday.
* Miss Louise to remind us about how it works.
* What do you think about it ?
* Will you do it ?



Thanks and see you on Tuesday.



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