世界節(jié)假日博覽 第153期:世界無車日

World Car-Free Day is a very important holiday on the environmental calendar. Every September 22, governments, green groups and ordinary citizens highlight the damage cars are doing to the Earth. The day is a reminder that we do not need to rely so much on cars. Those who take part hope others will realize we do not have to accept our car-dominated society. Carlos Pardo from Colombia's Sustainable Urban Transport Project summed things up, saying: “World Car-Free Day is not only a celebration of fun ways to get around the city, but a demonstration of what is possible: unclogged streets, clean air, and city traffic participants with their usual stress levels turned down drastically.“

世界無車日是環(huán)保日程上的重要節(jié)日。每年9月22日，政府、環(huán)保組織和普通市民都會強調汽車對地球的危害。世界無車日提醒我們不必過分依賴汽車。那些參與這一節(jié)日的人希望別人會意識到：我們不必接受汽車為主導的社會。來自哥倫比亞可持續(xù)城市交通項目的卡洛斯·帕爾多總結說“世界無車日不僅是贊美城市中的步行是種有趣的出行方式，同時也展現(xiàn)著一切皆有可能：暢通的街道、潔凈的空氣、城市道路上的人們日常緊張程度戲劇性地下降。”


World Car-Free Day aims to take a sizeable number of cars off the streets for all or part of a day. This will give people a chance to see what their town might look like with a lot fewer cars. The idea for this day came in October 1994 at the International Accessible Cities Conference in Toledo, Spain. The first national campaign was held in Britain three years later. The European Union adopted the idea in 2000. Today, as many as 100 million people in over 1,500 cities worldwide celebrate this day. There are many critics of the day. They say it is a one-day gimmick and does not make people give up their cars for the rest of the year. They say what is needed is a move towards a more sustainable city transportation system.

世界無車日的目標是在全天或一天的某一時段內減少街道上的大量汽車。這也給人們機會來觀察車輛減少時城鎮(zhèn)的樣子。1994年10月，西班牙托萊多的國際城市訪問會議上有人提出了世界無車日的想法。三年后在英國舉辦第一次全國性的活動。2000年歐盟采用了這一想法。如今，世界范圍內1500多個城市的1億人慶祝這一節(jié)日。但也有很多人批評這一節(jié)日。他們說世界無車日只是一天的游戲，并不能使人們在其他時間放棄開車。他們說迫在眉睫的是推進一個更具可持續(xù)性的城市交通系統(tǒng)。