Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Critical Mass in Gothenburg, a taste of paradise

Ian Fiddies | 26.02.2006 12:41 | Ecology | Free Spaces | Social Struggles | World

Gothenburg is only Sweden’s second largest city but it’s home to the country’s biggest regular monthly Critical Mass and has by far Sweden’s worst air pollution.

On Friday evening as temperatures crept bellow freezing a score of well wrapt up cyclists braved the poisonous air to celebrate the freedom of the bicycle. This was the second Critical Mass with the theme of air pollution and we placed warning signs in some of the cities worst effected places.

Areas of Gothenburg city centre are so polluted that in January asthmatics and people with heart and lung problems were warned not to go outside on one occasion. The warning was a bit late and came out on the day after the record high levels of the toxic NO2 were measured which didn’t make matters any better.

The problem with pollution in Gothenburg is usually blamed on a metrological phenomenon called inversion. This is where warm air sits over the colder air at ground level trapping the pollution over the city like a lid. According to the local authorities the reason that Gothenburg is Sweden’s most polluted city is because of the weather. I think its time to point out to them that its cars that are causing the fumes. Under normal weather conditions when there is no inversion the NO2 floats away into the atmosphere and falls back to earth as acid rain poisoning the Swedish forest.

Critical Mass is not just about cycling it’s also about cities. The cities of today are noisy dusty unhealthy polluted places. The inhabitants move around in constant fear of being run over. A fear instilled in the first years of life by rightfully nervous parents and road safety classes in nursery schools. A constant threat we have all leaned to live with. Anyone who has children or pets is doubly nervous. As the amount of urban traffic increase the numbers of asthmatic children soar. The average European life is shortened by over half a year due to pollution. Did you know that exposure to traffic noise increases the risk of heart attack? Think about it the next time you’re out walking in a city and go from a road with heavy traffic into a pedestrian street. The difference in stress levels and general well being is enormous. The carnage that the automobile causes every day on a global level puts the deeds of the warmongers Bush and Bliar into the shade. Why aren’t we protesting about the deaths inflicted on innocent victims of cars? Passive smoking is mainly a thing of the past in Sweden. When will protection from passive driving get the same status?

Cities are places for people; they are places of social interaction and relaxation, or just living, working and having fun. What we need to do is to chase the cars out of our city centres. That is what a few of us did on Friday evening for a short time; through active cycling we reclaimed some of the city’s streets from the autoholics who usually monopolise them and I tell you it felt good. One day soon we shall have the freedom of our city’s streets all of the time and not just on the last Friday of the month. Until then, long live Critical Mass!

Ian Fiddies
- e-mail: ian.fiddies@mjv.se

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. Pics from Febuary CM — Ian Fiddies
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech