World Carfree Day

Yes, we live in a car dominated system. Yes, you may need a car as things are currently set up. But that doesn't mean we can't envision different, better ways of getting around that are less car focused. That is the idea behind World Carfree Day.

The following is from World Carfree Network:

Every year on or around 22 September, people from around the world get together in the streets, intersections, and neighbourhood blocks to remind the world that we don't have to accept our car-dominated society. 

But we do not want just one day of celebration and then a return to "normal" life. When people get out of their cars, they should stay out of their cars. It is up to us, it is up to our cities, and our governments to help create permanent change to benefit pedestrians, cyclists, and other people who do not drive cars. 

Let World Carfree Day be a showcase for just how our cities might look like, feel like, and sound like without cars…365 days a year. 

As the climate heats up, World Carfree Day is the perfect time to take the heat off the planet, and put it on city planners and politicians to give priority to cycling, walking and public transport, instead of to the automobile.

Cars may be necessary in our car-oriented culture. If they are, they are a necessary evil. They are loud, stinky, expensive, and a huge hassle to maintain. If one had a car, but reduced the number of voluntary, or "pleasure" drives, huge gains in a cleaner environment would result. The car owner would also save money, and possibly live longer.

Car travel is one of the most dangerous things that the average person does in any given day.

Annual Global Road Crash Statistics 

- Nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes each year (90% of deaths are in low-medium income countries), on average 3,287 deaths a day. 

- An additional 20-50 million are injured or disabled. 

- More than half of all road traffic deaths occur among young adults ages 15-44. 

- Road traffic crashes rank as the 9th leading cause of death and account for 2.2% of all deaths globally.

Happy World Carfree Day. Let this be the beginning of our liberation from the tyranny of the personal automobile. Contrary to advertising hype, they are NOT "freedom machines".


Note: Happy Fall Equinox (northern hemisphere)/Spring Equinox (southern hemisphere). While the season shifts we are enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures in Nova Scotia. My acorn squash, beans, and peas started growing again, so it looks like the garden is not over yet.

Consumerism Infographic

No SOV Monday

This Week is Environment Week in Canada

Commuter Challenge

The Commuter Challenge runs for the whole week (June 5 - 11). It is a nation-wide event that promotes friendly competition among organizations and cities to see who can get the highest percentage of employees out of single occupancy vehicles (SOV), and into healthier and cleaner modes of commuting such as walking, cycling, transit, carpooling, vanpooling and teleworking.

No Carbon Monday

The Problem

The Solution

Cars And Shopping Carts Are Making Us Fat

And in the "well, duh" category, another study that links driving with obesity. It found that people that walked, biked, and used transit were less likely to be overweight. I think I know why. It has something to do with high capacity shopping carts and convenient consumerism, as well as big cars and cheap oil.




In 1937, Sylvan Nathan Goldman invented the shopping cart. Besides being an inventor, he was also a grocery store owner interested in helping shoppers buy more of his wares. His early shopping cart allowed his customers to load up like never before, and sales increased. Probably waistlines started to increase as well.


Modern shopping carts are different than the initial design, but mostly they are just a lot bigger. The ease of loading up a giant shopping cart must be held largely responsible for increased consumption. Pair that with cars, and you've got unlimited power to haul stuff home. This has proven to be a dangerously effective combo.


People with cars can load them up with cart-loads of groceries, whereas individuals practicing more active transportation alternatives are limited to what they can carry. Aside from the obvious health benefits of active modes of travel, perhaps our unlimited power to haul food home has something to do with our gluttony. And it's not just food. It's all of our consumption that is being aided by cars, cheap oil, and shopping carts.


Stores like Target and Home Depot that use shopping carts have had booming sales, while cart-less stores like J.C. Penny and Sears have seen merchandise being carried out of stores at a slower rate. I would be willing to bet that Europeans use smaller shopping carts, if they are used at all. At least one place has banned shopping carts in order to discourage large grocery orders that could not be carried away.

Walk, ride, and take transit softly, and carry a small basket. It could be the answer to both the obesity epidemic and the problems of convenient consumerism.