04-April-2012 Day of Action for Public #Transit #a4

The General Assembly of Boston calls on occupations, general assemblies and people’s movements across the country and around the globe to mobilize on April 4th, 2012 to demand public transportation for the 99%. In Boston and in cities around the country, our hard-won and necessary transportation systems are under attack. Their viability is being threatened by savage cuts and fare hikes in a calculated push towards privatization by corrupt and unresponsive politicians and their corporate benefactors.


Public transit use is up, but the 1% is striving mightily to force us into car-slavery. We must fight back.
Here are some links to get you started.

Pittsburgh
Boston
Las Vegas
Portland, OR

How to save millions on healthcare costs - invest in public #transit

The Express Stop: Treasury Department Touts Transit and Infrastructure Investments: "the use of light rail to commute to work is associated with a nearly 1.2 point reduction in body mass index as well as an 81 percent reduction in the odds of becoming obese. Moreover, improved perceptions of neighborhoods as a result of the availability of light rail were associated with 15 percent lower odds of obesity as well as higher odds of meeting weekly recommended physical activity levels for walking and vigorous exercise (9 percent and 11 percent, respectively)."

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75% Vote for Free Public Transit in Tallinn Referendum | Society | News | ERR

Photo: Postimees/Scanpix

75% Vote for Free Public Transit in Tallinn Referendum | Society | News | ERR: "A week-long referendum on free public transit conducted among Tallinn residents ended on Sunday with 75.5 percent of participants voting in favor of the idea."

Car-culture must end. Will end. Is ending. Want youth in your town? Get #transit.

Why Don't Young Americans Buy Cars? - Jordan Weissmann - Business - The Atlantic: "Of course, Millennials are more likely than past generations to live in an urban community, and this may be part of what terrifies car makers. "

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IEA’s Bombshell Warning: We’re Headed Toward 6°C Global Warming – “Delaying Action Is a False Economy”

IEA’s Bombshell Warning: We’re Headed Toward 6°C Global Warming – “Delaying Action Is a False Economy”: "The International Energy Agency has issued yet another clarion call for urgent action on climate.  Their 2011 World Energy Outlook [WEO] release should end once and for all any notion that delay is the rational course for the nation and the world."

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Have you ever read the work of Frank Fisher? Free-Transit Advocates have.

Most of us use cars to move around Melbourne. Car engines convert 15% of the energy available in their petrol to motion. The rest is heat, which is part of the reason cities are warmer than the countryside. Few want to ride engines. Engines push cars and together they are some 15 times heavier than drivers; so only one part of that 15% moves the driver; 14 move the car. Beyond that, energy is the energy required to make, maintain and dismantle cars after their dash is done. Still further is the energy to make the infrastructures cars drive in, and to repair the damage they cause us and to the environment. So, for urban commuting, the energetics of the car are very poor. And still we drive.


check out our library http://fptlib.blogspot.com/

Is world war enough threat to make U.S. turn away from oil? Apparently not.

Russian Anti-Terror Troops Arrive in Syria - ABC News: "Now the Russian Black Sea fleet's Iman tanker has arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean Sea with an anti-terror squad from the Russian Marines aboard according to the Interfax news agency. The Assad government has insisted it is fighting a terrorist insurgency. The Russian news reports did not elaborate on the Russian troops' mission in Syria or if they are expected to leave the port."

The Case for Permanent Free Public Transit | Halifax Media Co-op

The Case for Permanent Free Public Transit | Halifax Media Co-op: "Removing fares from public transit encourages more people to use it, and more people riding buses, ferries, and streetcars is undoubtedly a Good Thing. Transporting 40 people on a bus is much more efficient than transporting those people in private cars, meaning less traffic congestion, less air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and less public spending on road infrastructure and parking lots."

Ben Sichel will be on New957 Radio Sunday Morning at 10am to discuss free transit
http://www.news957.com/
Follow @bsichel
Here is the audio of the interview: http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/audio/free-buses-hrm/10256

Lots of anger and frustration at final MBTA hearing in Brighton - Watertown, MA - Watertown TAB

Wicked Local photo by Zara Tzanev 

Lots of anger and frustration at final MBTA hearing in Brighton - Watertown, MA - Watertown TAB: "Those in attendance included city officials, state representatives, students, senior citizens, members of the deaf community, members of the Occupy movement holding signs that said, “Fare Hikes are Class War” and a theatrical trio dressed as superheroes representing three solutions to the debt – “Bank Boy” “MBCR Rockstar” and “Snow Removal Man.”"

Mass transit use rises as gas prices soar - Mar. 12, 2012

Mass transit use rises as gas prices soar - Mar. 12, 2012: "NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Ridership on the nation's trains and buses hit one of the highest levels in decades, with officials crediting high gas prices, a stronger economy and new technology that makes riding public transit easier."

U.S. policy driven by oil not humanitarianism

photo LATimes

Tens of thousands of Bahraini protesters occupy four-lane highway - latimes.com: "The turmoil has put the United States in a touchy spot: Bahrain has long been a U.S. ally against Iran. Police crackdowns and other alleged abuses there have spurred accusations that the U.S. has a double standard on human rights as it calls for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down."

Supply-side environmentalism won't work

There are at least one billion people seeking the sprawl lifestyle. This is a tremendous economic and political force.

Protesting against fossil-fuel energy supply, such as coal-fired power plants, arctic-oil, or tarsands cannot overcome such a force. And what's worse, it puts environmentalists on the side of denying the dream.

If we truly want to undo sprawl. We have to offer a dream that is better.

We have to provide a car-free urban lifestyle.

The first step is fare-free buses. Then fare-free light rail and streetcars. 

Democracy not an option in oil-war orgy

U.S. News - Holder: US can legally kill Americans in terror groups: "The U.S. government is legally justified in killing its own citizens "

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Economists having wrong debate

Economists are arguing about how to deal with the financial crisis. Some say cut, some say borrow and spend. Both are correct that inequality is getting worse, debt bubbles only delay collapse, and capitalism is a trickle-up, not a trickle-down system.

But both sides have a blind spot when it comes to growth. Growth must stop.

Our current system depends on using natural resources. These resources are running out. The human die-off is already occurring in some areas, giving us a heads-up on what is to come for all.

We need to go back to a simple theme: "waste not, want not."

Striking oil workers murdered in Khazakhstan

Failing Up With Joshua Foust: Meet The “Evil Genius” Massacre-Denier Who Shills For War Profiteers - By Mark Ames - The eXiled: "Moreover, Kazakhstan is acting like it’s got something to hide. It’s put Zhanaozen under martial law, and the authorities cut off all Twitter, internet, and cell phone access, isolating and terrorizing the city with murders, torture, and beatings. "

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Ocean Acidifying at Faster Rate than in Past 300 Million Years « Climate Denial Crock of the Week

Ocean Acidifying at Faster Rate than in Past 300 Million Years « Climate Denial Crock of the Week: "The world’s oceans may be turning acidic faster today from human carbon emissions than they did during four major extinctions in the last 300 million years, when natural pulses of carbon sent global temperatures soaring, says a new study in Science. The study is the first of its kind to survey the geologic record for evidence of ocean acidification over this vast time period."

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