CBC Books - Saving our cities from cars

CBC Books - Saving our cities from cars: "Cars are ruining cities. That's the premise of Taras Grescoe's new book, Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile. And if North America doesn't aggressively change its transit course, cities like Phoenix, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Toronto could be in big trouble."

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Oil trolls rule Canada and the USA

Oil lobbyists approved Harper’s climate policy as ‘elegant’ approach: "OTTAWA — The federal government asked the oil and gas industry last fall to review its foreign climate change policies, which were then approved by lobbyists as “an elegant” approach, reveals newly-released correspondence."

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FCM - FCM welcomes NDP call for federal leadership on public transit

FCM - FCM welcomes NDP call for federal leadership on public transit: "The average Canadian spends almost 32 working days a year commuting to and from work. According to a 2011 report by the Toronto Board of Trade, Metro Montréal and the Greater Toronto Area have average daily commute times of more than 75 minutes. These are the worst commute times in a ranking of 23 world cities. That costs commuters dollars, time and lost quality of life. It costs businesses trying to move goods and connect with customers. It costs municipal taxpayers, who must pay to build more roads to support increasingly inefficient transportation. And it costs the national economy, because the more time people and goods spend on the road, the less they contribute to the economy."

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Global Montreal | Walkable cities are healthier, study says

Global Montreal | Walkable cities are healthier, study says: "Walkability was measured by a tool called the “Walkability Index,” designed to evaluate neighbourhood design features like residential density, retail ratio and land-use mix. It showed that the shape of neighbourhoods directly affected physical activity levels. According to Monica Campbell, director of Healthy Public Policy for Toronto Public Health, for every person in Toronto who preferred living in an auto-oriented neighbourhood, 12 preferred to live in a walkable neighbourhood. In fact, Toronto residents walked for utilitarian reasons 2.7 times as often and used transit 2.5 times as often, as residents in the least walkable neighbourhoods.

The situation was similar in not only Vancouver, but also for those living in suburbs.

“The neighbourhood has a strong effect on behaviour, in terms of how physically active they are and how healthy they are,” said Campbell. “What we find in our suburban areas is that people who live in that sprawled condition is that they have a greater body weight, the obesity rates are about 30 per cent higher.” "

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