[sustran] Re: UN "ambassador" for public transport?
Madhav Badami, Prof.
madhav.g.badami at mcgill.ca
Tue May 15 23:43:21 JST 2007
Where's Mahatma Gandhi when we need him? There was a man who literally walked the talk (he also travelled third class; and as I recall, the only time he travelled First Class -- in South Africa -- he got ejected. Do UN ambassadors have to be living? Could we not use the example of people like Gandhi and Ivan Illich, a theologian who wrote more sane stuff about transport than most transport types, in addition to people like Senor Penalosa and Ken Livingstone?
Speaking of Ivan Illich, I would recommend his "Energy and Equity" from the 1970s, which contains such insights as: motorized vehicles "create remoteness which they alone can shrink" and "create distances for all and shrink them for only a few"; automobile passengers "become consumers of others' time", and steal time from poor groups and reallocate it to usually richer groups, and finally, the transportation industry, in common with many of our other "service industries", exercises a radical monopoly by creating and shaping the need which it alone can satisfy.
Cheers,
Madhav
************************************************************************
"As for the future, your task is not to foresee, but to enable it."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Madhav G. Badami, PhD
School of Urban Planning and McGill School of Environment McGill University Macdonald-Harrington Building
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-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+madhav.g.badami=mcgill.ca at list.jca.apc.org [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+madhav.g.badami=mcgill.ca at list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of Lew Fulton
Sent: Monday, May 14, 2007 3:26 AM
To: edelman at greenidea.info; Global 'South' Sustainable Transport
Cc: sustran-discuss-bounces+lew.fulton=unep.org at list.jca.apc.org; Global 'South' Sustainable Transport
Subject: [sustran] Re: UN "ambassador" for public transport?
I think Enrique Penalosa is perfect in the sense that he is the real deal, is a visionary, is inspiring and is fluent in key languages. But he's not widely known outside of transport and urban sustainability circles. If we could have him star in a major hollywood film, that would do the trick, though I tend to doubt that's on his agenda, or theirs...
Probably the key is to get in touch with some big agents and see what stars take transit (obviously they don't live in LA) and would be interested.
I'll look into our ambassador system doing this, but in the mean time, if anyone finds out about any stars who have even once in their life been on a bus, let me know :-).
Lew
"Todd Edelman,
Green Idea
Factory" To
<edelman at greenide "Global 'South' Sustainable
a.info> Transport"
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public transport?
13/05/2007 21:45
Please respond to
edelman at greenidea
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Hi,
Again, I think there is a reason many or perhaps all of these Goodwill Ambassadors are not current, former or future political figures. I am not hiding any bias against Penalosa and I wish that more politicians of all genders had his cajones, but he is perhaps too obvious a supporter of whatever we end up telling UNEP what we want to call "appropriate, desirable and sustainable transport solutions (ADSTS) for cities and regions which are designed to decrease the need for mobility (DDNM)".
In regards to the oft-heard and generally reasonable complaint about underground metros costing the equivalent of one million years worth of GNPs of every developing country in the universe, don't you think we need someone who is powerful enough to tell various parties that he or she thinks they might want to consider shifting some dineros, shekels, sea dollars or salt wafers from their military spending - usually way, way-ay-ay more absurd than an inappropriate metro - to ADSTS and DDNM?
- T
Pendakur wrote:
> Absolutely, Enrique Penalosa. He is articulate, has professional and
> political experience in "making things happen" and to boot it, he is
> absolutely attention catching.
>
> Best wishes.
>
> Setty
> Dr. V. Setty Pendakur
> Professor Emeritus, University of BC
> Honorary Professor, China National Academy of Sciences; Director, ITDP
> (NY) & Secretary, ABE90-TRB
>
> President, Pacific Policy and Planning Associates
> 702- 1099 Marinaside Cresecent, Vancouver, BC Canada V6Z 2Z3
> 604-263-3576; Fax: 604-263-6493
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
sustran-discuss-bounces+pendakur=interchange.ubc.ca at list.jca.apc.org
>
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+pendakur=interchange.ubc.ca at list.jca.apc.org
> ] On Behalf Of Lee Schipper
> Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 9:15 AM
> To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport
> Subject: [sustran] Re: UN "ambassador" for public transport?
>
> Enrique Penalosa?
>
>
>>>> Lew Fulton <Lew.Fulton at unep.org> 5/10/2007 8:31:51 AM >>>
>>>>
> Hello all,
>
> A UN colleague of mine is interested in exploring finding someone with
star
> power who is (or could logically be) an advocate for public transport
> and might be interested in becoming a "UN Ambassador" on the topic.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Lew
>
> Lew Fulton
> Program Officer, Sustainable Transport Division of GEF Coordination UN
> Environment Programme PO Box 30552-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
> tel: +254 20 762 3257 (From Europe and N.America, you can dial via
> Italy, often a better connection: +39 0831 24 3000, wait for voice
> then dial 124
> 3257)
> fax: +254 20 762 4041/42
> lew.fulton at unep.org
> www.unep.org/gef
>
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