Dear Friends,

My guess is that if we were to put our heads together on this we could do
something that really might have surprisingly significant impacts. So far
starters I am copying the print remarks I have received on this in the last
24 hours, though I should add that I have also received some encouraging
phone calls stating that this idea is maybe not such a bad one and well
worth pursuing.

The basic concept – how you get the parents and the school behind you,
organize the pickup points, how far from the school (I like a good 15
minutes walk), route choices, what if anything needs to be done to ensure
absolute safety, and the rest – needs to be set out in a sprightly and
engaging manner. And of course we need more examples.

However one of the painful lessons of my now thirteen years old push to do
something with Car Free Days as a transformational learning and doing
system, is that they turned into rather stolid by the numbers one-dayers,
agreeable for a few, noisily unpleasant for others, and by and large known
or ignored by the vast majority. So here we really want to see if we can
create a pattern, a benevolent virus that will spread simply because it is
just such a good and simple (and healthy) (and cheap) (and universally
applicable) idea.

Walking School Bus? Yes, I had not exactly thought of it in those terms, not
least since in the vast majority of cases (is this true Robert?) they turn
into one day events and not transforming actions. But it’s a wonderful
concept and is certainly part of the solution

A Special Issue of World Transport Policy and Practice? Certainly be one
good way to get the word out, but also I would like to think about more
active, more visible for this so that we get it into high relief as an
example of one of the myriad “small things” that we need to do in order to
break the stasis, the stranglehold of our continuing, egregious and
altogether unnecessary unsustainability. There are all sorts of potential
partners out there who have a role to play, and who by and large seem to be
swimming around in a sea of uncertainly as to what the hell to do next.

I mean if the Clinton/Large Cities Climate Initiative is serious about CO2
reduction, this is the sort of thing that they should be getting behind us
and others to make work.

And what about the Commission? Are they just too stolid and passive to jump
onto this as something they should be getting behind. Not trying to take it
over to bring one more good idea into the bear hug of their bureaucracy, but
as something that they are ready to support with both a bit of finance (not
a big deal in this case), but also their wonderful (thought not entirely
deserved as we all know) as white knights of sustainable development and
social justice. I’d really like that since I am an enthusiastic if often
very critical supporter of the idea of Europe.

And groups like the Sierra Club, ICLEI, and many others with a wide reach,
national and other agencies that have been set up to make a difference but
who are short on good ideas like this. They should be more than willing to
get on board and lend a hand. And and.

Or maybe this idea is just to simple and cheap. Maybe what we need to do is
build more metros. Or keep on whining because we don’t have enough geld to
do it. Eh?

Now what?

Eric

PS. That by the way is an example or what I had thought out Stockholm
Partnerships for Sustainable Cities was supposed to be all about. Now all I
have to do is find some way to revive it.

PPS. And by the way, the one sure way that this can get done will be if all
those involved will be willing to make themselves as invisible as possible.
Who was it that said (Harry Truman) that the best way to get a tough job
done was to make sure that you don’t try to take credit for it.





-----Original Message-----
From: r.smith@... [mailto:r.smith@...]
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 4:44 PM
To: Eric Britton
Subject: Re: This morning 351 small French children walked to school here in
Paris.

Hi Eric

Wonderful!

I think your PS comment at the foot of the e-mail should be used as an
example to us all! A wonderful real-life account, which I'd like to use if
I may at a SRTS conference in Toronto in October.

We have already started work on implementing a few "sticks" here in rural
Dorset as the carrots have started to thin. We will of course continue to
try to influence "hearts and minds" rather than instigate "lines, rules and
signs" to achieve our objectives but there are two key sticks that appear
to work; firstly, remove the incentive to drive all the way to school by
levying a fee on parents if they want to park in the school grounds, or
secondly, close the school gates so they can't drive all the way in, in the
first place. I quite like your third option of actually removing the
vehicle completely but that's a bit drastic. I'll save that one for the
ultimate deterrent.

Keep walking!

Kind Regards

Robert


Robert Smith
Team Leader, Network Traffic Safety
Environment Directorate
Dorset County Council
County Hall
Dorchester
Dorset
DT1 1XJ
UK
TEL: 00 44 (0)1305 224680
FAX: 00 44 (0)1305 224771
e-mail: r.smith@...
http://www.dorsetcc.gov.uk/rsafe <http://www.dorsetcc.gov.uk/rsafe>



-----Original Message-----
From: John Whitelegg [mailto:j.whitelegg@...]
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 9:45 AM
To: Eric Britton
Cc: Paul Tranter
Subject: Re: This morning 351 small French children walked to school here in
Paris.

Eric,

Exciting stuff and much in need of wider dissemination.

As you know we have a large scale "safe routes to school" (SRTS) project in
the Uk and I have done 4 or 5 of these including the "walking bus" idea you
describe. The experience is very moving (in every sense). I don't think
the SRTS work is going well and I am trying to understand why. The kids
love it and that is enough for me!

At my suggestion we have just passed a general city-wide 30kph speed limit
proposal in Lancaster to make the streets safer and more attractive and
combat a big SRTS obstacle here (the street are not safe!)

By the way the same idea goes down really well in Canberra so there is
global resonance with an intensely local idea.

I would love to do a special issue of WTPP focussing on your Paris example,
Canberra, Melbourne and UK examples. What do you (both) think?

the work continue

very best wishes

John


-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Carlos F. Pardo SUTP
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 11:21 PM
To: Eric Britton
Subject: [NewMobilityCafe] Re: This morning 351 small French children
walked to school here in Paris.

Eric,

It's great that you've started with children, and that you focus this on the
broader goal of reducing emissions, etc (as abstract as it may seem, but a
goal in the end). I guess they understood this is just the beginning of
their "new mobility", not that this is just "for the kids and their parents"
until they grow up and get the driver's license. Pictures of this are more
than welcome to see how it all looked!

Best regards,


Carlos F. Pardo
Coordinador de Proyecto- Project Coordinator
GTZ - Proyecto de Transporte Sostenible (SUTP, SUTP-LAC)
Cl 93A # 14-17 of 708
Bogotá D.C., Colombia
Tel/fax: +57 (1) 236 2309 Mobile: +57 (3) 15 296 0662
carlos.pardo@... <mailto:carlos.pardo@...> www.sutp.org
<http://www.sutp.org>

----

----- Original Message -----
From: Eric Britton <mailto:eric.britton@...>
To: John Whitelegg <mailto:j.whitelegg@...>
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 8:08 AM
Subject: This morning 351 small French children walked to school here in
Paris.
(Let’s see now, if one linear 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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