Birmingham Friends of the Earth Action Briefing June /July 1999

Green Transport Week

Organised by the Environment Transport Association (ETA), Green Transport Week, now in it's 7th year, is a week of local and national events, run by hundreds of organisations across the country from schools and local authorities to businesses and voluntary groups. Green Transport Week was created to highlight the impact of transport on the environment and demonstrate practical ways to cut our dependency on the car.

This year it runs from 5th to 13th June, with Tuesday 8th June being targeted as National Car-Free Day in which you are encouraged to leave your car at home. Many public transport operators are introducing special offers to encourage this, but unfortunately those in the West Midlands appear reluctant to join in. Obviously West Midlands motorists need no encouragement to leave their cars at home.

For their part, Friends of the Earth (Birmingham) are organising an event called Bike First (A Celebration of Cycling) as a precursor to Green Transport Week on Friday 4th June. This will a mass cycle ride with fancy dress, music, flags, whistles etc., meeting at around 17.30 at St. Phillip's Cathedral in Colmore Row. The ride will wind around some City Centre streets before making its way to the Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) at Cannon Hill Park for drinks, refreshments and chat. Please come and join in the fun. If you can wear some sort of fancy dress, that would be great, otherwise just try and bring a flag to wave or something to make a noise with. We want to be noticed! You will hopefully see posters and flyers around the City with more details of the event, or alternatively ring FOE at the Warehouse (0121 632 6909) for more information.

On Tuesday 8th June, National Car-Free Day, we will be encouraging you by way of leaflets and banners to leave your car at home. One of the core messages for Green Transport Week in the past few years has been "Ride One in Five", meaning leave you car at home at least one day in Green Transport Week.

If you are wondering whether or not to get involved then consider this:

• Car use is at an all time high in Britain, and as the roads get busier, really green transport - by foot and bike - gets more and more difficult.
• The car is being used for increasingly short journeys, as a proportion of all car journeys, 24% are less than 2 miles and 58% are less than 5 miles.
• As a proportion of distance travelled, the car accounts for 81% of our journeys, walking for only 3% and cycling for a measly 0.5%. (Figures from National Travel Survey, 1993-5)

We can easily improve on these figures by leaving the car at home on these short journeys. Why not walk, cycle or get the bus to the shops, a friend's house or the pub. Find out if you children's school is in a "Safe Routes to School" scheme and get involved in that instead of driving them to school. If the school is not involved ask them why not, and tell them that they should be.

Get involved and make a difference, not only in Green Transport Week but every week.

Brett Rehling