WORTHY MOUSE FAMILY TRAGICALLY LOSES HOME: SLEEPS IN CAR

– – – – – – – – > by Eric the Crow, Reportng for World Streets, from Reykjavik Iceland

Someone a lot wiser than me, once told me many years ago: when you are facing a really difficult problem, why don’t you see if you can step back a few paces and put it in a form that you can discuss with children and hear what they may have to say.

I recalled this in the early nineties when in the face of the many mind-bending complications of sustainability and mobility — such as we are facing here today — I decided to write a Haiku which gradually expanded from seventeen syllabes into a wandering draft scenario for a children’s story on the topic, which eventually became, with the great shaping inputs of two of my friends (Wolfgang Zuckermann for the words, and Roget Tweet for the music (artwork) ).  After much thrashing around we decided to call it  Family Mouse behind the Wheel (Wolfgang’s candidate).

Want to check it out?

To read this tragedi-environmental tale with backstrory all you have to do is click here – – > https://worldstreets.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/family-mouse-behind-the-wheel/

DECONGESTION – 7 Steps for Mayors and other City Leaders to cut traffic congestion without the expense of new roads or annoyed residents’

Houston, we have a problem

Our cities are in crisis because they revolve around the car. It’s killing us, our communities and our economy.

Traffic congestion is one of the most significant problems and issues facing Governments, Councils and businesses around the world. In Australia, more than 80% of all trips are made by car and in New Zealander 83% of trips less than 2km are made by car. A British Social Attitudes Survey found that 71% of adults never cycle. Only 3% of Brits cycle every day or nearly every day. There are as many as 38 million empty car seats on the UK’s roads every rush hour.

“The problem is we’re all doing the same things – commuting, business trips and the school run – making the same trips by car at the same time, creating gridlock, congestion, queuing and travel delays’ says Transport Planner and Behaviour Change expert Rachel Smith.