Blog Ponder: World Car Free Day

 

Today is World Car Free Day. It is a day set aside to highlight the environmental pollution made by cars and encourage people to consider (and try) other options for transport like walking, bus, train, cycling, scootering, and so on.  As well as environmental benefits, the day can encourage our physical wellbeing (for example, getting exercise) and give us experiences of other ways of travelling around our communities. You can learn more about the way this day started and is celebrated here.

While we have been in Alert Level 4, many of us have not used our cars as much - or at all! The requirement to stay local has meant more people have gone for a walk or bike ride, or only used their car for short trips. At the end of the first Level 4 lockdown in 2020, a science project to monitor carbon emissions (one type of pollution from cars) studied grass clippings collected by volunteers at regular times over 12 weeks. The results showed that, in some places, the emissions were 80% lower in Level 4 than in Level 1!

Today, think about the way a car is used in your family in ordinary life (when we can travel freely at other alert levels). Below are three examples of opinions about this topic. Can you think of habits or ways you could change easily to rely less on cars? Do you think World Car Free Day is an effective idea?

Example 1: "My mum drives me to school. Then she drives my big brother to his school. We need a car."

Example 2: "I can use my scooter to get to school every morning. It will take me the same amount of time since we won't get stuck in traffic."

Example 3: "We live 4 kilometres away. There's no way I could walk or cycle to school."

In the comments below, add your ideas or respectfully respond to one of these situations, saying whether or not you agree and why.