TRAFFIC AIR POLLUTION DANGER TO HEART

Traffic: Analysis shows 7.4 per cent of heart attacks were down to air pollution

AIR pollution causes more heart attacks than alcohol, drugs or physical exertion, according to a new study.

Despite the popular belief that eating and drinking are the worst triggers, travelling by car or bus are greater culprits.

Analysis shows 7.4 per cent of heart attacks were down to air pollution.

This was higher than the 6.2 per cent caused by physical exertion and the five per cent caused by both alcohol and coffee.

The study, published in The Lancet, shows that air pollution triggers more heart attacks than even anger and lung infections.

The authors say their findings are important as many people are not aware pollution plays a role in heart attacks.

The research was led by Dr Tim Nawrot from Hasselt University, Belgium.

He said that, of the “triggers” studied, taking cocaine was most likely to cause a heart attack in an individual – but traffic affected more of the population as many more people are exposed to it than take the drug.

Express.co.uk 23/02/2011

Starving people to feed cars

Starving people to feed cars

Food Prices: Crisis Deepens as Biofuels Consume More Crops - Yahoo! News:

"In America, 40% of the corn crop is currently diverted to make fuel for cars. 'Ethanol uses 4.9 billion bushels of corn in the U.S.,' says Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental think tank. 'That's enough grain to feed 350 million people.'"

Click on subheading to read the rest of this article. Ed

CARnivores

Wifi on public transport if Labor elected

21 Feb 11. Sydney, Australia.

WIFI will be free for commuters if the Labor Party is re-elected next month.

It will be available on a bus, ferry or train for commuters to check their emails, read the news or do their banking.

The free wifi will be installed by the end of 2011 on all metrobuses and Sydney Ferries, with the rest of the bus fleet and CityRail trains to follow.

The Government has also announced that by the end of this month, all Sydney Buses commuters will be able to send a text message and receive up-to-the-minute information about when their next bus will arrive.

If is re-elected, the Labor Party will extend the next bus SMS service to every bus in the metropolitan network, including private operators.

What a great idea! Yes, there needs to be an all-out effort to make public transport user-friendly and attract the bulk of commuters - including:

• free Wifi connections,
• space for wheel chairs, push chairs, shopping & even bikes
• comfortable seating
  
• on-board 'ambassadors' to offer directions, assistance & to deter anti-social behaviour,
• priority lanes & traffic signals for buses
  
• more bike & walking facilities
• easy transfers & links
  
• colour coded routes & vehicles
• very frequent services
• 24 hour operation
• passenger shelters that actually protect people from the elements
• modern no-emission buses & electric trains & trams & ferries
  

.... the list goes on - but the central ingredient to really get commuters onto decent public transport & slash car-dependency, pollution & oil consumption big time: make it free to use and frequent with easy access - no waiting, no tickets, no money handling, no cash box robberies, no parking woes, no traffic gridlock, reduce road accidents & resulting medical treatment... modern, civilised stress-free mobility for people.

FareFreeNZ Editor

Greenhouse emissions to double unless action taken

Greenhouse emissions to double unless action taken

Greenhouse emissions to double unless action taken: "GREENHOUSE gas emissions are escalating so rapidly they will double between 2005 and 2030 if nothing is done to stem their growth."

theage.com.au
12 Feb 2011

Humans flirting with point of no return for biosphere

Humans flirting with point of no return for biosphere

In 5 years the Amazon has experienced 2 extremely severe droughts. (Earth Week)

Living on Earth: Amazon Forest as a Source of Carbon Dioxide: "In recent years there's been a distinct lack of rain in the Amazon rainforest. 'The drought of the century' is what they called the first in 2005, but the second, just 5 years later, was even worse. The forest is drying and the trees are dying, destroying the vast region's ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. University of Leeds researcher Oliver Phillips says instead of acting as a carbon sink, the Amazon forest is becoming a huge source of climate changing gases."

Let's get free

Combating climate change and peak oil with free public transport

We are standing at a crossroad: in order to reduce our oil dependency and to make our cities climate smart, we have to change our ways of getting around. It is a fact that the future is on track, and with free public transport everyone can come along for the ride.

So far, the local transport sector has been sadly neglected in the climate debate. Even though the inflation in car traffic is one of our biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions and unnecessary oil use, few cities have any serious plans to radically decrease their car traffic.

With just a marginal tax-raise (in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, all commuters who earns less than 5000 Euros a month would benefit from this), the public transport system could be made free at the point of entry. This would lead to a decline in car-traffic and a surge in the demand for public transportation, which in turn would stimulate a much needed capacity and comfort increase in the public transport system.

In cities where a free system has been introduced, such as Hasselt in Belgium, Ockelbo in Sweden and Changning in China, there has been an extraordinarily increase in passengers as well as a large decrease in car-traffic – rendering some investments in new roads unnecessary. With the car industry crisis in mind – an expansion of the public transport system would also be beneficial because it would create green jobs in a manufacturing industry with a future.

As Irwin Kellner, chief economist at MarketWatch, puts it: the introduction of free public transport in the cities of America would be a win-win solution!

For more information, please read our report Travel doesn't have to cost the earth.

From Free Public Transport [Sweden] Feb 2011

References:

MarketWatch – Mass-transit systems taking wrong turn http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Mass-transit-systems-taking-wrong/story.aspx?guid={7D3B4CEB-8C3A-4D5F-83FD-D26CA33FA5F9}

Kheel-Komanoff — A Transition to Free Transit http://www.nnyn.org/kheelplan/kheel_komanoff_plan.html

Externalities by Automobiles and Fare-Free Transit in Germany — A Paradigm Shift?

Free bus initiative: the solution to Redland transport problems?

By Laura_Local | Sunday, January 09, 2011, Redland People

We recently looked at parking problems in Redland and I hinted at a potential solution in improved public transport. I then stumbled across a link to theFree Bus initiative on the Sustainable Redland website - something which could transform public transport in Bristol.

1. 

   Free Bus

Basically, it is a non-profit organisation which asks those who can to become members or donate but which aims to provide free travel for all. The scheme looks set to start with one simple route around the centre from Temple Meads to Broadmead and the Hippodrome but if this goes well, will expand to include more routes further afield to places like Redland.

A spokesman for Free Bus said: "Bristol City Council subsidises the bus network for £4.7 million per year, whilst entirely free public transport in Hasselt, Belgium, costs £4.2 million per year. The cost of a fully loaded short-hop bus journey is 23p per passenger."

When you think about the £2 or £3 fares you currently pay for a bus journey in the city and the profits they must be making you wonder why we haven't aleady pursued this Free Bus initiative.

Free Bus is very open with it's running costs on its website and says it needs £25,000 to be able to run the initial route for six months. It is already collecting pledges from potential members and hopes to be up and running in April.

We've been held t ransom for too long by the First Group, be it on the buses or the trains. They appear to be able to charge whatever they want for a sub standard service so it was with great excitement that I read about this initiative which has the potential to change the face of public transport in Bristol for the better.

And once we have decent, affordable (in this instance free) public transport there is no reason to sit in rush hour traffic in your car, wasting petrol and polluting the air. You can simply join others on the Free Bus whizzing to town in the bus lane.

Of course, better still - put your best foot forward and walk or hop on your bike but that comes with its own risks!

Good, cheap transit reduces traffic congestion

Good, cheap transit reduces traffic congestion

On January 10, 2011, by Howie

Why isn’t transit free? After all, roads are completely free for everyone to use, yet most paved surface space is dedicated to private car usage. Since cars take up more space and are far more polluting than public transit, doesn’t it make sense to charge drivers more and transit users less?
A city in Europe has proved that not only can free public transit work, it can do great things for a city and even reduce traffic and congestion.

There are several benefits to providing free public transit. In 1997 the town of Hasselt, Belgium eliminated all fares to its bus system, immediately increasing passenger growth by 428% and, by 2006, an astounding 1300%. What else happened?

• Hasselt saved an enormous amount of money by not having to build extra roads and parking spaces
• the safety of transit operators improved since they no longer had to deal with irate passengers over fare payments
• increased accessibility attracted the development of more businesses, resulting in the city lowering its taxes!
• Hasselt now experiences nearly zero traffic congestion

The idea of providing at least some transit free-of charge is not new. In fact, public transit in the downtown section of the notoriously socialist city of Calgary is provided free-of-charge.
Rethinking the Issue
In Toronto, $980 million of the transit system’s $1.4 billion budget comes from the farebox. That means that even though their taxes have already paid for it, Toronto transit riders still have to pay 70% of the total cost of running Canada’s largest transit system.
Imagine the uproar if drivers had to pay 70% of road maintenance costs each day before they left their driveway?
It’s a difficult conversation to have. But experience shows that making transit better and more affordable is the only way to reduce congestion.

Free Bus Ride For UNO Students

University of Nebraska at Omaha students will be offered a free bus ride. The idea is to help fight overcrowding in the schools' parking lots.

Posted: 10:43 AM Feb 7, 2011
Reporter: WOWT
Email Address: sixonline@wowt.com

Free public transport for tertiary students would be a good step towards cutting traffic congestion and parking problems in the cities here in New Zealand...and, who knows? - there's a chance the concept may catch on. Editor, FarefreeNZ.