The Wales-Wide Web

Today is European Car Free Traffic day. It is a subject dear to my heart. I do not own a car - neither do I have any intention of owning a car.

To add my own little celebration to this day, here is a photo of an public bicycle tire pump (not really sure what these things should be called) which I took in Stockholm last week. And below the picture I reprint an article I wrote some time last year for the Welsh monthly paper, Seren.

Technorati Tags: ecology

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Have been laid up with the flu this week so no timer to do any research for this column. Easy, I thought, I’ll write about transport. But that’s a bit boring- (you’ve guessed it the trams, buses and trains run on time here – like in most modern capitalist countries. But with the election results due by the time you read this I thought I might write something a bit topical about green policies and the green party.

Bremen, where I live, prides itself on being the Green City. In summer the whole city is engulfed with trees and undergrowth (interesting that one – no British obsession with cutting back wild flowers and plants by the side of the road). My mate Ludger rushed into my office last week – very excited. “Bremen has the third lowest traffic densities in Germany” he said, positively exuding civic pride. It’s hard to think of a Welsh city which would see that as a matter for general rejoicing.
The major means of transport is the humble bicycle. Now its true that being flat helps – but the simple policy of building cycle lanes everywhere and allowing bicycles to be ridden on pavements makes a big difference – and giving priority to bikes on all junctions. It also helps that we have a tram network which is modern and works – with trams all through the night. But the main lesson for me is that we need ‘joined up’ policies. An integrated transport policy means more than the bus time being jiggled about so that they meet the trams. If you want people to give up use of their car (an many have here) then you need to think about how they will live.

Every district has a small supermarket within walking reach and rather than concentrate on selling five or ten competing bands of the same goods – they sell a wide range of different things – electrical items, flowers, plants DIY stuff etc, etc.
At Christmas, each neighbourhood sets up a Christmas tree ‘stockade’ – so people are in walking distance for carrying their tree home. A special pick up is organised for the trees after Christmas and they are pulped for use as fertiliser in the parks. Every district has a children’s playground in walking reach. Scholl expeditions use public transport. Because of the anti light pollution policies, special Frauen Taxis (Women’s taxis) are available at night at half price.

It can get a bit irritating at times. I have to separate all my rubbish into plastics and cartons (Gelb sacke or yellow bag), paper and Muell (the remains). We get one collection a fortnight for the yellow sacks (which we get free from the newsagents and are see through so they can check you aren’t cheating) and for the paper and one collection a fortnight of a very small dustbin for the rest of the rubbish. People have taken to putting a lock on their bins so you can’t dump your rubbish in their bin. Bottles are recycled through the supermarket. Intriguingly, so too are beer cans (after the breweries failed to reach targets set by the government for recycling).

You get used to it after a while. Mind, last month I was in Italy and changed the batteries in my camera. I put the old ones in the ashtray – only to be told quite sharply by my Dutch friends to take them home and recycle them. I’ve got a battery dump in my cupboard waiting until I suss out just how I am supposed to get rid of them. I’ve also got 2 large bags of cuttings from the vibe on the back of may house which I have no idea how to get rid of. But the restrictions on bin pick ups does make you more c oncious of what you are throwing out.

As you might guess the Green Party in strong in Bremen and is a coalition party in the local government (as it is in the Federal government). And there is no doubt they have been a part of the impetus behind developing environmentally friendly policies. But in terms of socialist ideas forget it. The Green party here are a rightist modernising party. They have essentially taken over from the Free Democrats who stood somewhere to the right fo the UK Liberal Democrats. On social issues they stand fully behind the Social Democrats attack on social benefits. Green or environmental policies do not by themselves mean that a party is socialist or progressive.

So I think there are two lessons we can learn in Wales from the Bremen experience. One is a lot about micro policies to defend and support the environment – especially in terms of integrated policy making. But the second is about the nature of any movements or party we want to build. A green policy alone is not enough, unless it is linked to socialist ideas.