<http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kbTo-M_pSuw/SrjBqmrDy0I/AAAAAAAABrk/py3K9vNBEVc/s
1600-h/ws-ghostbike.JPG> Nicole Ca��n, a 10-year old student on her bike
ride to school, was run over by a bus and, when thrown to the street, was
killed by a taxi. As if this were not enough, both drivers of bus and taxi
escaped, leaving the child on her deathbed with no one to take
responsibility.

Ghost bike ceremonies as memorials and calls for action

By Carlos Felipe Pardo, ITDP country director, Colombia



--> Full text of this article appears in today�s World Streets
<http://newmobilityagenda.blogspot.com/>  at http://WorldStreets.org/

             --> To read all World Streets articles on children and school
click to http://tinyurl.com/ws-children



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

<http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kbTo-M_pSuw/SqNJ7TtHemI/AAAAAAAABh4/SEvYCn-5FB8/s
1600-h/ws-india-bus-school.jpg>
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kbTo-M_pSuw/SqNJ7TtHemI/AAAAAAAABh4/SEvYCn-5FB8/s2
00/ws-india-bus-school.jpgDear all,

I found this very interesting - "In pictures: Bus schools in Delhi slums" -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8236636.stm  Do you know of any other
city which uses "Public Transport facilities" as schools? Co-benefits :-)

Sudhir Gota, Transport Specialist, CAI-Asia Center

---
.         Make sure you make your voice heard on World Streets poll - Women
in leadership positions in Transport Sector at http://WorldStreets.org/
(Poll closes on 9/9/09)



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World Streets This Week:  23 - 30 August

1.    For a quick PDF summary of all World Streets postings and comments
that have appeared over the last week, click here:
http://www.ecoplan.org/library/WS/Week-23-30aug09.pdf

2.    The previous week's summary is available at
http://www.ecoplan.org/library/WS/Week-16-23aug09.pdf

3.       For the full archives with weekly and monthly additions since
opening day, 2 March 2009 -  http://tinyurl.com/ws-archive


4.    World Streets in Brief <http://tinyurl.com/ws-sum>  (4 page overview
as of this date) - http://tinyurl.com/ws-sum

World Streets and You:
We welcome your contributions, whether in the form of proposed articles or
comments, your ideas for authors and topics, media, critical remarks and
suggestions, and, if you have a taste for it, your ideas concerning how we
can pay for the whole thing. We do and will not charge for our work, and we
do not use advertising, so it will be people that make this work.

Note: The entire site has been extensively reorganized so as to facilitate
reading and referencing. The whole story will be found in the top section of
the left toolbar at http://WorldStreets.org/
.


World Streets - We have to push for sustainable transport


PS.  Read  <http://worldstreets.org/> World Streets: The voices of
sustainable transport

|  <mailto:editor@...> editor@... |
<http://www.worldstreets.org/> World Streets | Paris  | +331 4326 1323 |
Skype newmobility



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Heavy traffic on the way to sustainable cities and sustainable lives . . .

Paris, Tuesday, August 11, 2009

1.     Intro: The attached provides a lightening introduction to World Streets,
how we got here and where we intend to go from here. It may be handy for you to
know.


2.     Articles: We welcome articles and suggestions for both topics and
authors. More on that at   <http://tinyurl.com/ws-guidelines>
http://tinyurl.com/ws-guidelines


3.     Subscribe: If your circumstances permit you to pay our modest annual
subscription (€ 29 or USD 39), that would be great. You will find details on
how to do it at  <http://tinyurl.com/ws-subscribe>
http://tinyurl.com/ws-subscribe. (And if you can't afford it, no problem. You
are still on the sustainability team and we need you to keep on.)


4.     One Percent Cities: We are making contact with a number of cities that
are leading the way in these matters, and are inviting them to share one percent
of the costs of keeping World Streets going. If you have a candidate for us, it
would be good to hear from you.


5.     Leading by Example: Just published our first "mayor's profile" in this
series and very much wish to do more. If you have candidates for us, please let
us know. Sustainable transportation will happen only when our leaders walk the
walk with us every day. It doesn't work by remote control.


6.     Journal of World Transport Policy and Practice: WTPP is our sister
journal, and the editor and founder, John Whitelegg writes us this today: " We
need a big push to get the sustainable transport message across to all decision
makers globally and the best way to do this is to multiply our output by a
factor of 10!  The world is hungry for success stories as well as reasoned
explanations of why things went wrong if they did go wrong."  You can contact
John directly with your ideas and proposals at 
<mailto:j.whitelegg@...> j.whitelegg@...

Eric Britton

PS. Don't forget to read World Streets. It stretches your mind and makes you
smart. (And a nicer person to be around too. Guaranteed!)



For World Streets at  <http://www.worldstreets.org/> worldstreets.org





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Heavy traffic on the way to sustainable cities and sustainable lives . . .


In Monday's World Streets - http://WorldStreets.org/

  So you think you know how children travel to school? The School Travel
Health Check

<http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kbTo-M_pSuw/SnwrLgaP_RI/AAAAAAAABWU/YsxrJsPB7Nw/s
1600-h/ws-pic-combes.jpg> Now I do not want to offend, but in all
probability, what you think you know about travel to school could well be
wrong. Equally some of the things you encourage people to do in the name of
health and sustainability will not help and in some cases will make things
worse!
- Andrew Combes reports from the Dorset County Council, UK

--> The full text of this article appears in World
<http://newmobilityagenda.blogspot.com/2009/08/carsharing-in-us-quo-vadis-he
rtz.html>  Streets today at http://WorldStreets.org/
--> To read all World
<http://newmobilityagenda.blogspot.com/2009/08/carsharing-in-us-quo-vadis-he
rtz.html>  Streets articles on children and school  click to
http://tinyurl.com/ws-children



--


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From: Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory [mailto:edelman@...]

Excerpt from announcement:

"- A second series of workshops will focus on a child friendly urban
planning. The basic concept is the "city-web", or more specifically
"play-web". In this concept all interesting places for children (such as
schools, swimming pools, play areas, shopping centres,) are
interconnected by interesting links (roads that are not just safe but
enjoyable as well). Rather than a design theme, this is a theme of urban
planning. Workshops on this theme will focus on children's mobility, the
link of play areas to other places, how to make places playful without
making them play areas etc. The objective is to conclude with guidelines
that help the cities to develop a child-oriented urban planning."

*The Child in the City conference is the fourth bi-annual conference of
the European Network Child Friendly Cities (EN CFC). During the last
decennium this conference has been the place to be for all cities and
scientists focussing on the theme of a local child friendly policy.
Cities from all over Europe (but also from Canada and Australia, and)
inspired each other by telling about their own experiences and looking
for similar cities with similar problems. It is as a market and a lab in
which new ideas are developed.*//

<http://www.childinthecity.com/>
Also see:
<http://kindvriendelijkesteden.nl/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1>

--
--------------------------------------------

Todd Edelman
Green Idea Factory

Reducing Children's Car Use: The Health And Potential Car Dependency Impacts



Source:  <http://www2.cege.ucl.ac.uk/cts/research/chcaruse/index.asp>
http://www2.cege.ucl.ac.uk/cts/research/chcaruse/index.asp



According to the National
<http://www.transtat.dft.gov.uk/tables/2000/nts/nts00.htm>  Travel Survey,
between 1985/86 and 1995/97 children aged 16 or less increased the
percentage of their trips by car from 35% to 48%. Over the same period the
percentage of trips to school by car went up from 16% to 29%. These trends
have led to significant decreases in the amounts of walking and cycling by
children. Whilst the reasons for these shifts are fairly clear: parental
concern about traffic and possible abduction, and changing lifestyles linked
to increased decentralisation, it is also clear that they may lead to
significant problems. As the 1998
<http://www.dft.gov.uk/itwp/paper/index.htm>  White Paper on Transport says:
`Not walking or cycling to school means that children get much less exercise
and builds in car dependency at an early age'. Whilst there is an intuitive
logic to this statement, it raises a number of important research issues.
The overall aim of this project is to address these issues.

The project was funded by the Engineering and Physical
<http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/>  Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The grant
started in January 2001 and was completed in February 2004. The research was
carried out at the Centre for Transport
<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/transport-studies/index.htm>  Studies at University
College London (UCL) <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/>  in collaboration with the
Department <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology/>  of Epidemiology and Public
Health Medicine at UCL <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/> , the Children's Health and
Exercise <http://www.ex.ac.uk/cherc/index.htm>  Research Centre at the
University of Exeter <http://www.ex.ac.uk/> , the Department of Public
Health <http://www.dphpc.ox.ac.uk/>  at the University of Oxford
<http://www.ox.ac.uk/> , the Environment
<http://enquire.hertscc.gov.uk/greenco/What/hcc.htm>  Department of
Hertfordshire County <http://www.hertsdirect.org/>  Council and Royston,
Buntingford <http://www.rbbs-pct.nhs.uk/>  & Bishop's Stortford Primary Care
Trust.

The following questions were addressed by the research:

* Can walking make a positive contribution to children's health?
* Does experience and education early in life influence attitudes to
car use and ownership in later life?
* Are initiatives which cause a transfer from the car to other modes
effective?
* Can differences in the way that children travel influence their
cognitive skills?

The project involved fieldwork in the form of attitudinal surveys and
measuring and monitoring children's activity patterns and degrees of
obesity, and the design of an evaluation framework to examine the input of
initiatives to encourage walking.

Information was obtained about the children's activity patterns including
travelling to school, plus various background information about the children
and their households, and to measure the children's activity patterns and
degree of obesity at various points in time relative to new travel to school
initiatives.

The Principal Investigator and Project Manager was Roger Mackett
<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/transport-studies/rlm.htm> , Professor of Transport
Studies at UCL <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/> . The research team at UCL
<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/>  consisted of Lindsey Lucas, James Paskins and Dr
Jill Turbin. Professor Neil Armstrong
<http://www.ex.ac.uk/cherc/ARMSTRONG.htm>  of the Children's Health and
<http://www.ex.ac.uk/cherc/index.htm>  Exercise Research Centre at the
University <http://www.ex.ac.uk/>  of Exeter and Dr
<http://www.dphpc.ox.ac.uk/bhfhprg/Group1.htm#Laurel>  Laurel Edmunds of the
Department of <http://www.dphpc.ox.ac.uk/>  Public Health at the University
of Oxford <http://www.ox.ac.uk/>  provided expertise on measuring children's
physical activity patterns and relating these to health issues. Expertise on
children's health and its relationship with transport was provided by
Professor Mark <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology/hsr/mccarthy.html>
McCarthy of the Department of <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology/>
Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine at UCL <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/> .
Information about the journey to school initiatives and their implementation
and potential impacts was provided by the Environment
<http://enquire.hertscc.gov.uk/greenco/What/hcc.htm>  Department of
Hertfordshire CC. Dissemination of the research findings to health
professionals and subsequent recommendations on how research in this area
can inform evaluation of local healthy transport initiatives was undertaken
by Adrian Coggins of Royston, <http://www.rbbs-pct.nhs.uk/>  Buntingford &
Bishop's Stortford Primary Care Trust.





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<http://www.walktoschool-usa.org/index.cfm> International Walk to School in
the USAJoin kids and families around the globe to walk and bicycle to school
in October!

In the USA, celebrate Walk to School Day on October 8, 2008, and promote
safe walking and bicycling throughout the year

Details at http://www.walktoschool-usa.org/index.cfm



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

<http://www.walktoschool.org.uk/content/october_2008_theme.php> Walk to
School Month
International Walk to School Month takes place across the world in October
each year. Here in the UK, we take part by running our own Walk to School
Month.



Details on this and other projects  of the UK 'Walk to School' at
http://www.walktoschool.org.uk/content/our_events.php



What is 'Walk to School'?

The Walk to School Campaign is run by the charity Living Streets with
funding from Department for Transport and the BIG Lottery fund. It asks
parents, pupils and teachers to think about their journey to and from school
and the many benefits of making it on foot.

About 50% of children don't walk to school regularly and more and more
pupils are being driven to school in a car. This trend is contributing to
reduced physical activity and increased childhood obesity, urban congestion
and air pollution.

What do we do


Each year, we organise two nationally recognised events:
International Walk to School Month (October 2008) and national Walk to
School Week (2009).

We want people to see walking to school as an everyday activity, so we also
run the WoW (Walk Once a Week) scheme which rewards pupils with a
collectible enamel badge if they walk to school regularly.

Walk to School works!


The Walk to School Campaign has the support of over 65% of local authorities
and regularly reaches more than two million pupils and their carers.

Promotion of the 'Walk to School' campaign does attract media attention not
just locally, but nationally, and so brings the message to a much wider
audience.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

International Walk to School Month gives children, parents, school teachers
and community leaders an opportunity to be part of a global event as they
celebrate the many benefits of walking. In 2007, millions of walkers from
around the world walked to school together for various reasons - all hoping
to create communities that are safe places to walk.



In 2007, millions of children, parents, and community leaders from 42
countries around the world joined together in celebration of International
Walk to School Month.

The goal of the walk varies from community to community. Some walks rally
for safer and improved streets, some to promote healthier habits and some to
conserve the environment. Whatever the reason, International Walk to School
events encourage a more walkable world - one community at a time.



For details: http://www.iwalktoschool.org/about.htm



Below is a list of great resources to help make your event a success.

http://www.iwalktoschool.org/image/yellow_dot.gifIdeas for a Month of
Activities

The International Walk to School Committee, made up of representatives from
around the globe, submitted ideas for how to expand the Walk to School event
to an entire week of activities and have been adapted for a month of ideas.
These are offered simply as starting points in the hope that it will inspire
your own community's expanded plans. ideas for a month of
<http://www.iwalktoschool.org/resources_month.htm>  activities

http://www.iwalktoschool.org/image/yellow_dot.gifPress Releases

Official 2007 News Release
  <http://www.iwalktoschool.org/downloads/iwalk_release_2007.rtf> download
RTF or  <http://www.iwalktoschool.org/downloads/iwalk_release_2007.doc>
download MS Word

Press Releases from Canada (Go For Green, CAN)
http://www.goforgreen.ca/asrts/media_e.html

Fill-in-the-Blank Press Release (USA)
http://www.walktoschool.org/resources/press-releases.cfm

Sample media materials (Active and Safe Routes to School, CAN)
Sample
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/chapter4/chap4_iwalk_media
1.doc>  media release for communities, English, Word DOC
Sample
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/chapter4/chap4_iwalk_PSA1.
doc>  PSAs for communities, English, Word DOC

http://www.iwalktoschool.org/image/yellow_dot.gifOrganizing Walk to School
Events

KidsWalk-to-School Program (Center for Disease Control, USA)
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/kidswalk.htm
<http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/kidswalk/index.htm>

How to Organize a Walk to School Week Event (Go For Green, CAN)
Adobe PDF format
http://www.goforgreen.ca/asrts/pdf/How2_WSW.pdf

Implementation Process (Active and Safe Routes to School, CAN)
http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/all/asrts_sec04.pdf

Getting Started (USA)
http://www.walktoschool.org/getstarted/index.cfm

Research into Walk to School Promotions (Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Authority, New Zealand)
http://www.iwalktoschool.org/downloads/Report_IWALK_Promotions.pdf
  <http://www.iwalktoschool.org/resources.htm#top>


http://www.iwalktoschool.org/image/yellow_dot.gifChecklists

Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center Walkability Checklist
http://www.walktoschool.org/buildevent/checklists.cfm

Interactive Checklists (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, USA)
Walkability
<http://www.rwjf.org/files/newsroom/interactives/walkability/walk_app.html>
Checklist
Bikeability
<http://www.rwjf.org/files/newsroom/interactives/sprawl/bike_app.jsp>
Checklist




http://www.iwalktoschool.org/image/yellow_dot.gifFor Teachers

For schools (UK)
http://www.walktoschool.org.uk/content/for_schools.php

Activity Sheets (Active and Safe Routes to School, CAN)
Colouring
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/chapter4/chap4_iwalk_colou
r1.pdf>  sheet 1, English, PDF
Colouring
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/IWALK07_Colouring_Sheet-JK-2-E.p
df>  sheet 2, English, PDF
Crossword
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/chap6_tc_xword.doc>
puzzle, English, Word DOC

Info for Teachers (Active and Safe Routes to School, CAN)
Classroom resources for elementary and high school teachers.
http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/infoforteachers.asp
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/index.php?page=infoforteachers>

Curriculum Connections (Active and Safe Routes to School, CAN)
http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/chapter7/chap7_curr_connect
1.doc

Classroom Activities (USA)
http://www.walktoschool.org/eventideas/classroom.cfm




http://www.iwalktoschool.org/image/yellow_dot.gifFor Parents

Information for parents (UK)
http://www.walktoschool.org.uk/content/parents.php

The Walking School Bus Brochure (Land Transport NZ, New Zealand)
Adobe PDF format
http://www.iwalktoschool.org/downloads/NZ_walking_school_bus.pdf

The walking bus: a safe way for children to walk to school (Friends of the
Earth, UK)
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/transport/resource/parents.html

Parent materials (Active and Safe Routes to School, CAN)
Walking
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/chapter4/chap4_wsb_checkls
t2.doc>  School Bus Family Checklist, English, Word DOC
Climate
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/Climate_Change_Flyer-Jan08
.pdf>  Change Parent Factsheet, English, PDF




http://www.iwalktoschool.org/image/yellow_dot.gifFor Kids

For pupils (UK)
http://www.walktoschool.org.uk/content/for_pupils.php

Activity Sheets (Active and Safe Routes to School, CAN)
Colouring
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/chapter4/chap4_iwalk_colou
r1.pdf>  sheet 1, English, PDF
Colouring
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/IWALK07_Colouring_Sheet-JK-2-E.p
df>  sheet 2, English, PDF
Crossword
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/chap6_tc_xword.doc>
puzzle, English, Word DOC

"Walking Bus" song (courtesy of Bees Knees Entertainment Pty Ltd
<http://www.beeskneeskidsshow.com/> )
Full length <http://www.iwalktoschool.org/downloads/IWALKtrack01.mp3>  MP3
(2.73 mb)
15 <http://www.iwalktoschool.org/downloads/BeesKnees_WSBsong_15sec.mp3>
second MP3 (258 kb)
30 <http://www.iwalktoschool.org/downloads/BeesKnees_WSBsong_30sec.mp3>
second MP3 (455 kb)

"The Walking School Bus" song (courtesy of Macedon Ranges Shire Council,
Australia)
Full length MP3 <http://www.iwalktoschool.org/downloads/wsb_gen2.mp3>  (2.66
mb)

"The Walking School Bus" song (Active and Safe Routes to School, Canada)
sample MP3 <http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/wsb/walkingschoolbus.mp3>  clip
(802 kb)
download the lyrics in Word
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/wsb/walkingschoolbus_lyrics.doc>  (25 kb)
or PDF <http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/wsb/walkingschoolbus_lyrics.pdf>
(90 kb)
Sample and lyrics provided with permission of the artist.




http://www.iwalktoschool.org/image/yellow_dot.gifProclamations

Model Proclamation (USA)
  <http://www.walktoschool.org/resources/proclamation.cfm>
http://www.walktoschool.org/resources/proclamation.cfm



http://www.iwalktoschool.org/image/yellow_dot.gifPromotional Materials

The International Walk to School Week official flyer
http://www.iwalktoschool.org/downloads.htm

Promotional flyers (Active and Safe Routes to School, CAN)
IWALK
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/chapter4/chap4_iwalk_form1
.pdf>  promotional school flyer, English, PDF
Sample
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/chapter4/chap4_wwwed_flyer
1.pdf>  Walking Wednesday flyer, English, PDF
Student
<http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/downloads/guide/chapter6/chap6_tc_flyer2.p
df>  flyer, English, PDF

IWALK in the USA flyers (USA)
Month, week, and day <http://www.walktoschool.org/resources/flyers.cfm>
flyers



http://www.iwalktoschool.org/image/yellow_dot.gifOfficial Logos and Artwork

Downloads for iwalk official artwork and logos
http://www.iwalktoschool.org/downloads.htm





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Back to School & Global News from Green Map!


If you cannot read this or see links below, please click:
http://GreenMap.org/greenhouse/en/node/4718
  <http://www.greenmap.org>

August-September Green Map Express

Here at Green Map System, we have had a very productive summer. With a fresh
crop of innovation growing, we invite you to share in the harvest!

While school has been on break, we gathered up the responses from the educators
and youth group leaders who tested our set of Energy and Environment Exploration
Modules over the past year. We then refined and finalized these adaptable tools
and the educator guide that goes with them for both in and out-of-school
activities. Both New York City and Global editions are now available. We invite
you to use them with middle and high school students in your community.

Free Resources for Educators!

Thanks to our supporters who believe in the importance of mobilizing the next
generation as much as we do, you can use these modules to map street trees and
green space, get around car-free, find waste reduction sites and save energy at
school. Download the Global version of these modules at GreenMap.org/youth. Find
these and two additional modules designed specifically for charting NYC's
environment at GreenAppleMap.org/page/modules. Your teens will get a taste of
Green Mapmaking and discover great ways to get involved in local greening
efforts.

Open Green Map in Phase 2, Open to the Green Map Network

Although we are not announcing the official public launch date quite yet, we
have made great strides in the development of the Open Green Map, our
interactive mapmaking platform. As Phase 1 was completed on July 31, we invited
our global network of Green Mapmakers to start making their own interactive
maps. Already 39 diverse maps have been started, from Charleston U.S. to Swansea
Wales and Yogyakarta Indonesia - ten countries are represented to date. As we
continue to add capacity for the public to post green sites to Open Green Map's
World View map and otherwise prepare for the public launch, you can preview the
action at OpenGreenMap.org.

Recognition keeps flowing in for the Open Green Map, including our selection for
a special award about which we can't go public just yet. What we can say is that
this honor will bring our team out to the Bay Area for a week beginning
September 9. If you would like to meet us there for a demonstration of this work
in progress or to find out more on how you can support our continuing effort,
please send email us at info [at] greenmap [dot] org.

Seeking Interns, Volunteers, Supporters (and of course, Mapmakers)!

We always appreciate the fresh energy of interns in our global office! Now, we
would like to hear from New York metro area university students in design,
computer technology, marketing, business and environmental studies. Please email
your resume to info [at] greenmap [dot] org. Potential volunteers are welcome to
get in touch with us, too!

This summer, interns joined the Open Green Map tech development team from
Finland - Miikka Lammela and Austria - Gottfried Haider (who came to us via CDS
International with thanks to Turku University of the Applied Sciences and the
Pall Mall Foundation), New York designers Andrew Sass (SVA) and Yoko Ishibashi
(Parsons), and on our outreach team, Madeleine Goldfarb (Muhlenberg) and Kathryn
Podobinski (Northwestern). Our thanks to each of these wonderful individuals for
their many contributions to Green Map's local and global development.

Hearing from our supporters, both new and existing is wonderful, too! Click to
donate <http://www.greenmap.org/greenhouse/en/about/donate>  online or mail a
tax-deductible contribution to Green Map System, POB 249, NYC USA 10002.
Prospective mapmakers, we invite
<http://www.greenmap.org/greenhouse/en/participate%20>  you to put your
community on the Green Map!

We welcome your suggestions and insights, anytime. Your involvement and support
means so much to us!

Our best wishes to all for a great green month ahead.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

As you will see from the attached - our 2008 work program - the New Mobility
Kids Network is not on our active list. I think this is a major oversight
and would like to think that by encouraging you to have a look at the
approach being taken by The Mobility Education Foundation at http://
<http://www.mobilityeducation.org> www.mobilityeducation.org, you might
chose to take the time and let this list know about similar projects and
program, national, international and local.


The Mobility Education Foundation is inducing a cultural shift in
transportation habits by changing the way we educate our youth and empower
their decision making. Mobility education attends to the next generation's
transportation needs while improving safety, environment, costs, and health.





Eric Britton



PS. If you have five minutes you may want to have a look at this short video
that we did with the StreetFilms team earlier this summer -
<http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/velib%E2%80%99/>
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/velib%E2%80%99/    It gives a taste of
our approach, and of our commitment to creative partnerships





  cid:image001.jpg@...

Technology transforms time and space









[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi,

I am running the Sustainable Transport Book project and I just wanted to
thank everyone that has contacted me so far and to encourage other children
and young people to tell the world their transport stories.

We are creating a book for children written and edited entirely by children
and young people. I would love for you to be a part of this world wide
project and encourage others to think about environmentally friendly methods
of transport.

Please tell us how you get to school? How long does it take? Do you enjoy
the journey? Do you face any challenges on the way? How does your trip
affect the environment?

If your town or city is doing something great to make transport more
sustainable please let us know. Paint us a picture, write a story or
article, take a photo and share your story with the world.

All the information that you need is available at
www.peacechild.org/transport <http://www.peacechild.org/transport> , but if
you have any questions please drop me an email at transport@...
<mailto:transport@...> .

The closing date is 30th June 2007.

Many thanks,
Anna




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On Behalf Of Lew Fulton - Lew.Fulton@...
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 3:55 PM
To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport
Subject: Seeking children worldwide to submitarticles/stories/poems/pictures
on Sustainable Transport

Hello all, UNEP is assisting this project (described below) by spreading
the word; please also spread the word or even better, directly help find
some kids who might be interested in particpating.  Should be a great
project.

Lew Fulton
_____________________________________

My name is Anna Kitteringham and I work for Peace Child International, a
small educational charity based in the UK. I am currently working on a book
about Sustainable Transport that will be written and edited entirely by
children and young people and was hoping that you would like to be
involved. I am looking for exciting articles, stories, poems, pictures and
photographs from children and young people about transport where they live
and how they travel to school.

I would welcome contributions from anywhere in the world.

There are lots of different topics to think about, all the information is
also available on our website www.peacechild.org/transport.

The best contributions will be published in a book for children. Everyone
that enters work will receive a certificate and those that have
contributions published will be sent a copy of the book. Some participants
will be invited onto a virtual editorial board allowing them to give
opinions on the books design and contents over the internet.

Any help in disseminating this request or to collect contributions for this
book would be greatly appreciated. All I need you to do is to spread the
word about this project and to encourage as many people as possible to
enter work for the book. I would really appreciate if you could ask all
children and young people that you know to participate and would be
delighted if you would contribute too.

Many thanks,

Anna Kitteringham
Peace Child International

From: r.smith@... [mailto:r.smith@...]

Hi Eric

I've forwarded your last e-mail communication to Jacky Kennedy (Toronto)
and Lauren Marchetti (US SRTS Director) for wider dissemination via the WTS
grapevine. Although I no longer chair the IWALK Committee I keep a keen eye
on what is happening and act in an advisory capacity now and then.

Thought I would share one of our experiences of how mass funding on SRTS
projects doesn't always have the desired effect, but a misguided decision
by school governors does.

A couple of years back our authority spent a small fortune on providing a
length of around 1km on a new off-road walkway/cycleway linking a rural
village with its market town neighbour. (We actually worked out it was 999
small steps in length from the nearest home to the school gate). I had a
field day with the media - 999 steps to a healthy heart etc.

The main road route was particularly "dangerous" with no pedestrian or
cyclist facilities. The new off-road facility ran alongside the main road
but was separated by a 6 foot high hedge. Most parents said they would let
their children use the facility if it was connected, convivial, comfortable
and most importantly, convenient.

The village school has 100 students and almost all reside in the market
town. Previously, all the children were driven to school, but since the
creation of the footway/cycleway link a small number now walk or cycle to
school in the mornings, as long as the weather is fine and dry. If wet,
they are still driven. The afternoons are interesting. Most children are
still driven home but about half a dozen parents put their children's bikes
in the back of the car and carry them to the school where they are unloaded
for the children to cycle home. The parents then drive home on the main
road where they can see their children cycling alongside off-road.  (Gaps
had to be created in the hedge line to ensure the children were still
visible.) Both parent and child arrive home at the same time - one on two
wheels and one on four. Apparently these parents don't have time to follow
them to school in their cars in the morning. They still feel there are too
many personal security issues to allow them to walk or cycle alone or even
in small groups even though the off-road facility is perfect for this.

The UK govt recently offered schools pump-priming funding to set up walking
buses. Sad to say, this school did not take up the offer. If the school
charged the parents �1 a time to drive into and park in the school car park
every morning and afternoon, I calculate it would take about 15 years to
recoup the costs of the off-road facility.
These cash-rich, time-poor parents have recently had an incentive to
continue to drive to the school - the school governors decided to extend
the school car parking facility for parents as it was getting too
congested!

Hearts and minds or sticks and fines?

By the way, the Stockholm Sustainable Cities Award currently resides
temporarily in New Zealand, on its round the globe tour.

Take care!

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


Scanned by MailDefender - managed email security from intY -
www.maildefender.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeb Brugmann [mailto:jeb@...]
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 4:45 PM
To: Eric Britton
  Subject: All the fusses about walking school buses...

Hi Eric (and co-conspirators): I of course agree with everything you say
Eric. Walking to school seems the most obvious of measures for a
climate-anxious, obesity-ridden parental generation.
But then, I wonder what's happening out there in the world beyond my
neighbourhood in Toronto, and why all the fuss in your note. The walking
school buses rev-up every morning here at 8.30 and converge from all
directions through blizzarding, rainy and bamly days alike. Ours takes a one
kilometer route. On snowy days when it's -15 we take sleds and pull them,
have snow ball fights. On other days it's all about skateboards, scooters
and bikes. On other days when we're late out the door and it's too cold for
a bike, we jog half the way.

WE NEVER THINK ABOUT WHETHER IT'S A "CAR-FREE DAY".

So what's going on? We've just stopped thinking about it too long ago and
walking to school is just too much of the rhythm of the day. So it won't
work as much of a call-to-arms here in Toronto. Better to think about how to
improve that wheelie or how to prevent snowballs to the face...or about that
anti-idling by-law that Toronto put in the books years ago, and never
enforces...

Jeb

Eric Britton wrote:
>
> 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
>
> -----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
> Bogot� 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.*
>
> * *
>
> * *
>

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
Bogot� 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.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

(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.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

]On Behalf Of Todd Alexander Litman
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 5:42 PM
To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport


Urban planners are increasingly aware of the importance of allowing children
to travel to school under their own power, for a variety of economic,
social, environmental and health reasons. The portion of children walking or
bicycling to school can be considered a key indicator of community
sustainability. In recent years a number of programs have developed to
support non-motorized school travel, in both developed and developing
countries. Some address community design, emphasizing the value of having
smaller, neighborhood schools instead of larger, more centralized schools,
and the location of schools in the center of neighborhoods rather than on
busy arterials and highways. Some focus on physical design, including
sidewalks, crosswalks, bike paths and traffic calming on streets around
schools. Some include bicycle safety education and encouragement.

For information see the "School Transport Management" (
http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm36.htm <http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm36.htm>  ) and
"Campus Transport Management" ( http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm5.htm
<http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm5.htm> ) chapters of our Online TDM
Encyclopedia.


Best wishes,
-Todd Litman


Chu Wa wrote:


>
> - primary school pupils want to cycle to school on their own but parents'
> concerns are stopping them.
>
> - 90% of youngsters have bikes and more than 30% of them would like to
cycle
> to school, only 1% actually do
>
> - parents who drive their children to school risk creating a habit of
> dependency that undermines children's confidence and self-reliance
>
> - It's a great shame children are being denied the opportunity to
experience
> this (cyling) independence because parents are worried about their safety
on
> the roads
>
> All above remarks from THE HERALD (UK) can be applied to Singapore
directly.
> I am just wondering how many cities (developing or not) are facing similar
> problems?
>
> Chu Wa
> Commuter cyclist
> Father of two
>
>
>
> The full news:
> http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1247222.0.0.php
> -
>

Sincerely,
Todd Alexander Litman
Victoria Transport Policy Institute ( www.vtpi.org <http://www.vtpi.org> )
litman@...
Phone & Fax 250-360-1560
1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA
Efficiency - Equity - Clarity



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On Behalf Of Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 5:16 AM

Hi again,

I would like to re-emphasize that cycling education for children and
other measures to protect them - and other vulnerable road users - are
fine, but they have to be in the correct balance with longer-term
measures. I do not want to denigrate the great efforts of anyone who has
done brilliant work to save lives. But, just as higher-efficiency
personal automobiles can arguably perpetuate bad urban planning, safety
measures we take now - especially if applied inconsistently and/or for
emotional, rather than logical reasons - can also have unintended effects.

I wrote the following to fellow local "reasonable street advocates" at
the recent occasion of the one-year anniversary of the death of a
well-known bicycling activist in Prague.

- T


PHOTO EVIDENCE

Look at this photo from the memorial ride for Jan Bouchal on Friday:
<http://www.nakole.cz/images/photos/clanky/000208/05_xl.jpg>

As you can see in the glare of a camera flash (or headlights of a car)
all the reflective material on the vests gets really bright.

In the photo, the guy on the right does not have a vest, but his bike
seems to have most of the legally-required reflectors and front light,
though possibly missing pedal reflectors. The guy on the bike in the
middle is riding illegally as he has no front light, no reflectors,
etc.. BUT he is more visible, at least to cars... but NOT to
pedestrians, nor to people in cars looking in a rear direction in
side-view mirrors, for example, when they are pulling out of a parking
space or opening a door
facing the street.


MAIN PROBLEM IS FAST CARS, right?

The problem is that cars go too fast, not that equipment for
night-riding is  inadequate. The other problem is that cars think they
own the road. A
properly-equipped bike is more visible to drivers going slower than
50km/h, but while wearing a vest might seem to give you more protection,
I have yet to see a study that proves this.  And it just makes cyclists
think they are safer when they might not be. (It is also unclear if
having a pink [http://ruzovekolo.cz] bike helps in road safety, though
it obviously has other benefits, and probably indirectly contributes to
road safety by creating a bigger psychological presence for cycling).

The orange safety vests read as "emergency" or "roadwork in progress".
Motorcyclists only wear those while training, and cops and road
construction people do too for obvious reasons. Cycling is not an
emergency!!


WHEN NOT EVERYONE WEARS A VEST

When you have a vest it makes you more visible than other riders, which
means that other riders are NEGATIVELY affected by your vest-wearing. In
addition to saying "emergency", the vest sends the message to drivers
that we (cyclists) are going beyond legal minimums BUT you (drivers)
don't have
to.

To draw on another current example, ECF and ETRA are campaigning against
the law for cars to have daytime running lights. See
<http://www.ecf.com/1933_1>. It seems like having cars turn their lights
on all the time would be helpful, but it is not, as it obscures turn
signals
on the cars and also makes drivers think they can be seen so people get
out of their way.

In cycle-friendly places like Germany, Netherlands, Denmark it is only a
requirement to have lights and reflectors on bikes, similar to here,
except that the lights - in Germany at least - have to have a capacitor
feature which keeps the lights on for awhile while you are stopped at a
light, for example.

And of course all these lights are run off generators and are built on
to the bike. So, no batteries to go dead (and throw away), no lights to
forget somewhere, no vests to care about.


GET LEGAL

In addition to slower speeds for cars and less arrogant behaviour by
drivers, we need to at least get people to equip their bikes properly and
legally, and we should recommend generator power over Temelin [more
controversial than normal nuclear power plant near Austrian border] power.

ONLY then can we say: "We are behaving responsibly and within the law.
How about you, drivers?"

Reflective vests are a well-intentioned and emotional response to the
danger of automobiles and other road vehicles. But they are
counter-productive to safety.


VESTS (like traffic signs) SEND A SECOND MESSAGE

Vests and too many traffic signs on the street are part of a visual
language which sends an implicit message: "You don't have to take personal
responsibility, think and communicate with eyes/body language with the
other people on the street."

I am not as strongly against very young children wearing safety vests,
but when a city implements this AHEAD of lowering speed limits (not just in
front of schools) it is a [big] mistake.

********

chuwa wrote:
> Thanks to all who share their views. I am frustrated and am a bit
> shocked to see how cities are developing in the same way in terms of
> automotive against human powered transport.
>
> I believe the energy goes into automotive transport yield 1% transport
> value and 99% pollution (air, noise, danger) while cycling yield 20%
> transport value and 80 % fitness for the rider.
> http://jz88.com/jz88-blog/?p=4
>
> This argument is valid for me but obviously not for the majority. I
> have friends who earn much less and able to justify to use half of
> their income for buying a small car in Singapore. The "status symbol"
> and perceived utility factors are the driving force behind.
>
> I wish more high profile persona will help to raise the status of
> cyclist and pedestrian. I also wish more government agencies will see
> the connection between transport planning and the consequences in
> population health and living environment.
>
> Practically, I don't want my children to risk their life nor want to
> block them from developing a life long skill in cycling, they need a
> solution now. I will bring them out cycling on pavement and safer
> streets, highlight to them the potential danger in common places. Bit
> by bit, to built up their competent level and confident.
>
> Chu Wa

--
--------------------------------------------

Todd Edelman
Director
Green Idea Factory

Korunn� 72
CZ-10100 Praha 10
Czech Republic

++420 605 915 970
++420 222 517 832
Skype: toddedelman

edelman@...
http://www.worldcarfree.net/onthetrain

Green Idea Factory,
a member of World Carfree Network

Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 3:38 AM

Thanks to all who share their views. I am frustrated and am a bit shocked to
see how cities are developing in the same way in terms of automotive against
human powered transport.

I believe the energy goes into automotive transport yield 1% transport value
and 99% pollution (air, noise, danger) while cycling yield 20% transport
value and 80 % fitness for the rider.
http://jz88.com/jz88-blog/?p=4

This argument is valid for me but obviously not for the majority. I have
friends who earn much less and able to justify to use half of their income
for buying a small car in Singapore. The "status symbol" and perceived
utility factors are the driving force behind.

I wish more high profile persona will help to raise the status of cyclist
and pedestrian. I also wish more government agencies will see the connection
between transport planning and the consequences in population health and
living environment.

Practically, I don't want my children to risk their life nor want to block
them from developing a life long skill in cycling, they need a solution now.
I will bring them out cycling on pavement and safer streets, highlight to
them the potential danger in common places. Bit by bit, to built up their
competent level and confident.

Chu Wa


chuwa <chuwasg@...> wrote:
- primary school pupils want to cycle to school on their own but parents'
concerns are stopping them.

- 90% of youngsters have bikes and more than 30% of them would like to cycle
to school, only 1% actually do

- parents who drive their children to school risk creating a habit of
dependency that undermines children's confidence and self-reliance

- It's a great shame children are being denied the opportunity to experience
this (cyling) independence because parents are worried about their safety on
the roads

All above remarks from THE HERALD (UK) can be applied to Singapore directly.
I am just wondering how many cities (developing or not) are facing similar
problems?

Chu Wa
Commuter cyclist
Father of two



The full news:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1247222.0.0.php

LotsLessCars@yahoogroups.com [mailto:LotsLessCars@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
Of Chris Bradshaw
Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2007 5:35 PM
To: LotsLessCars@yahoogroups.com
[Eric Britton]
The idea that children should get to school via independent movement, rather
than being driven in school buses or their caregiver's car is a worthy goal.

However, cycling is a poorer choice than walking.

First, cycling without an adult is not recommended by cyclist-trainers
before the age of 10, and then only on residential streets.

Second, such children need a cycling course first.

Unfortunately, children are provided bikes long before their 10th birthdays.
During that time, they use it as a plaything, usually emulating their
parents' behaviour towards cars. Also, they don't learn how to get places
on their own. These are bad attitudes that must be changed before letting
them move about on their own.

Since the use of a bike is only an advantage over walking when the trip is
in excess of about 2 kms, the child should not need using it until their
cognitive abilities allow them to grasp the specifics of the road-path
network over a 16-square-km area. And that is about the time that they can
survive along the cruel, car-dominated streets they will encounter, and have
the strength for that length of trip.

In any case, within the 2-km distance, I find that children quickly tire of
bike use for the trip to school, and switch back to walking. It's far more
social, and it avoids them having their favourite 'steed' stolen.

Chris Bradshaw
Ottawa

= = = original message = = = =

- primary school pupils want to cycle to school on their own but parents'
concerns are stopping them.

- 90% of youngsters have bikes and more than 30% of them would like to cycle
to school, only 1% actually do

- parents who drive their children to school risk creating a habit of
dependency that undermines children's confidence and self-reliance

- It's a great shame children are being denied the opportunity to experience
this (cyling) independence because parents are worried about their safety on
the roads

All above remarks from THE HERALD (UK) can be applied to Singapore directly.
I am just wondering how many cities (developing or not) are facing similar
problems?

Chu Wa
Commuter cyclist
Father of two

The full news:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1247222.0.0.php
<http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1247222.0.0.php>






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Science a la Joe Camel
By Laurie David
Sunday, November 26, 2006; B01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/24/AR200611
2400789_pf.html
At hundreds of screenings this year of "An Inconvenient Truth," the
first thing many viewers said after the lights came up was that every
student in every school in the United States needed to see this movie.
The producers of former vice president Al Gore's film about global
warming, myself included, certainly agreed. So the company that made the
documentary decided to offer 50,000 free DVDs to the National Science
Teachers Association (NSTA) for educators to use in their classrooms. It
seemed like a no-brainer.
The teachers had a different idea: Thanks but no thanks, they said.
In their e-mail rejection, they expressed concern that other "special
interests" might ask to distribute materials, too; they said they didn't
want to offer "political" endorsement of the film; and they saw "little,
if any, benefit to NSTA or its members" in accepting the free DVDs.
Gore, however, is not running for office, and the film's theatrical run
is long since over. As for classroom benefits, the movie has been
enthusiastically endorsed by leading climate scientists worldwide, and
is required viewing for all students in Norway and Sweden.
Still, maybe the NSTA just being extra cautious. But there was one more
curious argument in the e-mail: Accepting the DVDs, they wrote, would
place "unnecessary risk upon the [NSTA] capital campaign, especially
certain targeted supporters." One of those supporters, it turns out, is
the Exxon Mobil Corp.
That's the same Exxon Mobil that for more than a decade has done
everything possible to muddle public understanding of global warming and
stifle any serious effort to solve it. It has run ads in leading
newspapers (including this one) questioning the role of manmade
emissions in global warming, and financed the work of a small band of
scientific skeptics who have tried to challenge the consensus that
heat-trapping pollution is drastically altering our atmosphere. The
company spends millions to support groups such as the Competitive
Enterprise Institute that aggressively pressure lawmakers to oppose
emission limits.
It's bad enough when a company tries to sell junk science to a bunch of
grown-ups. But, like a tobacco company using cartoons to peddle
cigarettes, Exxon Mobil is going after our kids, too.
And it has been doing so for longer than you may think. NSTA says it has
received $6 million from the company since 1996, mostly for the
association's "Building a Presence for Science" program, an electronic
networking initiative intended to "bring standards-based teaching and
learning" into schools, according to the NSTA Web site. Exxon Mobil has
a representative on the group's corporate advisory board. And in 2003,
NSTA gave the company an award for its commitment to science education.
So much for special interests and implicit endorsements.
In the past year alone, according to its Web site, Exxon Mobil's
foundation gave $42 million to key organizations that influence the way
children learn about science, from kindergarten until they graduate from
high school.
And Exxon Mobil isn't the only one getting in on the action. Through
textbooks, classroom posters and teacher seminars, the oil industry, the
coal industry and other corporate interests are exploiting shortfalls in
education funding by using a small slice of their record profits to buy
themselves a classroom soapbox.
NSTA's list of corporate donors also includes Shell Oil and the American
Petroleum Institute (API), which funds NSTA's Web site on the science of
energy. There, students can find a section called "Running on Oil" and
read a page that touts the industry's environmental track record --
citing improvements mostly attributable to laws that the companies
fought tooth and nail, by the way -- but makes only vague references to
spills or pollution. NSTA has distributed a video produced by API called
"You Can't Be Cool Without Fuel," a shameless pitch for oil dependence.
The education organization also hosts an annual convention -- which is
described on Exxon Mobil's Web site as featuring "more than 450
companies and organizations displaying the most current textbooks, lab
equipment, computer hardware and software, and teaching enhancements."
The company "regularly displays" its "many . . . education materials" at
the exhibition. John Borowski, a science teacher at North Salem High
School in Salem, Ore., was dismayed by NSTA's partnerships with
industrial polluters when he attended the association's annual
convention this year and witnessed hundreds of teachers and school
administrators walk away with armloads of free corporate lesson plans.
Along with propaganda challenging global warming from Exxon Mobil, the
curricular offerings included lessons on forestry provided by
Weyerhaeuser and International Paper, Borowski says, and the benefits of
genetic engineering courtesy of biotech giant Monsanto.
"The materials from the American Petroleum Institute and the other
corporate interests are the worst form of a lie: omission," Borowski
says. "The oil and coal guys won't address global warming, and the
timber industry papers over clear-cuts."
An API memo leaked to the media as long ago as 1998 succinctly explains
why the association is angling to infiltrate the classroom: "Informing
teachers/students about uncertainties in climate science will begin to
erect barriers against further efforts to impose Kyoto-like measures in
the future."
So, how is any of this different from showing Gore's movie in the
classroom? The answer is that neither Gore nor Participant Productions,
which made the movie, stands to profit a nickel from giving away DVDs,
and we aren't facing millions of dollars in lost business from limits on
global-warming pollution and a shift to cleaner, renewable energy.
It's hard to say whether NSTA is a bad guy here or just a sorry victim
of tight education budgets. And we don't pretend that a two-hour movie
is a substitute for a rigorous science curriculum. Students should
expect, and parents should demand, that educators present an honest and
unbiased look at the true state of knowledge about the challenges of the
day.
As for Exxon Mobil -- which just began a fuzzy advertising campaign that
trumpets clean energy and low emissions -- this story shows that
slapping green stripes on a corporate tiger doesn't change the beast
within. The company is still playing the same cynical game it has for
years.
While NSTA and Exxon Mobil ponder the moral lesson they're teaching with
all this, there are 50,000 DVDs sitting in a Los Angeles warehouse,
waiting to be distributed. In the meantime, Mom and Dad may want to keep
a sharp eye on their kids' science homework.
laurie@...
Laurie David, a producer of "An Inconvenient Truth," is a Natural
Resources Defense Council trustee and founder of StopGlobalWarming.org.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dear Friends,

You will notice perhaps a certain flurry of activity here, and indeed if
you go to http://www.kids.newmobility.org you will see that there is
even some progress being made in a number of places there. Well yes,
things are still in a bit of a mess, but I hope you will find it a more
creative mess and one that you might wish to help move ahead. (This
short note builds on a much longer mailing which sets out the broad
lines of our plans for the New Mobility Kids Network and which you will
find if you go to the Idea Factory of otherwise just click here to
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/NewMobilityKids/message/81.)

Here is what we are looking for from you if you are up for it:

1. Nominate at least one person working or interested in these
matters to join the forum/idea factory. For that all they have to do is
send an  email to NewMobilityKids-subscribe@yahoogroups.com - if
possible with a line or two describing their interest.

2. Put us in touch with at least one programs and groups working in
allied areas.

3. Share with the group reports and background papers on these
matters that you feel will be useful to the others.

That's it. For now still a bit of an empty box -- but at least we have
the box.

Eric Britton

PS. As part of our attempted global outreach, we are starting to put a
little machine translation engine right into the site so that you can
get a rough translation of each page with a single click into a handful
of other languages.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hello,

The moderator of the Small-Steps group has changed the group's name.
This means that both the group's email address and the group home page
location have changed.

The group email address:
NewMobilityKids@yahoogroups.com

The group home page location:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NewMobilityKids

If you have links which point to this group or an address book entry
for the group, you should update them, as the old addresses will no
longer work.

Regards,

Yahoo! Groups Customer Care

There is an excellent new video just produced by the produced by
Sveriges
<http://svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=7830&lid=about_SVT&from=menu>
Television (SVT),  the Swedish public service television company, which
looks at the Global Warming debacle and debate with particular acuity
and interest. You can pick it up on the main site of The Commons: Open
Society Sustainability Initiative at www.ecoplan.org
<http://www.ecoplan.org/> . You'll see it under "Evidence" (NEW) on the
top menu.



Since this is part of our push to use the full range of communications
tools and media in this important cause, you will see that we have also
popped into the page that introduces in addition to the Swedish film
some links to a couple other of the videos and films that you will find
under the New Mobility Agenda. Lower down on the left menu of The
Commons, you will see the beginning of a collection of videos and clips,
to which we hope you will chose to add when you have something you think
the others might wish to see.



Eric Britton







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Eric and all ...

I am delighted to see this focus ... however I too am concerned that, while
strategies like the walking school bus are valuable to beginning to change
behaviour, or perhaps even only to alert people to how behaviour has BEEN
changed, the important issue is to remove/reduce the road danger at cause.

Too often, road safety education is road UNsafety education.

  From this, we can learn from the "Road Danger Reduction" emphasis (worth
exploring on the web).

I am also concerned that too often walking and cycling are separated eg I
have seen no mention of cycling in the discussion I have seen to date
although hopefully it is there.

In my view, "a road that is safe enough for people of all ages and
abilities to cross is safe (enough) for cyclists to use".

So picking up on the "Sustainable Safety" and "Vision Zero" concepts, one
can question the need for the walking school bus ie WSB.

That is not to say that it should not be encouraged, but it is to say that
its formation and organisation should be from the bottom up albeit perhaps
assisted initially from the top down.

Local examples of the WSB here in Brisbane (Australia) have local authority
staff, yellow safety vests, flags, and a fixed route and timetable, once a
week. But it looks more like a military drill and procession and yes, when
it gets to a road crossing, it has to break up into bits and each bit has
to be escorted across the road because the central refuge is far too small,
and the traffic speed limit is 60km/h.

In other words, will the barriers be removed or is the WSB just another
strategy to avoid addressing the barriers?

Two publications I find very useful and very persuasive are "Kids on the
move" and "cycling: the way ahead for towns and cities" ... both I assume
(and hope) still on the web from the EC. Perhaps hard copies are somewhere
to be found too?

But there is more serious question. We don't really know when the desire to
value cars begins or is learned or acquired. We don't really know which
values are beneficial and which are problematic.

Teaching children that motor vehicles have priority and implicitly through
advertising etc, that they are safe is one thing eg through ":One false
move" and teaching children that people are potentially dangerous eg
"Stranger Danger" is hardly the way to then expect driver behaviour that
respects the vulnerability of the non-motorised road users "of all ages and
abilities". It is said children learn from experience and from watching
others, eg their parents, and from a very young age.

Early school may be too late.

Some evidence for this view (with important references) is cited in
http://www.yeatesit.biz/transfiles/EmpoweringEducatorsV2006.pdf

Quite a bit of my work has sought to position "independent mobility" as a
counter to "car dependence" such that I suggest we need to not only focus
on children, but on "people of all ages and abilities" walking, cycling or
using mobility aides, however powered.

It does not take much to understand that the vulnerability of a say 10 year
old child trying to cross a suburban road or street is not a lot different
to that of a person who is totally vision impaired or suffers a mobility
disability. Sure, the specifics are different, but the vulnerability is not.

The focus on younger children is (only) a useful step towards an urban
environment that is "safe+convenient for all".

It follows then that "if the road is safe enough for children to cycle on
or across, it is probably safe enough for people of all ages and abilities
to cross".

A number of other papers at http://www.yeatesit.biz/transresource.htm
attempt to explore and promote these views.

Michael Yeates
Brisbane
Australia .......................

At 06:09 PM 12/11/2006, On@...,
Behalf@..., wrote:

>On Behalf Of Roland Sapsford
>
>Hi Eric and others
>
>You may be aware that Daniel Appleyard (of famed mapping of the impact
>of traffic volume on home space in the early 80s) has recently turned
>his hand to having children do the very thing you suggest at the end -
>child centred mapping around journeys - especially to and from school. I
>am very sorry that when I upgraded my computer I lost the link to this
>work. If anyone else can point this again I'd be very grateful!
>
>In New Zealand at least, the whole area of children's independent
>mobility is only now getting a sliver of recognition as a positive
>reason for promoting 'active modes' as they are known here. However the
>main focus remains on more direct health issues. Road safety education
>still works largely on children rather than through traffic calming etc
>and this is a barrier to more independent mobility.
>
>Best wishes
>Roland Sapsford
>Wellington, New Zealand
>
>Eric Britton wrote:
> > Dave, Roland, Anzir, Simon, Martin:
> >
> > I am absolutely delighted to have these different vies and wise
> > expressions of support for the 'walk to school' (might also be cycle
> > or skating but what is important is that the kids get there under
> > their own steam and safely). In fact, the concept of this walk is one
> > of the central pillars of the New Mobility Agenda -- to the extent
> > that it is almost impossible to consider that the Agenda is in place
> > unless this is the main means of getting to school each day. It is so
> > very important for reasons of health and the child's social and
> > psychological development, that its role in the community must be seen
>
> > as a fundamental underlying target of transport and school policy.
> >
> > A decade ago we opened up a parallel focus program under the Agenda
> > somewhat awkwardly entitled "_Children on the Move! _Small Steps to
> > Sustainable Lives" -- our intention being to develop a lively forum
> > and group project to zero in on these are related child/transport
> > issues, a very rich and important sub-set of our overall mandate here.
>
> > Unfortunately I never found the key to make it work, more than
> > anything else a matter of limited time and resources here in this all
> > too finite world. If you go to
> >
>
<http://ecoplan.org/children/ch_index.htm>http://ecoplan.org/children/ch_index.h\
tm
> you can see the shards of
> > that earlier attempt, which we could still do some interesting and
> > useful things with if anyone wished to get in and give it a go.
> >
> > To give you a feel for the extent to which this is far from a moribund
>
> > subject, I can suggest that you click the "Small steps news" on the
> > top[ menu. It's a bit of a jungle but nonetheless offers ample food
> > for thought.
> >
> > A great place to sharpen your tools on this is the **International
> > Walk to School website ****at**
> <http://www.iwalktoschool.org/,>http://www.iwalktoschool.org/, and the
>
> > UK site at
> <http://www.walktoschool.org.uk/>http://www.walktoschool.org.uk/ are
> golden resources for
>this.
> >
> > One aspect possibly worth mentioning is our belief that children can
> > and should themselves get directly, actively involved in the process
> > of mapping and understanding the transport dimensions of their lives.
> > And in the process take their first steps toward becoming better
> > informed and more responsible as active citizens. It is never too
> > early to start.
> >
> > It would be great if we could find out how to be useful, helpful in
> > all this. Your good letters underline the importance of all this.
> >
> > Eric Britton
> >
>
>"LotsLessCars in Cities" at <http://lotslesscars.org>http://lotslesscars.org
>Organize a Car/Free Day: The nose of the camel.
>World Car/Free Days at <http://worldcarfreeday.com>http://worldcarfreeday.com
>To leave list:
><mailto:LotsLessCars-unsubscribe%40yahoogroups.com>LotsLessCars-unsubscribe@yah\
oogroups.com
>To post messages:
><mailto:LotsLessCars%40yahoogroups.com>LotsLessCars@yahoogroups.com
>Also check out New Mobility Agenda at
><http://newmobility.org>http://newmobility.org
>Need some help? Send an email to
><mailto:Help%40newmobility.org>Help@...
>Or call via Skype to "newmobility'
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>

   ----------



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On Behalf Of Roland Sapsford

Hi Eric and others

You may be aware that Daniel Appleyard (of famed mapping of the impact
of traffic volume on home space in the early 80s) has recently turned
his hand to having children do the very thing you suggest at the end -
child centred mapping around journeys - especially to an from school. I
am very sorry that when I upgraded my computer I lost the link to this
work. If anyone else can point this again I'd be very grateful!

In New Zealand at least, the whole area of children's independent
mobility is only now getting a sliver of recognition as a positive
reason for promoting 'active modes' as they are known here. However the
main focus remains on more direct health issues. Road safety education
still works largely on children rather than through traffic calming etc
and this is a barrier to more independent mobility.

Best wishes
Roland Sapsford
Wellington, New Zealand

Eric Britton wrote:
> Dave, Roland, Anzir, Simon, Martin:
>
> I am absolutely delighted to have these different vies and wise
> expressions of support for the 'walk to school' (might also be cycle
> or skating but what is important is that the kids get there under
> their own steam and safely). In fact, the concept of this walk is one
> of the central pillars of the New Mobility Agenda -- to the extent
> that it is almost impossible to consider that the Agenda is in place
> unless this is the main means of getting to school each day. It is so
> very important for reasons of health and the child's social and
> psychological development, that its role in the community must be seen

> as a fundamental underlying target of transport and school policy.
>
> A decade ago we opened up a parallel focus program under the Agenda
> somewhat awkwardly entitled "_Children on the Move! _Small Steps to
> Sustainable Lives" -- our intention being to develop a lively forum
> and group project to zero in on these are related child/transport
> issues, a very rich and important sub-set of our overall mandate here.

> Unfortunately I never found the key to make it work, more than
> anything else a matter of limited time and resources here in this all
> too finite world. If you go to
> http://ecoplan.org/children/ch_index.htm you can see the shards of
> that earlier attempt, which we could still do some interesting and
> useful things with if anyone wished to get in and give it a go.
>
> To give you a feel for the extent to which this is far from a moribund

> subject, I can suggest that you click the "Small steps news" on the
> top[ menu. It's a bit of a jungle but nonetheless offers ample food
> for thought.
>
> A great place to sharpen your tools on this is the **International
> Walk to School website ****at** http://www.iwalktoschool.org/, and the

> UK site at http://www.walktoschool.org.uk/ are golden resources for
this.
>
> One aspect possibly worth mentioning is our belief that children can
> and should themselves get directly, actively involved in the process
> of mapping and understanding the transport dimensions of their lives.
> And in the process take their first steps toward becoming better
> informed and more responsible as active citizens. It is never too
> early to start.
>
> It would be great if we could find out how to be useful, helpful in
> all this. Your good letters underline the importance of all this.
>
> Eric Britton
>




"LotsLessCars in Cities" at http://lotslesscars.org
Organize a Car/Free Day: The nose of the camel.
World Car/Free Days at http://worldcarfreeday.com
To leave list: LotsLessCars-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
To post messages: LotsLessCars@yahoogroups.com
Also check out New Mobility Agenda at http://newmobility.org
Need some help? Send an email to Help@...
Or call via Skype to "newmobility'
Yahoo! Groups Links

An open letter to participants in the earlier Children on the Move!
program (1999) and our friends in Lots Less Cars.



And this is to ask if you and anyone on any of your networks might be
interested to be informed about and perhaps even participating in some
way in a new open collaborative project just getting underway under our
New Mobility Agenda (http://www.newmobility.org), and The Commons: Open
Society Sustainability Initiative (www.ecoplan.org
<http://www.ecoplan.org/> ) which looks specifically at our children and
the ways they get around in their communities in their day to day lives.
There is a bit of a story behind this which I would like to sketch
quickly so that you perhaps will have a better feel for what we think
needs to be done now.



Backdrop:

Let me start with a quick rundown of some of the main reasons why we
think this is an extremely important area of public policy and private
practice and thus worth our and your concerns and efforts. Of course
whatever we end up proposing, promulgating or supporting must of course
be safe for the children, but there is certainly no need to be paranoid
about other ways of getting the job done, and indeed we also must be
ready to work with them in ways that open up the benefits of . . .

*   Personal development

*   Health and hygiene

*   Independence

*   Curiosity

*   Exploration

*   Socialization and peer relations in unstructured unsupervised
situations

*   Personal Choice and responsibility (including maybe not going to
school or being late .. valuable lessons to be learned which you can't
if you are strapped in Mommy's shiny SUV)

*   Environmental awareness

*   Traffic reduction, active participation in

*   Increased self-reliance

*   Opportunities for the development of extraordinary children

*   Personal citizenship, responsibility and choices

*   Reinforce and enrich family dialogues and collaboration



In fact we tried to launch a group project along these lines a full
decade ago, but for various reasons it never took off, in part because
of a lack of time and resources here, but I think upon reflection
because we simply did not find a way to make it interesting enough  to
bring in enough people and ideas to create the necessary critical mass
to get the whole thing to take off on its own.  This time around I hope
that we shall be able to learn these lessons and from the outset see if
we can turn this into what I like to call a self-organizing
collaborative network (i.e., no boss, no hierarchy,  but a wide open
participatory framework that brings in ideas and energy and makes
interesting and useful things happen). You'll see at least the first
glimpses of how this might work if you click over to the draft site at
http://www.kids.newmobility.org <http://www.kids.newmobility.org/> ,
where you will see an in-process of revision and extension of a web
site, that is being opened up precisely to see if it can in time and
with multiple sources of inputs, ideas and energy be transformed into a
useful turntable for ideas and communications on these I think terrible
important issues and choices.



And while you will see it on the site let me already remind you here of
the first handful of areas and issues on which we propose to concentrate
at the outset:

*   Walk to School programs (including of course cycling and skating. .
. human transport as it is often called)

*   Play Streets

*   New Mobility School Program

*   Green Maps

*   Extraordinary Children - New Mobility Initiatives



Now what?

Noble sounding goals, but what in fact do we have in hand today to be
able to proceed on all this? For now, neither funding, any form of
institutional support beyond that which we bring to it, no official
mandate, no staff, and no commitments or even firm plans at to how we
want to proceed on this.  That's, if you will the bad, news. But what is
the good news?



1.       Well for starters we have a timely and important topic, which
corresponds to real needs which many parents, citizens, teachers and
local leaders - and kids! - can see and appreciate.

2.       And then too, we have a long track record of being able to
create and then support viable international networks and programs in
very similar areas, whether they involve topics as abstract as
sustainable transport, sustainable development and social justice, or
much more focused topics and issue areas, as you will see in some detail
if you check out the New Mobility Agenda at http://www.newmobility.org
<http://www.newmobility.org/> .

3.       To which we can add a rather varied tool kit, which while in
places rather rudimentary nonetheless give us both solid experience and
a decent starting point in coming up with something that will be much
more suited to the challenges of the Kids/New Mobility program and
support effort. (These tools include our various web sites, idea
factories, shared document and link libraries, audio and video
libraries, blogs, wikis, newsletters, free or low cost audio and video
conferencing systems, and even such 'old technology' devices like
physical conferences, expositions and various kinds of get-togethers
running from world-level meetings to local Accelerated Learning
Sessions.)

4.       And finally we have over the years created international
networks consisting of thousands of distinguished and varied people and
hundreds of programs and groups in more than fifty countries world wide
who have shown themselves to be open to our projects and exchanges. What
is perhaps most interesting about these people and groups is that they
come from such a wide range of economic, social and political contexts.
Plenty of often very different things and pints of views to learn from.



Now that may not be bad for a start, but it would be a real pity if this
time around we allowed ourselves to start to put together this program
from our own various bricks and pieces, as if we here know best how to
get this job done as it should be. The truth is that we, that I am
simply not smart enough or sufficiently well equipped to deign this
program by myself. And here is where you and our networks come in.
Specifically we propose a four step, iterative, interactive development
process over the months ahead, perhaps along the following lines:



Step 1.   Alpha project: Consider the site as it now stands (at
http://www.kids.newmobility.org on12 Nov. 06) as a crude alpha version
of . . . something . which is intended not as a final design or even as
a rough model but rather as a first draft put before you just to get the
ball rolling in a group effort to figure out and put into place the best
structure to get this job done. It is my point of view in this that
literally everything is up for grabs and open to redefinition,
elimination, replacement, refinement . . .  what have you. For instance
the present draft suggests that it will be a web site of some sort that
should be the central source of information, sharing and interaction.
Now, it may be that rather than this old html stuff stuck on a virtual
page we should be putting something like a wiki, blog or who knows what
at the center.  These are the sorts of things that we would like to hear
from you all about.

Step 2.   Brainstorm: Over the next two months (Nov., Dec. 2006) , we
would like to invite ideas, suggestions and inputs from as many of our
international colleagues as we can incite to do so, so that the entire
project can be put together in a more effective, efficient and useful
package.

Step 3.   Beta project: Then starting in January 2007 we and others who
wish to take part in this can get started in creating a much improved
program and support frame, and then start to go to work with it. It is
our experience that once the necessary critical mass has been reached in
terms of the number of participants (200 or more is a number that we
have seen work in other situations) and the lines of communication and
established and used, the whole thing can gradually be improved,
extended, etc. so that by, say, summer 2007 we would have a pretty
viable structure in place and perhaps also the first collaborative
projects and even perhaps external support and funding either for
specific task or events or possibly for the program as a whole.

Step 4.   Full program - 2007-2010: Aiming at the period 2007-2010, at
which point a sunset clause should be involved to examine if the effort
should be continued, and in what form.



Some small next steps:

To conclude: if what you see today on the draft site is still pretty
primitive and out of date, here are a number of more focused areas in
which we would be pleased to hear from you with your ideas and
suggestions to start to get all this formed up and more useful:



*   List of leading international and local programs working in these
areas (ours is way out of date) - including of course in each case their
web site and if possible key  contacts. These will then be immediately
posted to the site as they come in.

*   Key documents and ppt presentations

*   Your comments and suggestions to Idea Factory

*   Videos? And audios

*   Content and editorial suggestions:

*   Calendars and dates of key related events



*   *    *



But there is one final point in all this concerning which I would be
particularly grateful to have the benefit of your wisest and frankest
thoughts - namely, is this a project that is worth doing? And are we the
people to do it? Is there someone out there who is better equipped to do
exactly this job? Because if that is the case, what we should doubtless
be considering is how we might be able to support them in their work.
Truth to tell however, what I have learned over the years is that there
is a very big world out there and the problems we need to be grappling
with are many and hugely varied. In this context the idea of useful
redundancy is not one that necessarily stands up to close inspection
(e.g., nature is redundant and isn't that  why it works?). But if that
is the case, let me hear from you and we can then draw the necessary
conclusions.



Thanks for giving this your time. I look forward with real interest to
hearing from you on this.



Eric Britton



New Mobility Advisory/Briefs. Don't know about them yet?

Maybe you should have a look at http://newmobilitybriefs.org
<http://newmobilitybriefs.org/>

Accelerated Learning for partners & decision-makers in cities





The New Mobility Agenda: on line at http://www.newmobility.org

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Tel:  +331 4326 1323      +338 7044 0343      Skype: newmobility

E:  <mailto:contact@...> contact@...
Backup:  <mailto:fekbritton@...> fekbritton@...





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Dear Friends,



This is the final note in this series which is intended to make our fora more
useful and easier to use for you and your colleagues.  Nine out of ten of you
show that you fully understand all this, but it is I hope a useful reminder for
us all. These are not must more “chat sessions” and it really does help if
we all keep that in mind.



Thanks for being patient and helping in this. We all benefit in the end.



Eric Britton





Forum use hints & good practices

   _____

  Participation <http://www.ecoplan.org/general/welcome.htm#participation>

  Message Procedures <http://www.ecoplan.org/general/welcome.htm#messages>  &
Etiquette

  Message Search <http://www.ecoplan.org/general/welcome.htm#enhanced>

  List Monitoring <http://www.ecoplan.org/general/welcome.htm#monitor>

  Time <http://www.ecoplan.org/general/welcome.htm#time>  starved?

   _____

Welcome to our shared Communications Center and Library for this specialized
program under The Commons. If you intend to participate in the email
discussions, or the posting of materials to the Library or Links & Media
sections, please to be sure to read this short section carefully.

{I realize that this is a terrible terrible bore. But please give it five
minutes; it will make life really much easier and more efficient -- for you and
for the others. Think of it as warming up before you launch, full blooded and
raring to go, into the sport of your choice. Now, off we go!)


Participation and Email Frequency

Participation makes it easy to access the Public Library, link & Media and other
sections of the Forum (Café or Idea Factory) , as well as receiving messages of
the list into your own email box, in the manner you prefer. To become a member,
you are invited to send an empty email to the postmaster@... indicating
which group you wish to join. After a short while you will receive a
confirmation, unless there is a technical problem with your address. When you
have signed up you can elect to receive feedback from this site in any of four
forms:

(a) Individual emails. To receive all individual email messages.
(b) Daily digest: To receive all emails for the day in one message.
(c) Special notices. Only send important update emails from group moderator.
(d) Don't send me email, I'll read the messages on the site at leisure.

If your time is short, we strongly recommend the Daily Digest, and while you are
at it opt for the "Fully Featured" version. Very clean and efficient. To
accomplish that, all you have to do is check into your forum, where you will see
at the top of the YahooGroups page a link, Edit Membership. From there on you
will see.

If you wish to leave the list at any time, just send a blank email to

·         (forum-name)-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:the-commons-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> .


Message Procedures & Etiquette

In this day of titanic, paralyzing information overload, here are a few small
suggestions which I would strongly suggest you bear in mind as you work with our
fora and discussion groups. It will make use the whole process more efficient
for you and for all those hundreds of time-pressed colleagues who come here.

  1. Stay on focus:
And bear in mind that this is one of a series of more or less focused websites
and discussion groups, and we try hard to keep each of them in its chosen focus.
To understand this, in case you do not already, I suggest that you click here to
our page "Focus <http://www.ecoplan.org/general/nma-programs.pdf>  programs and
peer discussions". You'll see there how all this is intended to work.



  2. Make sure you are replying to the correct party.
When you answer a group message, your answer will in many cases be sent to all
the members of the list. If you wish the sender only to receive your answer,
please click on the "Forward" button instead of "Respond" and copy the sender's
email address into the "To" box. Remember, there is no feeling so "sinking" as
when a personal message goes instead to 500 busy, possibly unhappy people. We
would ask you to be extremely careful about distinguishing between:

a.       Basically personal messages (such as a thank you note, a specific
question or an observation intended for this or that person) which are best
addressed to your individual correspondent, and

b.       Communications to the group as a whole.

  3. Exception Information is the rule here:
We are all asked to bear in mind that our colleagues are very busy people and we
want to make sure that whatever comes out of this forum (I) they do not receive
more than a handful messages a week on average and (ii), more important, that
what is distributed to the group is quite literally "exception information",
i.e., communications which address issues which are of high common interest. I
hate to say it, but when we see people being a bit too casual in their choice of
mode, our list administrator actually goes in and picks off what we think to be
a bit too personal and indicate this to them as such. This may strike you as a
bit priggish on our part and indeed is a bit of a bore to actually do; but we
think it's better that than overloading people who have a lot of real work to do
and who see this as a useful tool and not one more wasteful Internet chore.


  4. "Judicious snipping": Take care to avoid promiscuous copying content of
earlier communications
Please do not simply copy and pass on the content of all previous
communications. Nobody, nobody likes to wade through this stuff. Moreover, it
obscures the point of your message for those whose time is important. Where you
need to cite an earlier note for context purposes, please do this in a sparing
and structured way ("judicious snipping" we call it). We will all appreciate
your thoughtfulness.



  5. Copying email addresses: Please do not copy emails to the list in which
you indicate the email addresses of colleagues under the cc. heading. This is a
potential disservice to them and can lead to their addresses being picked up and
then bombarded by lurkers or hackers, which of course you do not wish to be the
cause of.



  6. Retain Subject Headings:
Once a discussion of any given topic has got underway, it really helps for later
reference purposes if you kindly retain the original subject heading. (This is
because this heading in one of the main ways in which we can recall any given
dialogue and exchange around that topic, a process of recall which we believe is
extremely important to the extent to which this collective intellectual
patrimony is available to be mined for subsequent uses. Likewise, if you note
that the subject heading is preceded by a FWD: or Re: in any given case, it's a
good idea to delete this so that your message will enter into the correct
repertory.)



  7. Long signature lines.
No more than three lines please, all in. Once you have introduced yourself to
the group on joining, we all know who you are and don't need all that garble
about when, where and why. Screen space and time are scarce commodities, so
let's keep an eye on this small courtesy.


  8. Message format, fonts and color.
It is a real courtesy if you avoid background colors, large fonts or funky
signatures when writing the groups.



  9. How many messages should YOU be posting to the group?
Certainly no more than two or three per week please. In exceptional cases let's
get together and figure out a strategy (since there are other options including
our several "cafés".) Thank you.



  10. Show respect:
Just like our grandmothers told us. Do not mock others, do not allow your anger
to show, do not make ad hominem or personal remarks, do not pontificate and
don't be a wise guy. Remember half the people here are smarter and know more
about the subject than you (or I) do. Many of them have been at this for years
and have made important contributions, They are not newbies by any stretch of
the imagination, so be careful when you think you may be telling them something
they have not already thought of. The odds are they have. So a bit of modesty
and, as we say over here, 'retenue' will make your grandmother proud (always a
good objective).



  11. Other guidelines to keep in mind:

·         Please proof-read your submissions. The time you take is magnified
500-fold in time savings by readers in trying to understand your points.

·         Don't send very long messages, papers, or binary files to the list;
rather, post a summary in straight text, offering to send to those requesting it
the longer or coded document. Such requests should always be OFF-LIST (to the
person offering it, not the whole list). Another good alternative is to point
people to a website with your material.

·         When referring to research or statements, try to cite them, either a
bibliographic or web reference.

·         Cool off: If you feel yourself getting heated about what another has
written, consider sending that to only that person, not the entire list. This
keeps the recipient from feeling as defensive and possibly escalating the
exchange into a conflagration.

·         After joining, don't post for a couple weeks, so that you can get a
sense of the style of the list. Your first post might contain a short (one
para.) introduction of yourself, but this is not required (when lists first
start, introductions are the best way to get things started).

To conclude: I think it's not a bad assumption to hold in mind that at least
half the people here are smarter than you are and smarter than me) and know more
about the subject. Such a collection of wonderful concerned citizens and
colleagues deserve a little time and attention. And hey! they will do the same
for you.


Enhanced Message Search

At this point, after more than a decade of exchanges among our world wide
colleagues we now have more than ten thousand past communications stored in
these sites, a valuable resource if you are trying to get up to speed on all
these international reactions and goings on. How to use it? Well, try this

With the advanced Message Search functionality, finding a particular message is
not only easier, but much faster. We've updated this by integrating powerful
Yahoo! Search algorithms - this results in an accelerated search experience for
you. Message Search now comprehensively screens the entire message archive of a
group, no matter how many messages have been posted.

What's more, new Message Search includes an "Advanced" search feature. This
feature allows you to drill down on a number of fields to make it easier to find
that lost message. You can use the options on this page to create a very
specific search -- simply refine message search in your group by:

·         Date. You can add a specific point on the calendar and have a search
performed before or after that time. Or, search a date range.

·         Author. Include the name of the sender and all messages from that
name will be returned. You can also exclude a specific sender name from the
search.

·         Subject. Add any words from a subject line and it will be returned.
You can also exclude specific words from the subject line too.

·         Message Body. Add any words from the body of a message and the
relevant messages will be returned to you in your search results. Again here you
can also exclude specific words from your search.


List Monitoring

For better or worse, this is a "monitored" list. We do this, not because we like
it, and certainly not because we enjoy playing that role, but in order to
protect our subscribers and work partners from various forms of abuse and
e-overload. On the one hand, we provide an additional screen to help protect
from various forms of spam that occasionally manage to get through the generally
pretty good YahooGroups controls. And in addition, we occasionally find
ourselves constrained to reject letters that have been penned perhaps a bit too
aggressively for our taste, or simply send out a reminder in instances in which
someone has either sent to the group a communication that would be better routed
to a specific individual, or loaded down his note with unnecessary encumbering
copied material. Every once in a while we may unintentionally strike a nerve,
but by and large this seems to work so we'll keep on doing it.


Time Starved? (And who isn't?)

1. Go for the Daily Digest (see above).
You do this by going to the forum, and clicking the Edit Membership link toward
the top. There you can one click to the Digest. We also recommend that a bit
further down on the page you opt for the Fully Featured version. Quite nice
really.

2. Faster yet:
This may surprise but it works really very well. What you get for all the fora
you wish to follow (and I do this for each of the dozen we work with) is a
morning summary of all messages posted within each forum in which you
participate and receive email.

Here is what you see on your http://my.yahoo.com/ page when you sign in in the
morning. (More on how you do this just below.) This is the summary I found when
clicking in on Tuesday 25 July 2006. (What is sweet about this is that on the
page you can click directly to the article you wish to read and it brings you
into the full content of the entry).

   _____

·         London traffic - 11 hours ago
I agree with Roland that economists do not always understand what cities are
about, and I also think that in all markets they focus too much on pricing

·         "Moving forward : towards better urban transport" - in the open vide
- 18 hours ago
If you go to our in-process New Mobility Video Libraries, you will see three
great entries just posted by Paul Barter. The details on this three part entry

·         London traffic - 18 hours ago
Hi I think the statement that public transport SHOULD be provided on a
commercial basis is possibly a bit too strong. The economics of cities is a
challenging

·         Bus subsidies - 18 hours ago
Buses and trains may have external costs, but extra passengers on them occupying
seats that would otherwise be empty don't -- not significant ones, anyway.

·         Urban cyclists looking for a lane of their own - 21 hours ago
I have found the recent stuff about Shared Space/Naked Streets very simulating.
And now Chris Bradshaw's CURBBBB suggesting is intriguing (as are many of his

·         [The New Mobility ThinkPad] Ending our mediocrity - A planner's-eye -
22 hours ago
Note from the editor: From Canada here is a very thoughtful 'planner's eye view'
of what a good city is supposed to be all about. From our perspective

·         London traffic - 22 hours ago
Public transport should be provided on a commercial basis once cars and planes
are properly priced and regulated (regulating car includes bus priorities,

·         Vancouver Map Measures Walkability - 1 day ago
By Jeff Nagel Black Press Jul 19 2006 Downtown Vancouver and New Westminster are
by far the biggest, most walkable parts of the region, according to a new

·         Urban cyclists looking for a lane of their own - 2 days ago
I think Chris's idea is innovative and interesting (although in my
live-and-let-live vision, cities would be full of shared spaces, with road-users
interacting

·         Are bicycles good for the environment? - 2 days ago
Zvi, On 21 Jul 2006, at 16:01, ... I'm not so sure... At least in the UK, I
would say that walkers would go to more local

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To get on line with this, all you have to do is go to the bottom of the home
page of the Forum (Café or Idea Factory) and there you will see an icon marked
My Yahoo. Click and take it from there.





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