Someone with a 1-hour car commute needs to earn 40% more to be as happy as someone with a short walk to work. On the other hand, if someone shifts from a long commute to a walk, their happiness increases as much as if they’d fallen in love.
So found engineering firm Arup after they analysed dozens of studies to identify 50 benefits of walkability in cities.
Former Chair of Arup Group Gregory Hodkinson summed up the report by saying: “From 70 years of practice we know that a walkable city is a better city and that the more we walk the better the city in every respect.”
There’s a vital need to foster a new generation of walkers. It’s why next month’s Walk to School Week event is close to our hearts. The first Walk to School week in 1995 involved five primary schools taking part in our very own Green Transport Week.
Since then the initiative has grown and is more important than ever; a generation ago, 70 per cent of us walked to school – now it’s less than half.
Walk to School Week is more than a temporary interruption of the motorised school run.
What better day to think about how we travel than Earth Day?
At a time when the term ‘environment’ was rarely discussed, much less protested about, the first Earth Day, on April 22, 1970, galvanised 20 million Americans from all walks of life in an overwhelming display of support for ending the government’s laissez-faire attitude towards pollution.
Far from a flash in the pan, the event continues to this day every year on 22 April. Each year, more than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities.
The ethical choice
The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance , breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.
The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK’s most ethical provider.
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