Why don’t you… ask your community?
We’ve targeted the Big Green Challenge at communities. Why? Well, there are plenty of schemes trying to get people to do good things such as getting homeowners to put in roof insulation or use low energy lightbulbs.
But one of the big things experts talk about but nobody knows how to make happen is to get people to change their behaviour. If more children walked to school, then there would be fewer car journeys so less road congestion and healthier children. And there are plenty of similar examples.
You can have “Walk to School weeks” and introduce parking restrictions or congestion charges. But are there more effective ways of discouraging people from driving their kids to school?
One way to find out is to ask communities for their ideas. Don’t tell them what to do but ask them to come up with good ideas and then test the best of these. They can be about anything – as long as it reduces the carbon dioxide emitted. That’s the thinking behind the Big Green Challenge.
many children would love to cycle to school and its entirely possible they could, however there needs to be a step change in the attitude that local authorities and the police have to young people using the footpath for cycling. I think parents need to be supported to allow their children these freedoms and they need to know they will come home safely. Riding on our busy congested roads is NOT going to work, so its a chicken and egg thing, children in cars, extra cars on road: But consider the hazards of a pedestrian and a cyclist in collision compared to a large metal moving object and small vulnerable piece of precious human darling. I rest my case. Dual use footpaths for the UK now, wherever possible, for all children and accompanying adults on bicycles….. there sorted!!