Reducing the dangers, pollution, and emissions caused by cars
Channel: Active Towns
Date: 2022-09-16

Can you imagine Paris, London, and New York free from car dependency?
In Ep 151, Emilia Hanna discussed the Car-Free Megacities Campaign, a two-year challenge to reduce the negative impacts that motor vehicles have on cities and the environment.

A “car-free city” is a city that is free of the dangers, pollution, and emissions caused by mass private car ownership. It's not a city with no cars at all. It is recognized there are many people, including some disabled people, who cannot get around without a car, and these campaigns to reduce the number of cars in cities will make their lives easier too.

The campaign seeks to:
- Raise the ambitions of the Mayors and city officials in London, Paris and New York.
- Make sure that the very best international practice to make cities better is seen and quickly copied. 
- Expose where change is unnecessarily slow to act as a lever for more rapid action.
- Empower the people living in these cities to reimagine their built environment and be part of making change happen.

Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
- Car-Free Megacities: https://www.carfreemegacities.org/
- We Are Possible website: https://www.wearepossible.org/
- Ep 150 w/ Doug Gordon: https://youtu.be/2sVqb5MAtVc
- Ep 149 w/ Dr. Billy Fields: https://youtu.be/wzMXhOoVVgY
- Ep 123 Will Norman: https://youtu.be/ly8xWd1umdc
- Curbing Traffic by Melissa & Chris Bruntlett:  https://bookshop.org/a/85379/9781642831658 or  https://amzn.to/3GPd2cN 

Video timeline:
0:00:00 Cold Open
0:00:29 My introduction
0:01:02 Beginning of the interview
0:02:24 Intro of Doug Gordon as NYC contact
0:03:44 We Are Possible org
0:06:55 Going Car-Free in 2022
0:13:16 Car-Free Megacities Campaign Overview
0:15:32 Data Dashboard
0:36:54 Challenging the Mayors to be bold
0:38:45 Noise in the city
0:43:58 Leaderboard - Cargo Bikes
0:46:44 Leaderboard - Action During Covid
0:48:46 Leaderboard - Parklets
0:49:59 Leaderboard - Political Will
0:53:23 Leaderboard - School Streets
0:55:51 Leaderboard - Micromobility
0:56:58 Leaderboard - Clean Air Zones
0:58:37 Emilia's final thoughts
1:00:21 Closing 

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Credits: Video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music via Epidemic Sound: https://bit.ly/3rFLErD

Resources used during the production of this video:
- My recording platform is Ecamm Live: https://bit.ly/3rwsUup
- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite: https://bit.ly/35DBDDU

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Background: 
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

Since 2010,  I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them. 

Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2022