Private auto will destroy Africa

There’s an environmental disaster in the making that has scientists issuing warnings about the collapse of an entire ecosystem.

If you’ve already leapt to the conclusion that I’m talking about the Gulf of Mexico and the fate of its fish, shrimp and birds, you’d be forgiven. We certainly have plenty to worry about here at home.

But the story I’m referencing — a proposed highway through Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, the last great wildlife sanctuary on our planet, home to wildebeests, zebras, lions, cheetahs, and too many more species to name — is no less urgent and every bit as heartbreaking. The difference here is that this is a disaster of choice. It can still be stopped.

change.org

Bicycle Portraits - everyday South Africans and their bicycles. A photographic book. by Stan Engelbrecht / Nic Grobler — Kickstarter

Bicycle Portraits - everyday South Africans and their bicycles. A photographic book. by Stan Engelbrecht / Nic Grobler — Kickstarter: "We've noticed that as our major centers develop there still seems to be a trend to make cities more friendly for cars, not people. While this might be happening in many places around the world the effect on individuals seems to be very dramatic in a country like South Africa, where there is a growing divide between those who can afford motorised transport and those who struggle to. Owning a bicycle in this social climate can be very empowering, if the correct infrastructure exists."

free public transport | Africa Streets

free public transport | Africa Streets: "World Streets is pleased to announce publication in the weeks ahead of� a series of articles and other media to investigate this idea in-depth in these pages.� We would ask our readers to bear in mind that there is a … Continue reading →"

Flood and drought cost of cars and sprawl

Floods Heighten Food Crisis in Niger | Africa | English: "Floods in Niger are compounding an already urgent food crisis in the region, as the Niger River reaches its highest level in more than 80 years.

Floods in Niger are worsening the West African country's food crisis, says the communications director for the Red Cross Society of Niger, Amadou Tidjani Adamou.

Adamou says that homes, latrines and rice fields have been destroyed in the recent flooding.

He added that the people living the area rely heavily on the rice fields that have been destroyed, and there will be consequences for the surrounding populations."

World Environment News - Rising Temperatures Threaten Rice Yield Growth: Study - Planet Ark

World Environment News - Rising Temperatures Threaten Rice Yield Growth: Study - Planet Ark: "Rising temperatures could slow the growth of rice production unless farmers adapt by changing management practices and switch to more heat-tolerant varieties, scientists say.

Rice is among the world's most important crops and a staple for people in Asia and Africa, with Asia producing and consuming more than 90 percent of the world's output.

A drop in production could lead to higher prices, fears over food security and more hunger in a world with a rising human population."

No socially redeeming qualities -- the private auto

The automobile is very likely the most influential and most harmful invention in the history of the world. If guns had never been invented, the world’s worst genocides could still have taken place under cudgels and swords. It is true that the atomic bomb has made possible the earth’s complete annihilation, but for the most part this remains only an unrealised possibility. The automobile, on the other hand, has already left hecatombs beneath its wheels and has helped unleash an ecological holocaust that is slower but not necessarily less destructive than any nuclear cataclysm. Nonetheless, the greatest danger of the automobile goes far beyond its tendency to crash and to pollute. Progressive movements for safety regulations and clean fuel, while admirable, do not address the most fundamental problem of the automobile: the deeper danger of cars is that even if they are some day made safe and clean, they will still have restructured nearly every aspect of human society according to their antisocial laws of motion. CarbustersMagazine

Climate change could destroy 80 per cent of rainforest by next century - Telegraph

Climate change could destroy 80 per cent of rainforest by next century - Telegraph: "Rainforests currently hold more than half of all the plant and animal species on Earth.
However, scientists say the combined effects of climate change and deforestation may force them to adapt, move, or die.
By 2100, this could have altered two-thirds of the rainforests in Central and South America, about 70 per cent in Africa."

Gridlock hurting Mauritius economy

Article: Gridlock snags island economy: traffic congestion is costing Mauritius around $100m as workers find themselves trapped for hours at a time in traffic. The problem is so bad that solutions proposed include a free public transport system. Nasseem Ackbarally reports from Port Louis.(MAURITIUS) African Business

Good idea. Why not make the whole island a car-free paradise?

Where does the oil money go?

Zéro franc, zéro fraude

A quoi servent les achats des tickets ?
A la RATP, la billetterie ne représente que 28 % des recettes, ce qui rembourse à peine la fabrication des billets, l’entretien des machines à composter, les contrôles... En somme, on paie un ticket pour que quelqu’un vérifie qu’on en a bien un ?

Qui paye les transports aujourd’hui ?

Ce sont les personnes les plus précaires économiquement qui payent le plus le droit à se déplacer : tandis que les patrons ont des voitures de fonction, les salariés ont leur carte orange remboursée pour moitié par leur employeur. Qui plus est, l’usager-contribuable paye deux fois sa place : une fois au travers de son titre de transport, et une autre par le biais de l’impôt (le ministère des transports et les collectivités locales financent la RATP à hauteur de 25%).

A quoi servent les transports en commun aujourd’hui ?

D’abord à aller travailler et à faire des achats. Ce sont donc encore une fois les employeurs, les grandes surfaces qui profitent le plus des transports. Il serait donc plus logique que ça soit eux qui payent.

Qu’apportent les contrôles ?

60 % des conflits entre agents de la RATP et usagers : en effet, la majorité des agressions a lieu lors de la perception du titre de transport. Ainsi, plus il y a de contrôles, plus il faut d’agents de sécurité, de caméras de vidéosurveillance... Faire payer les transports, c’est ouvrir la voie au tout-répressif.

Liberté - égalité - gratuité ?

Revendiquer les transports gratuits, c’est refuser que seuls les riches puissent se déplacer selon leurs envies et aussi revendiquer la liberté de circuler pour toutes et tous.

Les transports en commun, source de profits ou service collectif ?

La gratuité est la seule garantie d’égalité sociale. Comme l’éducation, la santé, ou la culture, les transports doivent être gratuits pour assurer leur libre accès à toutes et tous. Exiger la gratuité, c’est lutter contre la marchandisation de nos vies.

Et l’environnement ?

La gratuité des transports collectifs, c’est plus de gens qui les empruntent, donc moins de voitures, moins de pollution, moins de maladies respiratoires...

Comment gérer la gratuité ?

Seule une gestion directe des services collectifs, dégagée de toutes pressions politiciennes et rentabilité financière, permettra de voyager selon nos besoins et nos envies. La gestion de ce service devra s’effectuer au travers de représentants mandatés et révocables par les salariés de la RATP et les usagers.

La gratuité des transports, un rêve ?

Hasselt, en Belgique, 70000 hab., Compiègne, 30000 hab., Issoudun 18000 hab., l’appliquent déjà. D’autres l’ont mis en place pour les chômeurs et précaires : la région Midi- Pyrénées, Caen...

La gratuité aujourd’hui ?

Dès maintenant, il nous faut exiger des transports gratuits pour tou-te-s, demander l’arrêt immédiat des contrôles, des amendes et des poursuites, et de manière plus générale, nous occuper directement de nos affaires pour que personne ne décide plus à notre place.

C’est maintenant qu’on veut vivre, alors prenons nos affaires en main !!!

Réseau pour l’Abolition desTransports Payants
c/o 145 rue Amelot 75011 Paris
email : gratuit@samizdat.net

Car sharing complements public transit

Pipeline protection requires the crushing of human rights

The oil and gas industry cannot force governments to station a soldier at every 100 metres of pipeline. So they have to terrorize people into submission. As long as the autosprawl system continues, it will drive fossil-fuel demand and empower this industry. There will be no human rights or justice.

An attack on a crude-oil pipeline operated by U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp. is the latest in a series of political and security setbacks for this embattled West African nation.
...The attack could threaten an amnesty deal for militants that bound the government and Nigerian militants in a shaky four-month cease-fire. In October, thousands of suspected militants turned in their weapons to avoid arrest. During that time, Western oil companies, including Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, were able to increase Nigeria's oil production to almost two million barrels a day from about 1.6 million barrels. Rigzone

Oil companies have polluted Nigeria

...The bigger, more disturbing picture is that oil spills have contaminated the once fertile Delta with approximately 1.5m tonnes of crude oil, equivalent to one Exxon Valdez disaster every year for the last 50 years. As Amnesty International pointed out in a report this July, Shell "has failed to respect the human rights of the people of the Niger Delta … through failure to prevent and mitigate pollution"....CommonDreams

Botswana - Free Public Transport Saves Money

...They calculated the cost of the lost productive time, during working hours. They added the cost of hospitalization and death. They calculated the savings due to noise and air pollution. They accurately estimated the maintenance of the road network and the economic cost of accidents. Their report proved that free public transport is not only viable, but it is far better than the current system. It is financially responsible and saves lives and adds to the quality of life. SundayStandard

The automobile is the cause of death in Kenya

People in Africa are murdered so cars can have gasoline in China:

In the weeks leading up to the attack, “Government forces brutally shut down” several wildlife conservancies the Samburu pastoralists managed in collaboration with environmental organizations, explains Cultural Survival, who just received “reports of further air and land attacks on the Samburu by hundreds of Kenyan police troops during the week of November 16.”
According to documents released by a Kenyan military officer, the campaign is in large part an attempt to force the Samburu to abandon their way life. The documents explicitly mention an intent to “bring these people into the modern era.” They also showed the attacks, including the one just described, were planned months in advance.
Then, in October, the Kenyan government announced it had awarded a set of 18 oil leases to Chinese companies. The lease areas are located within the Samburu’s territory. Intercontinental Cry