Don't blame poor people for global warming

...Many of the emissions for which poorer countries are blamed should in fairness belong to the developed nations. Gas flaring by companies exporting oil from Nigeria, for instance, has produced more greenhouse gases than all other sources in sub-Saharan Africa put together. Even deforestation in poor countries is driven mostly by commercial operations delivering timber, meat and animal feed to rich consumers. The rural poor do far less harm.
... People breed less as they become richer, but they don't consume less - they consume more. As the habits of the super-rich show, there are no limits to human extravagance. Consumption can be expected to rise with economic growth until the biosphere hits the buffers. Anyone who understands this and still considers that population, not consumption, is the big issue is, in Lovelock's words, "hiding from the truth". It is the worst kind of paternalism, blaming the poor for the excesses of the rich.
George Monbiot - via CommonDreams

Climate Apocalypse Warning

Streets are for People !

Toronto unofficial Car-Free Day 2008

...we live in a de-mockery and no matter how much we could be Barcelona, we choose to be Destroit instead. Our politicians will cheat us into thinking they care about the health of the city, the planet and our bodies, while they subsidize the status quo of car culture. The people of our city are held hostage by their inaction. Help us! Streets are for People

Laval, PQ - Free Ride for Seniors?

In its newly-released electoral platform, the Parti au Service du Citoyen, ... is proposing that ... there be free public transit for seniors and parents travelling 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. TheLavalNews

Cars cause wildfires

...It comes down to this: if you are driving a personal motor vehicle, you are not green.... NewColonist

C02: Atteindre 60 % de réduction

En ce début de siècle il est impératif de s'attaquer aux gaz à effet de serre. L'objectif de cette lutte consiste à empêcher que la température globale n'augmente de plus de 2 degrés celcius. Pour véritablement contrer le dérèglement du climat il faudra réduire de 60% la quantité de CO2 produite annuellement.

Supprimons la tarification des transports en commun !

Public Values publishes free transit article

Hasselt, Belgium Free Buses

Public Values (PublicValues.ca) is a project of the Golden Lake Institute and the online publication StraightGoods.ca

Public Values on 18-Aug posted Dave Olsen's article about Free Public Transit in Hasselt, Belgium. The case of Hasselt shows convincingly that free transit pays back to the community many times over the cost of the initial investment. Dave does a great job of telling the story.

Global warming - time running out for human race

...Most of Canada will continue to become warmer with increased violent storms and rain in the east. Areas of the southern Prairies will become more arid. The Arctic will experience melting permafrost and melting ice sheets....

...What are not clearly understood are the impacts of feedbacks that will drive global warming faster and farther. Permafrost melting, for instance, will release vast amounts of methane, a powerful GHG, while the warming of the ocean will reduce its capacity to absorb GHGs.... Canada.com

259-car pileup in Germany - enough is enough

At least 66 people have been injured in a mass pile-up involving 259 cars on a motorway in north Germany, police say. Ten people are said to be fighting for their lives in hospital after the series of crashes on the A2 between Hanover and Peine on Sunday evening. Police said the pile-up was believed to have been caused by a combination of heavy rain and excessive speed. Rescue workers were busy throughout the night treating the injured and clearing damaged cars from the motorway. BBC

In Germany, the private auto today caused tremendous pain and suffering. But we know this goes on day after day everywhere on a smaller scale. What will it take for you to get involved? The auto is literally killing us. It kills in so many ways. Join your local transit advocacy group. Make transit fare-free. Declare independence from the auto, oil-wars, and global warming.

Grand River Environmental Network: Build LRT, make it free.

...Service should be free. Public transportation and roads are both built and maintained by tax dollars. We do not pay tolls to use our roads; we should not pay to use public transit. ...

.....The Region of Waterloo has the opportunity now, with support from both the provincial and federal governments, to raise the bar and create a world-standard setting transportation system that can do more than just move people. Indeed, without it, it is difficult to envision a healthy, sustainable future for our community..... CambridgeAdvocate

Laval, Quebec - kids ride free this summer

Fare-free is actually cheaper

"...Now some people would argue that free public transit would overburden the system, there wouldn't be enough buses, they would get too crowded. That's completely retarded, that's exactly the outcome you *want*. You buy more buses!

I believe it may actually be cheaper in the long run. If you have more people on public transit you don't have to spend as much making new roads everywhere, people buy fewer cars saving them tons of money, we pollute less and have to spend less on reducing CO2, etc. there are tons of long term savings that are hard to quantify. ..." cbloomrants

Toronto - Nuit Blanche needs free public transit

And what about the TTC? True the commission managed grudgingly to extend selected routes into the night, but the service should have been free and there should have been more of it. Who knows, perhaps the TTC would have attracted new riders by using the occasion to show how convenient and efficient it is. (On the other hand, it's more likely those one-time passengers left the subway happier than ever to get back into their cars.)
Above all, Nuit Blanche revealed the growing gap between the people who live in this city and those who run it. Torontonians are light years ahead of their leaders in understanding what it means to inhabit an urban centre. And unlike the nabobs, residents are well aware that the 1950s are over. TheStar.com

Vancouver car-free day brings out fare-free advocates

...Making public transit a free ride (paid for through taxes or some way other than fares) was the most popular concept of all. Several participants mentioned free-fare initiatives in Portland and Seattle and asking why Vancouver can't do something similar. It was certainly evident that transit in Vancouver is a hot topic of discussion and will continue to be in the near future.... The Tyee

Free transit roaring success

...At first the mayor had his detractors. He was nicknamed “Steve Stunt” when his free bus scheme first went into operation. But the results of his policies speak for themselves: by 2006, use of public transport in Hasselt had increased thirteenfold. The ease of getting around is an enormous boost for business – and because most of these businesses are locally owned, the money stays in the community....New Statesman