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The Urban Side
By Ted Floyd. From Friends of the Earth's Paper "Walking
Promotion" Sept 1993
A car alienates you from your surroundings. While locked up in a car,
your only concern is to get from A to B in as short a time as possible.
In a car you see very little except the car in front. Since you are cut
off from your surroundings environment, you see no value in the outside
environment.
This can breed a contempt for the outside environment, and lead to a
"couldn't care less" attitude about the continued survival of
the outside world.
While walking slowly, you are in touch with the world around you. You
feel your surroundings seeping through your bones. Both the good and the
bad affect you deeply. With this heightened sense of awareness you
develop a keen interest in the good which needs to be saved and the bad
which should be changed.
If more people walked more often in our city, the level of
environmental awareness of the public would rise considerably. As
awareness rises, public demand for a better environment would increase.
Maybe if a few politicians got out of their pollution belching cars and
walked, they may see the real world.
An increase in city walking would have a major effect on people's
attitudes which will eventually flow onto the decision makers and result
in a more pleasant and sustainable city environment.
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