[world-carfree-news_eng] World Carfree News #76 - March 2010

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WORLD CARFREE NEWS >>>
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Edition 76 – March 2010 – English version
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Contents:

QUOTATION OF THE MONTH

WORLD CARFREE NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENTS

- Input on the bulletin
- Carbusters #41 to printers

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

- International bike conference 
- Looking for a job?

IN THE NEWS 

- Carfree Broadway
- Cycle for the economy
- The parking war
- German surprise
- Another Chinese city provides free bikes
- Geneva opens 200 streets!
- Pedestrian activists arrested in Zagreb, Croatia
- Carfree day in Mumbai
- Carfree Families
- Death of the Hummer?

REPORTS

- NASA about cars and the climate
- Traffic pollution is in your blood
- Atlanta, US, invests in transport – and health
- Again: There are no green cars!

MEDIA & NETWORKING

- Avoid the door zone
- Artists on bikes

CURIOS

- Too good to forget
- Seaweed, a car manufacturer's wet dream?

SUPPORT WORLD CARFREE NETWORK

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QUOTATION OF THE MONTH >>
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"Targeting on-road transportation is a win-win-win, it's good for the climate
in the short term and long term, and it's good for our health."

Nadine Unger of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies about how to
mitigate climate change most effectively.
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WORLD CARFREE NETWORK ANNOUNCEMENTS >>
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 - Input on the bulletin
Hey you, dear WCN bulletin reader! We have so many subscribers to this
bulletin, but we don't really know anything about you. What are you thinking
about our work? Are you reading this? Which parts do you like the most? Do you
miss something?  If you have any ideas about what we should write more (or
less) about, or anything that possible could make the bulletin more interesting
in your opinion – write to us:
[email protected]

- Carbusters #41 to printers
We are so excited about printing the next Carbusters issue this week. The theme
is 'greenwashing', a subject you might not be aware of, but you have seen it
for sure. It's everywhere – green is the new black.
If you are not a subscriber of Carbusters Magazine yet, we highly recommend
that you correct that mistake as soon as you can. Just follow the link below to
find out how.
http://carbusters.org/subscribe/
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GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS >>
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- International bike conference 
‘Different gears, same destination' That is the slogan for Velo-city Global
2010 – an international conference on cycling wich is going to take place in
Copenhagen, Denmark on June 22-25. About 1000 participants from 100 different
countries are expected. For more information and online registration, please
visit:
http://www.velo-city2010.com/

- Looking for a job?
Maybe this is something for you? A PhD fellowship on cyclist behaviour and the
role of life styles and urban form is vacant on University of Copenhagen,
Denmark:
The PhD is part of the project 'Bike-ability: Cities for zero emission and
public health' funded by The Danish Council for Strategic Research. The
deadline for application is April 1st 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/ylagwmd
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IN THE NEWS >>
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- Carfree Broadway
New York City’s experiment to close Broadway, one of Manhattan’s busiest
streets, to vehicles at Times and Herald Squares has reduced travel times and
improved safety since it started in May last year. We are not surprised by the
success, but of course very happy now when it's decided that this excellent
reform is going to be permanent.
http://tinyurl.com/yfb2dvg

- Cycle for the economy
There are many ways to benefit from cycling, and not only for the cyclist but
also for the society and the economy. The Portlandize blog evaluate the
Portland Bicycle Plan and summarize the monetary benefits of bicycle
infrastructure.
http://www.portlandize.com/2010/02/monetary-benefits-of-bicycle.html

- The parking war
Pictures often say more than words, here are photos from completely different
places and different times, they look almost the same, but the explanations
behind them are not. Europe had war, US a great expansion of parking places but
the outcome impact on our cities is frighteningly similar: huge areas of dead
space.
http://theoverheadwire.blogspot.com/2010/02/parking-bombs.html

- German surprise
German Federal President Mr Horst Koehler held an incredible speech in front of
ADAC, which is THE lobby organisation for cars and car culture in Germany. Now
his office published the translation in English. Koehler was known as an
extremely neo-liberal politician when he was elected, so the whole thing is
very surprising.
http://tinyurl.com/yjheff8

- Another Chinese city provides free bikes
Beijing and Shanghai already had it for a while, now the turn has come to
another Chinese city, Chengdu: A free bicycle rental program have just been
released in order to reach the goal of becoming a low-carbon city. Residents
wishing to borrow a bicycle to ride between a subway station and home, doing
shopping, etc. can use their own ID card or other electronic identification
cards to borrow bicycles all around the urban district. 
http://tinyurl.com/yengs5s

- Geneva opens 200 streets!
Geneva, Switzerland has decided to close 200 streets to cars. Or as Geneva’s
council member Fabienne Fischer states, “It’s not really to close 200 roads
or streets in the center of Geneva, but to open 200 streets to improved life in
the neighborhood. [...] 200 places for pedestrian life or relationships
corresponds to 200 schools, kindergartens, or even every type of people at
home. The idea is to concentrate these pedestrian zones near these places in
order to protect the more fragile people, older people younger people. The
small shops also need to have a real social life in order to have people
coming."
http://www.cooltownstudios.com/site/geneva-proposes-200-streets-as-pedestrian-only

- Pedestrian activists arrested in Zagreb, Croatia
In February about 4000 people gathered in a peaceful protest against the
destruction of Zagreb pedestrian zone – part of this important area are about
to be transformed into a ramp for an underground garage, planned as part of the
Cvjetni shopping centre and luxury flats development in the old part of Zagreb.
Right after the manifestation 23 demonstrants from WCN member organisation
Green Action and the Right to the City initiative were arrested by 100 riot
cops. "The Croatian authorities must concentrate on tackling the real problem
of corruption instead of shooting the messengers," Tomislav Tomasevic, from
Green Action comments. Read more and watch vides from the action here:
http://www.zelena-akcija.hr/content/view/1025/531/lang,en/

- Carfree day in Mumbai 
Where the traffic is growing, so does the resistance: This February Mumbai
hosted its first Carfree Day ever! About 140,000 people attended the
community-based activities, which included not only walking and cycling but
also yoga, cricket, dancing, skating, kite flying and musical performances.
Organizers said the huge turn-out exceeded their expectations.
http://thecityfix.com/mumbai-joins-world-class-cities-to-celebrate-car-free-day/

- Carfree Families
San Francisco Streetsblog is writing about the daily life of families without
cars. And so do we – in the upcoming issue of Carbusters there is two
articles on this topic, but you will have to wait a few more weeks for that, so
until then:
http://sf.streetsblog.org/2010/03/03/the-importance-of-family-friendly-transit/

- Death of the Hummer?
General Motors is to wind down operations of its Hummer vehicles after failing
to complete a planned takeover by a Chinese firm. It's about time, those
monsters doesn't belong  in the 2010s.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8533827.stm
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REPORTS >>
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- NASA about cars and the climate
A new study about climate change and global warming, led by Nadine Unger of
NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City finds that
motor vehicles are the greatest contributor to atmospheric warming. Cars,
buses, and trucks release pollutants and greenhouse gases that promote warming,
while emitting few aerosols that counteract it.
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20100218a/

- Traffic pollution is in your blood
For the first time, it is shown that air pollution contributes to the early
formation of heart disease, known as atherosclerosis, which is connected to
nearly half the deaths in Western societies. By controlling air pollution from
traffic, we may see much larger benefits to public health than previously was
thought.
http://tinyurl.com/ykrqxha

- Atlanta, US, invests in transport – and health
Yet another example of the connection between sustainable transport and public
health: A study made by reasearchers from the University of British Columbia
shows how the "energy index" of Atlantans increased significantly as their
neighborhoods grew denser, according to the study, and the number of calories
they used on motorized travel shrank in denser, more walkable areas.
http://tinyurl.com/ya4smvj

- Again: There are no green cars!
The conditions under which electric vehicles could play a significant role in
reducing climate changing emissions from transport have been set out in a new
study for Transport & Environment, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth Europe.
The study warns that the existing EU law on car emissions is flawed, because
car makers who sell an electric car can sell 3.5 high-emission cars without it
affecting their CO2 reduction target (so-called 'super-credits'). The aim is to
encourage lower-emissions technology, but if electric cars are powered from
fossil-fuel sources, they could have worse emissions than petrol and diesel
engines.
http://tinyurl.com/yel8asy
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MEDIA & NETWORKING  >>
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- Avoid the door zone
Many urban cyclists have a tale to tell about a car door that swung out into
their path and nearly knocked them from their bikes. Hopefully, the story ends
there, with no injuries or further harm. But however, it's not fun when it
happens. Here is all you need to know for a safer ride plus instruction videos:
http://sf.streetsblog.org/2010/02/25/saving-life-and-limb-by-avoiding-the-door-zone/

- Artists on bikes
A group of young artists are biking from Berlin, Germany to Ulan-Batar,
Mongolia – more than 7000km. They say that the journey is the destination and
anyone is free to join. Follow their adventures and check out the whole route
here:
http://twowheelsforchange.blogsport.de/
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CURIOS >>
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- Too good to forget
This Walt Disney classic – starring Goofy as nice Mr Walker – who turns
into evil Mr Wheeler when he enter his car – is still very up-to-date.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKBJCiJO5XU

- Seaweed, a car manufacturer's wet dream?
Oh those crazy car lovers: A team of Scottish, Irish and Northern Irish marine
experts have been handed £5million to investigate the feasibility of farming
seaweed for use as a "clean and green" transport fuel.
http://tinyurl.com/6jzwum And at the same time Toyota is dreaming about an
entire car made of... seaweed.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/02/toyota-makes-pl/
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SUPPORT WORLD CARFREE NETWORK >>
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Our joint carfree vision is only as strong as the people who support us. By
donating to WCN you'll strengthen the voice of the movement that's committed to
defending our right to a sound, sustainable future. For donating and joining as
a member, please visit: http://www.worldcarfree.net/support/ Your support will
make a huge difference.
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Bulletin #76 by Anna Nygård

World Carfree News - Monthly Newsletter
WORLD CARFREE NETWORK
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