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| QUOTATION OF THE MONTH |
""We will not be banning cars from city
centres any more than we will be having rectangular bananas."
UK transport minister Norman Baker, on the EU 2050 strategy for
transport, which aims to eliminate conventional cars from European
cities. |
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| WORLD CARFREE NETWORK
ANNOUNCEMENTS |
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TOWARDS CARFREE CITIES 2011 IN MEXICO
The tenth Towards
Carfree Cities Conference will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico,
from 5 to 9
September 2011. The theme this year is "Building Carfree Cities for the
People, by the People", with a focus on citizen participation and the
sharing of experiences between campaigners from around the world. We
are still accepting your ideas for a presentation, workshop or other
conference activity, but this is the last call: The extended deadline
is April 15. |
WORLD CARFREE MONTHLY NEWS RELOADED!
Welcome to the new design of the World
Carfree Monthly News! The bulletin you are now reading is the winning
design from last month's competition. Congratulations go to
Çiğdem Çevrim and Daria Samokhvalova, who work in Prague
with Cedilla Design.
Thanks to all others who submitted a design or participated in the
voting!
We hope you will enjoy this new design. Your feedback at this point is
extremely dear to us. Please let us know if you like it! Also tell us
if you have any problems viewing it, either in your email (you will
have to allow enriched graphics) or by clicking on the link at the top,
and viewing it in a browser.
At this point it would require a lot of extra work to also offer the
text-only version. But please do let us know if this is essential for
you - we don't want to lose any readers!
Please sent all feedback to bulletin@worldcarfree.net. Thanks!
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READ AND
COMMENT ON THE EU WHITE PAPER ON TRANSPORT
As featured in the news section, there is a newly released White Paper
on Transport put out by the European Commission, which sets goals for
2050. As the given issues lie at the heart of World Carfree Network's
mission, it would be worthwhile to examine the details carefully, and
provide a response as necessary. Please take a look at the released document
and send in your comments to the Carfree
network listserv. The complete strategy is laid out here.
Following a discussion on the mailing list, a WCN position paper and
response may be formulated. For those not on the listserv, but otherwise
interested in the topic, please write to simon@worldcarfree.net. |
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| GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS |
EARTH DAY
CARFREE FESTIVAL IN SANTA BARBARA, CA, USA
In Santa Barbara, California, the 41st
Earth Day celebration will be held on April 16 and 17 with special
gifts planned for the promotional event. The location is Alameda Park.
The event will also provide the kick-off for CycleMAYnia.
Read more.
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WORLD NAKED BIKE RIDE "CABARET NIGHT"
BRIGHTON, UK
In anticipation of the World Naked Bike Ride (June 12) the Brighton
group is planning a special event to raise funds and have a good time.
It will take place on Saturday 9th April, from 7.30 to 11.30pm at the
Hanover Community Centre on 33 Southover Street. The cost is £7
on door, or £5.50 in advance purchase.
WNBR
Brighton
IMPROVING
CYCLING CONDITIONS IN ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, USA
The Saint Paul Bicycle Coalition works
to improve cycling conditions in Saint Paul, Minnesota. They celebrate
their 1st anniversary this April. If you live in Twin Cities and want
to become involved, please contact them or come to one of their monthly
meetings.
Read more.
VELOCYPEDIA
OPEN CALL
We are announcing open call for art works for an exhibition:
Contemporary art exhibition about bicycle passion and sustainable
transport. The exhibition will be held in the Gallery of National
Technical Library in Prague in May 2011.
Exhibition dates: 3rd May –24th May 2011
Curators: Lenka Kukurová, Milan Mikuláštík
Application deadline: 15th April 2011
Please contact velocypedia@gmail.com.
STOP SIGN - NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
Bianca Mugyenyi and Yves Engler, authors
of Stop Sign — Cars and capitalism
on the road to economic, social and environmental decay takes a
good hard look at the irrationality of driving in America. They will be
touring North America beginning in May 2011. If you are interested in plugging
into the tour, contact the authors at yvesengler@hotmail.com.
Read more.
GREEN SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL
Green Shorts Film Festival announces its
deadline of April 25 for new submissions. Bici Centro community-run bike
repair was featured last year.
Read more. |
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| ACTION |
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STOP THE RUSSIAN MOTORWAY FROM BULLDOZING KHIMKI
FOREST!
... Week of Action and Petition....
Last summer President Medvedev temporarily
halted preparatory works for a 43-km section of the Moscow – St.
Petersburg motorway near Moscow after determined protests from local
people in the Movement to Defend Khimki Forest.
The forest is a protected natural area including relic oak groves and
is a natural habitat for elks, boars and other wild animals. In this
polluted and densely populated region its value for local people is
enormous – so much so that local people have continued their campaign
in spite of brutal attacks, illegitimate arrests and nasty
threats.
The Russian government now plans to start again in late April with the
French construction company Vinci. Please help stop destruction of the
forest and call on Vinci to get out of this project.
1) Ask Vinci not to sign any new agreement with the Russian government
and to withdraw from the project by signing this petition,
which automatically sends a letter to Vinci when you sign.
2) Organise an action during the Week of Action against Vinci 24 – 30
April 2011. If there is no Vinci office in your country, try the
Russian or French embassy instead. Please let us know if you plan to
take part.
Read more background material in Russian
as well as translations in Deutsch, Française, and Български. (English description is
alongside the petition)
For more
information, please contact ecmoru@gmail.com
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| IN THE NEWS |
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The European Commission has laid out its transport
plan for 2050, which includes banning conventionally fuelled cars
in cities across Europe. A 60% transport emission cut by then is the
target. Most of the emission cuts proposed would however first come
into effect after 2030.
Transport & Environment, based in Brussels, have criticised the
plans for putting off more serious action for later, and rejecting the
idea of curbing mobility.
Read
more.
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The Velocity conference just took place in
Seville, Spain. It has come to light how far this city has come in
advancing cycle-friendly atmosphere, jumping from a modal share of
under 1% to a current 7% in five years. For some glimpses into how this
happened, read
more.
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The city of Stuttgart, Germany was
anticipating the demolition of its main train station and rebuilding it
underground - much to the dismay of its citizens, and in the face of
huge street protests. But in the recent state elections of
Baden-Württemberg, the Green party came to a historic win, in
coalition with SPD. The plans for Stuttgart 21 will now be reassessed.
Read
more.
Hamburg
has
created the "Train of Ideas" to promote its vision of a green
future and to "transform people into environmental protection
enthusiasts". This fits into the programme attached to their Green
European Capital 2011 title.
Read
More. |
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| REPORTS |
CYCLE
COMMUTING WITH KIDS
Spokes, the Lothian Cycle Campaign (Scotland), has delivered the
following publication: "Cycle
commuting with Kids" which is a factsheet all about making the
inclusion of children in bicycle trips and everyday cycling smoother.
Direct download here.
RESEARCH BACKS
UP 20 MPH SPEED LIMITS
New research by Royal Holloway College, London University, studied the
perceptual limitations of children and concluded that they had
difficulty detecting cars approaching at speeds over 20mph. Ensues is a
discussion of introducing 20 mph zones in London and other parts of
England.
Read
more.
WHY SPRAWL IS
EVEN BAD FOR BUSINESS
Here is a look to the damaging effects of sprawl, from the vantage
point of a CEO's desk. Straight from Michigan, USA.
Read
more. |
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| MEDIA & NETWORKING |
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LITTLE GREEN BIKE VIDEO
Follow the little green bike in a hilly city! This video was produced
by Massimiliano Amirfeiz (WCN member) in collaboration with Monleone
Films for the “Toward Carfree Cities Conference” held in York (UK) last
year. It shows how it is possible to get around by bike even in a city
considered to be "challenging" such as Genoa (Italy). Thanks to folding
bike and a seamless integration with different means of mass transit,
uphill bike climbs or long stretches are no longer necessary.
Watch the video.
For more information, write to bicintermodale@gmail.com.
VENICE IN 3D
Take a virtual
tour of carfree Venice, Italy, brought to you by.... Google Earth.
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