Page to be extended and rewritten.
It is here where we intend to provide direct access to a wide range of media that can be useful in support of this program: children's art, poems and stories, print and sound, images and video, learning games, and more. (You will of course need a sound card and, one might hope, reasonably fast Internet access to get full use out of these interesting contributions.)
Your candidates? If so let us know right here:
Both text and drawings are intended to amuse but to make children nevertheless think about the problem. As far as we know, it is the first children's book to deal with the world car crisis. Published in November 1992 by Lutterworth Press (UK), with French, and Italian editions under discussion.
Available for US $10.00 or 10 Euros (plus shipping) from:
This illustrated series intends to address young readers with amusing, lightly told tales on the subject of technology, society and the choices we make without projecting a strong "message". Both text and drawings are humorous, intended to amuse rather than frighten the children, but to make them think nonetheless about the problem. The drawings are intentionally a bit old-fashioned to "slow down" today's children, most of whom are being too highly charged by media and the pace of modern life.
We are looking for publishing partners for this series, both in English and in other languages. In each case where there is a language change, since it goes hand in hand with a different cultural environment, great care must be taken not only in the translation but also to adapt each book to make it recognizable and helpful to the readers, adult and child.
The Quotes Engine
We consider that this to be definitely worth a visit and a few thoughts. Check out the Quotes Engine of the International Walk to School Day right here.
The following listing is intended help to show the way and get us going. We hope in turn that you will share with us your suggestions and comments. (You will note once again that if you call them up via your left mouse button they will play within our frameset. Otherwise, you should use the right button to get a full view of what the creators intend you to view.)
A First Selection of Programs to Get You Going
And From UsThis is a novel idea of which the EcoPlan team is justifiably proud. This 32-page children's book depicts with large colorful drawings the story of a family of mice who live in an unspoiled forest but decide to acquire a car to visit their city cousins. When they find they have no roads in their forest they get the Beaver Construction Company to build one. But, alas, this little road soon fills with cars driven by the other animals, and in a forest council the animals decide to build a free-way system. But that system, too, fills up with cars, and Family Mouse almost end up living in their car, because their former cozy tree has been cut down in the name of progress. Luckily in the end they find another tree, but all the roads are there and won't go away. The story ends on a reflective note ("Here's what we've learned from this affair. To trees be kind - of cars beware!").
Shakespeare and Cie.
155, rue de la Carreterie
F-84000 Avignon France
Tel +33 (0) 49.02.73.850
Fax +33 (04) 90 27 17 07
email shakespeare@ecoplan.orgFamily Mouse Series - Future Titles
1. Family Mouse Behind the Wheel
(already published - see above)
2. Family Mouse Visits Grandma in the City
This time the Family Mouse finally makes it to the city to see their grandmother. But everyone, from father Alvin on down to Small, is upset at what they find. This little book introduces children to the problems of older people in big cities who find themselves all alone in small apartments, with their families far away.
3. Family Mouse Goes on Holiday
The Family Mouse have a vacation coming up. Over their usual good supper of cheese soup, they talk about their vacation plans and decide to "get away from it all and see some marvelous sights". They vote for a seaside resort. But after an exciting start the beautiful sights turn out to be mostly other mice who've had the same idea. Instead of unspoiled landscapes, they encounter crowds, traffic congestion and high costs, finally deciding to cut their vacation short. When they get home they are happy to return to their peaceful forest, where they spend the rest of their vacation in their own garden with their grandmother and friends.
4. Family Mouse Goes Shopping
At the supper table one evening, the Family Mouse decide that they are bored with their diet of cheese soup, and want to branch out into more exotic foods. This means that they have to go to a giant supermarket, which it eventually takes them hours to get to. When they get finally there, the mega-shopping adventure begins with some pretty spectacular cart-loading by some of the larger and more aggressive animals. The tale ends with the five mice walking back home together with five tiny oranges in their pockets, and in their one shopping bag... some more cheese.
5. Family Mouse and the Walk to School
Small and Media go to a school nearby, so they can walk and come home or visit their friends whenever they like. Large however goes to a far away high school, which makes for an entirely different kind of day. This is a story about the need that children have for independence and responsibility as they grow up. The walk to school, it turns out, helps a lot.
End of the Road: From World Car Crisis to Sustainable Transportation
Back to topPublished simultaneously in 1991 by Chelsea Green in the U.S. and Lutterworth Press in the U.K., and in Italian by Muzzio Editore (Padua). Paperback second edition published in 1992 The hardback edition of this title is currently available in Europe from:
Shakespeare and Cie.
155, rue de la Carreterie
F-84000 Avignon France
Tel +33 (0) 49.02.73.850
Fax +33 (04) 90 27 17 07
email shakespeare@ecoplan.org
The paperback edition is currently available in North American from: Amazon Books - www.amazon.com
For the Italian edition contact either Muzzio Editore (Padua) or The Commons.
Summary:
The aim of this book is to make people think about a problem in their daily lives which many ignore or dismiss too lightly. The book's tone is not accusatory; it attempts rather to explore the hidden complexities of a problem of our times which the author refers to as "the subtle price tag of technology". And it gives the reader hope in suggesting thirty-three concrete steps we can take to decrease our dependence on cars and improve the quality of our lives.Wolfgang Zuckermann is a senior writer and researcher who has been working with ACCESS for the past three years, a process involving reading and editing hundreds of articles and papers by transport specialists. The book tries to convey all this technical information in jargon free, vivid language, which incorporates humor, poetry, and many quotes from literature. Lester Brown of Worldwatch calls it "a clear, comprehensive, and eminently readable manual for the overhaul of the long benighted realm of transportation".
Jane Jacobs wrote: "It is a splendid book, full of wonderful and useful information (among which I count the extraordinary illustrations). It ought to do much good." It is a very personal book aimed at the responsible citizen.
This 1992 book by Wolfgang Zuckermann of EcoPlan was one of the early works to challenge the dominance of the car in our transport system and to tell us how to reverse the current trend which promises to flood the world with two billion motor vehicles within another generation. Both comprehensive and comprehensible, this book looks at what the car has done to the world, and how we can bring some order and logic into our transport system.
The author, Wolfgang Zuckermann, is a senior editor and researcher at EcoPlan, an independent Paris-based think tank that considers problems of technology and society. Zuckermann is not a "green extremist"; rather, he worries about our unhealthy reliance, both physical and psychological, on these mechanical beasts of burden. The author focuses on cars as they are today, not as they are shown in advertisements or as they were once upon a time. In those happy days you took your open touring car through verdant fields with a picnic basket and a bottle of champagne. The book presents 33 concrete solutions to the car crisis which range from subjects like public cars, street modifications, the return of trams, parking strategies, and telecommuting, all of which have been tried in various parts of the world, to a complete change in tax structure, economic accounting, land use planning, and life style. Examples from all over the world illustrate the success or potential failure of some of these suggestions.
End of the Road is not another technical book by a transport expert bemoaning the state of our transport system. Put into simple, conversational language, containing humor and many quotes from literature, it conveys the message that we cannot afford to wait until governments and technology fix this perplexing problem for us, but that each one of us shares an individual responsibility to solve this global crisis. It is a book which is likely to make you change your entire way of thinking about cars.
End of the Road grew out of a collaborative international multi-year study and information program called Access. "Access" indicates what is really important: not millions of cars clogging up our roads and polluting the planet, but access to those places where we live and work. The Access program looks at ways in which we could arrange our transportation (and our lives) to achieve better access, and resulted in a search for ideas, suggestions, and solutions from people and places around the world. The program has led to demonstrations projects in several cities and smaller communities which are putting into effect a number of the ideas and principles set out in End of the Road.
Transport in Cities
A forty minute video lecture with Brian Richards as author/guide, presenting his ideas and personal views in a series of slides and film excerpts drawn from many areas of the world. The presentation is aimed at a broad public, including city planners, public authorities, transport specialists, students, the media, concerned citizens and public interest groups.The video opens by examining the role cars have played in shaping our cities. It then looks at remedial actions such as parking controls, car bans, and road pricing as ways to restrain the private automobile. It goes on to show ways in which cities can replace private cars by other means of transport. The video examines not only conventional public transport such as buses and light rail, but also less conventional means such as taxis, dial-a-rides, car pools, and telecommunications. This is followed by a discussion of cycling and walking and finally of ways to arrange our cities by intermingling work and residences to avoid unnecessary movement. The film shows cities from all over the world with their own examples of how to handle this problem.
[An adapted Spanish language version of the film has been produced during the Bilbao project; it is now also available under the ACCESS program.]
Spanish Language Videos
A video version of Family Mouse is available in Spanish and Basque languages, as adapted by a local television station in Bilbao for local showing. For copies at cost, contact The Commons.
Likewise a Spanish version of Transport in Cities has also been prepared and is available at cost.
Some Helpful Tools
Some of these sites use media and plug-ins. To get you going in case you do not already have them installed, you have here the three main media utitilies that are needed for the following, just in case. All you need do is click the icon, download and follow the clear instructions for installation and use. Should you have run into any difficulties, we suggest that you may first wish to turn to the Software Tools page where you will find what may be some helpful hints on how to access and use. Otherwise just get in touch and we can try to help.
If you wish to view any of these items with the help of a rough machine translation to or from English and any of five available languages (Spanish,
German, French, Italian, and Portuguese),
you can either click the Translation button on the menu to your left for full instructions, or the "Babel Fish" icon here to install the translation utility direct to your browser's toolbar. You will find it useful however to consult the bit of background information that is supplied here before actually putting it to work.
Your candidates?
Do you have something that you think will interest and be of use to the group?If so let us know right here:
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Updated 25 October 1999