http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-24-02.html Environment News Service: Over 100 Million Take Part in European Car Free Day 2001
BRUSSELS, Belgium, September 24, 2001 (ENS) - On Saturday, a thousand cities across Europe participated in the European Car Free Day initiative by closing part of their territory to car traffic. Pedestrians, roller-skaters, cyclists and public transport operators took over. "The European Car Free Day responds to a demand for participatory democracy that is visibly increasing in modern societies," Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said. "People want to understand and get directly involved in the decisions that affect their everyday life. European citizens have taken full ownership of the Car Free Day." People walk to church in Pisa, Italy. (Photos by Ian Britton courtesy Freefoto.com) Wallstrom said, "Today's event will involve more than 100 million people across Europe. It shows that local initiatives driven by citizens can improve the environment and the quality of life in our cities and influence policies to fight climate change." The European Car Free Day is an awareness raising event that seeks to directly involve European citizens in environmental action. It is increasingly popular, last year 760 cities participated, this year the number is up to 1,000. This year, the standards for participation are higher, and local authorities must now make a commitment to implement permanent measures to reduce congestion and car pollution. European Union environmental initiatives on climate change, air quality and the urban environment provide the policy backdrop against which the European Car Free Day is taking place. This pan-European event complements the Commission's proposals to improve the environment in urban areas, including legislation on air quality and ambient noise Eighty percent of Europeans live in urban areas, and they are using Car Free Day to draw the attention of the public and decision makers to the negative impacts that the dominant position of cars in society can have on the quality of urban life. Public transportation in London Polls carried out last year in six participating cities - Barcelona, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Helsinki, Lille, Turin - found than some 80 percent of citizens consider Car Free Day is a good idea and want to see it become a regular fixture. It provides an opportunity to test alternative mobility concepts such as park and ride, expanded pedestrian zones and cycle friendly schemes. Most candidate countries - Hungary, Slovenia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Latvia, Malta, Romania and Poland - and cities in the Balkans Region - no fewer than 19 Croatian and 19 Serbian cities - have now also joined the Car-Free Day. The progress achieved since the pioneering inaugural event of 1999, which involved 66 French and 92 Italian cities, was made possible by the active involvement of the key partners in this European initiative - national ministries and energy agencies, networks of local authorities, NGO's and the European Commission. The concept is spreading to other countries. Car Free Day type events have been organized, or will take place, in Bogota, Colombia; Toronto, Canada; Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and a dozen Brazilian cities. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE credit report with a FREE CreditCheck Monitoring Service trial http://us.click.yahoo.com/MDsVHB/bQ8CAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
