Transcript exported from the video version of this episode - Note that it has not been copyedited

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:27:06
Speaker 1
The European Cyclists Federation was set up really by two people, Manfred, Nine and Ben Bernard, and they were the brains behind it. And in 2014 somebody came up with the idea, Well, we ought to have a world cycling alliance because we have the European Cyclists Federation here in Europe. You have bikes for people in the USA. In Canada, every province has a cycling organization.

00:00:27:08 - 00:00:56:10
Speaker 1
And then you get and many people are surprised by this, but we have a very active African Cyclists union. We have a very active all India Bicycling Federation. There are, in Latin American countries some quite well-developed associations. What we're trying to do is to take people together, look at how we're campaigning, what we're doing, what we're achieving, take best practice and spread it.

00:00:56:12 - 00:01:27:05
Speaker 2
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Active Towns Channel. I'm John Simmerman. And that was Sir Graham Watson, president of the World Cycling Alliance and board member of the European Cyclists Federation. Sir, Graham and I have a fascinating conversation about the World Cycling Alliance and the necessary steps that need to take place to bring cycling to the forefront. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Sir Graham Watson.

00:01:27:07 - 00:01:32:13
Speaker 2
Sir Graham Watson, it is an absolute pleasure having you on the Active Towns podcast. Welcome.

00:01:32:15 - 00:01:38:20
Speaker 1
Thank you very much for inviting me on the Active Tennis podcast. I've heard a lot about you and I'm delighted to be with you.

00:01:38:22 - 00:02:01:23
Speaker 2
Well, we had the opportunity to meet briefly at the Velocity Conference in Leipzig, Germany, just about a month or so ago, and I've been I was absolutely delighted to have that opportunity to meet you. But I really don't know that much about you. I'm going to turn the floor over to you for just a second and let you introduce yourself to the audience.

00:02:01:25 - 00:02:02:22
Speaker 2
Go for it.

00:02:02:24 - 00:02:25:06
Speaker 1
Well, I'm not sure. There's a lot interesting to say. I was I was born on a very small island off the west coast of Scotland called the Isle of Bute, rather, a long time ago. And, you know, one of the great things in my life is that coming from, you know, a small community, you have a lot of freedom in a sense.

00:02:25:08 - 00:02:50:05
Speaker 1
I was given a bicycle when I was about seven years old, and I had the opportunity to ride this bicycle all around my island. There were very few cars on the road in those days, and I learned to associate a bicycle with freedom. And I've done many things in my life professionally. I'm an interpreter by qualification. I've worked in banking.

00:02:50:05 - 00:03:13:25
Speaker 1
I've been in public service, but I've always kept cycling as part of my life. And now, in early retirement, I am delighted to have the opportunity to devote my time unpaid to helping to promote cycling and let other people enjoy the freedoms and the pleasure that I got from it.

00:03:13:28 - 00:03:25:16
Speaker 2
Fantastic. Now, you mentioned that the island in it being relatively small, how large you know, it was the population of that particular island.

00:03:25:19 - 00:03:48:17
Speaker 1
In those days, it was about 27,000. Unfortunately, there's been a lot of rural depopulation and it's down to about 17,000 these days. But, you know, it's a small community. Most people knew each other and quite, quite, quite free, quite easy to get around the island just miles long. And it's about a mile wide. You know, it's not.

00:03:48:20 - 00:04:11:16
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I've, I've had the opportunity to live on an island before. I lived at actually a couple of different times, but most recently I lived on the big island in Hawaii. So I was on a whole island. And I think the total population of the entire island is like a hundred thousand or so, but it's, you know, divided into villages.

00:04:11:16 - 00:04:50:29
Speaker 2
And so you're absolutely right. You know, you end up knowing almost everybody. And there's a certain amount of freedom that you that you have, especially when you're a child. So I grew up in a small rural farm town in northern California of about 4000 people. And so, you know, that bike really was, you know, a critical step to freedom and really a kind of I think, really solidified in my mind just how important a bicycle is across all ages and abilities when it comes to mobility, freedom.

00:04:51:02 - 00:05:20:01
Speaker 1
Absolutely. And and I mean, there's more and more evidence coming out, isn't there, that people who have the opportunity to get on a bicycle when they're young in their early years, not only can grow up to be physically fit, are to have less stress in their lives, but grow up more balanced as well. The thing that surprises me is not that cycling should be associated with physical health, but that cycling is now known to be so associated with mental health.

00:05:20:04 - 00:05:47:24
Speaker 1
It's something that makes you not just fitter, it actually makes you happier. And of course, if there is in societies where there's a strong gender divide, it is even more important that women get the opportunity to cycle from a young age because that gives them a freedom that often they don't otherwise have. It was, I believe, a woman who first described the bicycle as the freedom machine.

00:05:47:26 - 00:05:50:17
Speaker 1
And she was absolutely right.

00:05:50:19 - 00:06:10:28
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. So you're my first guest on the podcast with the honorific title of Sir. I've had some professors and I've had some doctors. Okay. From a guy from California originally. How the heck do you get the title, sir? Now, what was that all about?

00:06:11:00 - 00:06:34:06
Speaker 1
I have to tell you, it's part of the misleading Druidic nonsense that passes the Constitution in the United Kingdom. You know, most European countries had these at some point, and most of them have quite wisely got rid of them. The United Kingdom still lives in the past in some respects. It's a nice to have. It came with the territory I occupied.

00:06:34:09 - 00:06:58:15
Speaker 1
I was elected in 1994 to the European Parliament. I served in the Parliament for 20 years. I served as chairman of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee. And I served as leader of my political party for ten years. So, you know, it came along with that. It's very nice, but it has very little meaning, really, in today's world.

00:06:58:18 - 00:07:28:04
Speaker 2
Well, what I appreciate and enjoy about it is it is there's some relevance in the sense that, again, we met at Velocity, which of course is produced by the European Cyclist Federation. You are on the board of the European Cyclist Federation and for those who may not be familiar with ECF, what's your, you know, 32nd overview of, of ECF?

00:07:28:07 - 00:07:33:21
Speaker 2
You know, I can't imagine there's too many people that don't know, but there probably is a handful.

00:07:33:23 - 00:08:02:25
Speaker 1
Oh, I think there probably are, yes. I mean, there are, of course, cycling is very much divided into two categories. The side that many people know, the racists, the racing cyclists, and they all come together in the international cyclists union. But the people who come together in in the European Cyclists Federation are the people who are involved in each European country in promoting opportunities for cycling.

00:08:02:27 - 00:08:31:18
Speaker 1
We are the people who campaign for safer cycle paths where the people who campaign for bike parking facilities were the people who campaign for shelters, where people can leave their bikes if they don't have room to keep them in their homes, or if they don't have gardens to keep them in. We we want to promote opportunities for safe and active leisure and alternatives to the motorcar as a means of transport.

00:08:31:20 - 00:08:59:22
Speaker 2
Yeah. And we saw a visual there for just a brief moment about the the Euro Velo network and the yellow I-the Euro Velo Tourism Conference. That'll be coming up very soon in Turkey. And so that's part of it, too, because there's that connection of the combination of the infrastructure, of the cycling infrastructure that needs to be in place to be able to encourage people to be able to ride a bike more frequently.

00:08:59:29 - 00:09:09:01
Speaker 2
And then there's also that connection that, you know, hey, bikes can mean business, too, and economic vitality and tourism even.

00:09:09:03 - 00:09:42:08
Speaker 1
Oh, absolutely. I mean, the Velocity conference where you and I met in Leipzig a month or so ago, that's the big annual conference that brings everybody together, which attracts people from the industry. It attracts people in government who work in the the mobility area. The Euro Velo conference is something in a sense quite separate but equally important. The European Cyclists Federation over the years has developed a whole series of cycle routes which go from one end of the continent to the other.

00:09:42:10 - 00:10:19:10
Speaker 1
There are 13 in total. We not only campaigned for funding to get these routes set up, but we also then certify them to say that they meet a certain standard and some people will cycle from the north of Norway right down to the tip of Gibraltar, just opposite Africa, because they want a cycling holiday. But, you know, most people who use these routes will only ever use them for between five and ten kilometers, let's say, because they are cycling to work or to school or to the shops or whatever.

00:10:19:13 - 00:10:47:21
Speaker 1
The fact, however, that these these routes exist, as you can see there in the map, is great because it gives people the opportunity for cycle tourism. And it is proven not only to be socially a success, but to be economically a success. The number of small cafes and so on, the number of bicycle repair shops that have sprung up along these routes, they've been economically quite important in some of the areas they run through.

00:10:47:23 - 00:10:55:05
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. And I have a good friend who's actually riding the entire length of Sweden right now.

00:10:55:07 - 00:10:59:04
Speaker 1
Great. I'm very pleased to.

00:10:59:06 - 00:11:29:02
Speaker 2
So. So, yeah, so that's, that's the one part of it. And the other part of, of what we discovered when we met was that you are the president of the World Cycling Alliance. And so talk a little bit about this because this is kind of related to velocity in the sense that I believe in 19 or no, not 19, 2014, I believe this sort of emerged from a velocity.

00:11:29:02 - 00:11:30:11
Speaker 2
Is that correct?

00:11:30:13 - 00:11:59:16
Speaker 1
That's correct. The the European Cyclists Federation was set up really by two people, Manfred nine and Ben Bernhard, and they were the brains behind it. And in 2014, somebody came up with the idea, Well, we ought to have a world cycling alliance because we have the European Cyclists Federation here in Europe. You have bikes for people in the USA, in Canada, every province has a cycling organization.

00:11:59:19 - 00:12:28:21
Speaker 1
And then you get and many people are surprised by this, but we have a very active African cyclists union. We have a very active all India Bicycling Federation. There are in Latin American countries some quite well-developed associations. What we're trying to do is to take it, get people together, look at how we're campaigning, what we're doing, what we're achieving, take best practice and spread it.

00:12:28:23 - 00:12:54:09
Speaker 1
And really what the World Cycling Alliance exists to do is to bring together representatives of all of these different federations and campaign together to spread best practice. And I don't know how it is in the States, but I can tell you that 40, 50 years ago in Europe, the aspiration of every young man and many young women to was to own a car.

00:12:54:11 - 00:13:28:25
Speaker 1
If you were to go to countries today in the less wealthy parts of the world, countries like Indonesia, for example, people have those same aspirations. But we know that if we are going to avoid the disaster of climate change, we have to get people out of cars and on to alternative modes of transport. So we're trying to develop schemes where we can I don't say find the aspiration, but at least show people that alternatives to the car can work.

00:13:28:27 - 00:14:11:13
Speaker 2
Yeah, and what prompted me to introduce myself to you was a specific question that you posed at Velocity. And the context of it was as we were watching a series of presentations, one of which was liner notes with Moby Con in talking about the Transportation Decarbonization Alliance or initiative and the question that you posed was in the context of how do we increase the demand for cycling within the broader population to help drive in infrastructure transformations.

00:14:11:16 - 00:14:27:18
Speaker 2
And I think that you can you can kind of look at that question a couple different ways. But before I add my context or twist to that, why don't you explain a little bit about the context of how you posed that question?

00:14:27:21 - 00:14:49:02
Speaker 1
Yeah. I mean, you know, I think this is there is an issue cycling is perceived sometimes wrongly, but is perceived as a very it's an activity for the for the wealthy. It's an activity for the middle classes. First of all, you need to be able to afford to own a bicycle. You need to have access to a bicycle.

00:14:49:04 - 00:15:18:10
Speaker 1
Now, a lot of the things that have been done, one of the schemes that the European Cyclists Federation is involved in is the recycling of old bicycles to countries where people can't afford to buy them. Another of the developments that we've seen, which have been huge, have been bike sharing schemes or schemes where you can rent a bicycle for a very small amount of money and it has a microchip on it so that the owner, the company that owns it, always knows where it is.

00:15:18:13 - 00:15:58:14
Speaker 1
Look at India today, for example. There's some fantastic things happening with bike sharing schemes and some of the major cities where people can't always afford bicycles and don't always have safe places to store them. So it's looking at how we can make access, ability to bicycles greater, how we can then go about giving basic training, ideally to children in schools, about maintenance and safety on bicycles, and then how we can go about designing at the level of our cities, the kind of infrastructure that allows people to use them safely, and the kind of social attitudes to.

00:15:58:16 - 00:16:36:12
Speaker 1
That's all I think going through quite a big revolution at the moment. I think there's a huge amount of development and it's looking at cycling partly as a way of dealing with Carmageddon, partly as a way of dealing with climate change and air pollution and so on, but partly also as a way of dealing with some of the health issues that we're facing, where in many countries in the world, even low income countries, we are seeing great growth in levels of obesity and diseases related to unfitness.

00:16:36:14 - 00:17:19:07
Speaker 2
Yeah, and it reminds me of of actually slide number two in your in your presentation here is that cycling does help deliver on a whole wide variety of areas. And in fact, when we look at these 11 different sustainable development goals, cycling is is almost can be considered a bit of a of a magic pill in the sense and you'd mentioned it earlier to and I'm sure that health is somewhere in this combination but yeah I mean it's amazing what can happen if we just get a little bit of physical activity in.

00:17:19:10 - 00:17:34:29
Speaker 2
And that's really the origins of the Active Towns Initiative is really trying to help create healthier communities and encourage people to to be able to live a healthy, active lifestyle. Naturally, I.

00:17:35:01 - 00:18:04:26
Speaker 1
Absolutely I mean, people would be surprised, John, because, of course, if you look at the Sustainable Development goals, goals like air quality goals like environmental sustainability, even goals like health, they are the obvious ones. What people don't look at is, for example, the economic impact. You know, in many places people are unable to work because they don't have a way of getting from where they live to where the work is available.

00:18:05:03 - 00:18:24:17
Speaker 1
There's an expression in my country, which is well known in the political world, which which is the expression get on your bike. In other words, if you don't have a job, get on your bicycle and go and look for one. Well, that is a reality in many parts of the world. If you can supply people with bicycles, sometimes you can supply them with jobs.

00:18:24:20 - 00:18:57:23
Speaker 2
Yeah. And you mentioned it earlier about climate change. And we were literally, you know, listening to Leonard talk about the concept of how do we decarbonize the transport sector, because we know that around the globe it's somewhere the transportation sector is contributing somewhere in the neighborhood of between 40 and 60% of the carbon in in that is being released in each individual country and area and sector.

00:18:57:26 - 00:19:54:06
Speaker 2
It's so incredibly important. And I thought it was very, very relevant that your question was is how do we create that ability to try to broaden that demand and increase that demand across the overall population so that we can help drive that infrastructure? And part of my sort of context and twist to that is, yeah, how do we sort of like bring cycling upfront into the mindset, into the zeitgeist of, of the broader population as being an essential, you know, solution to help these 11 different sustainability goals that we have because we've got a challenge in the sense that often that COP and or many of these other important meetings that are coming together of

00:19:54:12 - 00:20:13:27
Speaker 2
it's usually a bunch of white dudes talking about it. Cycling doesn't even come up. And that was one of the things the ECF did a good job of a few years ago was was to say, Hey, time out. Don't forget about active transportation.

00:20:13:29 - 00:20:21:02
Speaker 1
We had a big visual with a picture of a bicycle and it said, This machine helps fight climate change.

00:20:21:02 - 00:20:24:27
Speaker 2
I think there's a image of it in here.

00:20:24:29 - 00:20:54:27
Speaker 1
And I'll probably see it. You're right, John. I mean, we are not the cyclists are not and don't need to be anti-caa in the sense that, of course, you know, people are going to want to drive cars and there will be occasions when they will need to drive cars. But what we are increasingly aware of is that 60% of all journeys of less than five kilometers are now being made by car.

00:20:54:29 - 00:21:24:23
Speaker 1
Now you only have less than five kilometers in many, many cases can be made by bicycle. And so, for example, in areas where people are taking their kids to school by car, what we're doing is we're setting up in conjunction with the schools a scheme where somebody who has time on their hands and the ability to give it organizes a bike run for the kids so that they pick up all the kids as they go along on their way to the school and all of the kids cycle together.

00:21:24:29 - 00:21:51:00
Speaker 1
It makes the kids healthier and makes them happy. We even know now from medical research that it makes them concentrate better when they get into class. If they've done some physical exercise before getting there and it's saved many parents the job of having to get their kids to school. And you know what it's like, I'm sure as I do taking a seven or eight year old, it really doesn't want to go to school early in the morning.

00:21:51:06 - 00:22:10:26
Speaker 1
You know, it's not it's not great if they're together with their friends cycling, They're it's it's good. These are the kind of things they are small changes. But if you put them all together, they add up into something much, much bigger. They add up to a revolution, in a sense. A social revolution.

00:22:10:28 - 00:22:35:14
Speaker 2
Yeah. In terms of being able to help deliver better social positive impacts in and being, you know, those kids, you know, being able to do that bike train or that bike bus helps with the sociability. And, you know, I think that that is something that again, goes across all ages and abilities of being able to improve that.

00:22:35:16 - 00:22:57:21
Speaker 1
There are many there are many barriers as eyes as, you know, to to cycling there. There's the barrier of perceptions. People say, well, is it safe to cycle or is it safe for my kids to cycle? There are the barriers of how streets are designed. If you design streets intelligently, then more people will cycle. I give you an example.

00:22:57:24 - 00:23:43:25
Speaker 1
I go fairly regularly to Toronto because I teach at the university there and the autumns. There's a lady called Jennifer Keesmaat who is the head of planning in Toronto, and she revolutionized the center of the city, by the way. She redesigned the streets to allow room for bicycles. There are gender stereotypes which which hinder us, and it is tackling each of these small barriers together that allows us to make the social transformation that is not only going to make us healthier and going to preserve the planet for future generations, but is also making people happier, more relaxed, more stress free in their daily lives.

00:23:43:27 - 00:24:08:04
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. And of course, Toronto just got a new mayor, elected a new mayor this past week and that's been fantastic. And and I and I did see a tweet from Jennifer, you know, celebrating that fact because we're all very excited about the possibility for Toronto moving forward. It truly is a world class city and could be so much better.

00:24:08:06 - 00:24:37:10
Speaker 2
Gil Penalosa and I had this discussion here on the podcast and of of what could be. So there is a great deal of of of potential there for Toronto and for North America. From a North American perspective. It's it's wonderful for us to be able to look north across the border and be able to see the Montreal's of the world in the Vancouver's of the world and in in even Toronto, which has so much potential.

00:24:37:10 - 00:24:40:07
Speaker 2
So we're hoping to see a little bit more from them.

00:24:40:10 - 00:25:04:00
Speaker 1
Well, you know, if you can do it in Toronto, which I think is now the fourth largest city in North America, then you can do it in Los Angeles as well. No reason why we shouldn't. It just takes the the the inspiration, the concentration and the guts and the grit really, to to to to get it moving. I think we could see that in so many cities.

00:25:04:00 - 00:25:21:29
Speaker 1
And of course, if you go to countries like India, where you have mega cities these days, you know, cities like Mumbai of 20 million people, cities like Delhi of 25 million people, these are the kind of schemes we need to see being brought in there as well.

00:25:22:02 - 00:25:47:19
Speaker 2
Yeah, and they have some valid, you know, comparisons. You know, when you look at Tokyo Perspect as an example, that is also a mega city, but it's also a mega city that's not addicted to the automobile. Automobiles do exist, but they they've been well managed and they've been tamed. They've not the automobile has not been allowed to just take over.

00:25:47:21 - 00:26:06:18
Speaker 2
And I think it goes to the point that you were making earlier is that in many of these societies, there's that aspiration of of, you know, when I make it, I'm going to have a car. And and so we do need to sort of tweak that a little bit and have it be that, you know, yeah, maybe that is the case.

00:26:06:20 - 00:26:25:18
Speaker 2
And you know and people do own cars in Tokyo, but they just don't they're not addicted to them. It's not a car centric society. And so you don't have that level of car dependance. And so I do appreciate the fact that you said you were not anti car. But what we are is anti-caa dependency.

00:26:25:21 - 00:26:50:15
Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, of course people will have aspirations and there's nothing wrong with that. It's a quite a using. But you know, we were talking about Toronto. One of the things that one of the things that was evident in this recent campaign for a mayor is we had number of candidates who are anti bike. There is what is known as like lash a backlash against cyclists.

00:26:50:15 - 00:27:18:06
Speaker 1
So there is there is a social debate to be had and I think it is incumbent upon the people who want to see change to go constantly and justify it. Generally, once it's there, people say it's rather like pedestrianized the streets, you know, everybody says, no, it'll be a disaster. It will kill our businesses once it's done. They're delighted with it when they see that they are more than they ever have.

00:27:18:08 - 00:27:51:16
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. And here, here's that visual that we were talking about earlier. The you know, this machine fights climate change and yes, that was the missing part of so many of these global meetings. The this the bike the as a solution, as a potential short distance transportation solution that then can be actually integrated and coordinated with transit in busses and trains.

00:27:51:19 - 00:28:10:08
Speaker 2
You know, to really be able to to work in concert together. We talked a little bit about the origins. Again, this, you know, took took place in in 2014, I believe 2014 was a was not in a European setting was was that year somewhere.

00:28:10:10 - 00:28:18:04
Speaker 1
We were outside Europe. But I'm afraid I would have to rack my brains to tell you whether it was Sydney or whether it was somewhere in North America.

00:28:18:06 - 00:28:42:12
Speaker 2
Yeah, you know, I think it might have been down under, come to think of it, and I wanted to point that out is that, yes, the European Cyclist Federation is putting this forward. There is a whole separate group that is is, you know, coordinating the velocity meeting each each year and next year is going to be in Europe once again, but it'll be in Kent.

00:28:42:14 - 00:29:00:21
Speaker 2
But, you know, we do want to see this global meeting be truly global and and be able to travel around the world. It's been in North America twice and both times in Canada. So I think.

00:29:00:23 - 00:29:04:01
Speaker 1
It was well, us. So we really do need to go to the states.

00:29:04:08 - 00:29:22:06
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So the leadership you of course, are serving is, as the president of the board, take a moment to just chat a little bit about the board and the representation and and what you all are trying to do in terms of making this be a truly diverse board.

00:29:22:09 - 00:29:51:25
Speaker 1
Sure. Sure. I mean, this is, of course, the World Cycling Alliance Board. I served on the board of the European Cyclists Federation, but I'm also currently the president of the World Cycling Alliance. And it's a tremendously privileged position to be in. You know, I work together with I mean, going across and those photographs. I work together with Dave Manohar from India, from Hyderabad, who has done great things in India and the promotion of cycling.

00:29:51:28 - 00:30:17:22
Speaker 1
He took me fairly recently to visit a cycle path which is 25 kilometers long, and because in India it can be either very wet or very hot, it has a roof over it. And you know what? That roof consists of? It consists of 25 kilometers of solar panels. So at the same time was providing a safe cycle path separate from the traffic.

00:30:17:29 - 00:30:45:23
Speaker 1
They are also generating a lot of renewable electricity for the city beyond. Manohar is Sarah Stace, who has been very active in cycling in Australia. She's currently our Treasurer, doing great work both at home and globally. And then we have representatives from elsewhere. We have Anna Carbone to the left in the in the second row. They're from Brazil.

00:30:45:26 - 00:31:22:19
Speaker 1
We have Cheng Non Sewell from Taiwan representing Northeast Asia. We have Emmanuel John from Africa. Emmanuel is from Nigeria quite well known in the cycling community above the world because he's become a global ambassador for cycling and has done tremendous things in spreading the culture of cycling across African countries where you would perhaps least expect it. So there are towns in Ghana, for example, where Emmanuel has worked with the locals to develop a cycling culture and develop abilities.

00:31:22:21 - 00:31:44:16
Speaker 1
And finally, we have our elite carry on from Mexico, who comes from a campaigning organization called BE should take US. We really took on the Mexican authorities through a series of protests, stopping traffic and so on, and has won awards all over the world for what she's done.

00:31:44:18 - 00:32:20:29
Speaker 2
Yeah, fantastic. It was wonderful to see someone from North America, you know, represented there. And I was absolutely delighted to meet Emmanuel John also at Velo City. And Sarah is has actually been on the podcast. So yes, right. And fantastic. So when we look at the challenges that that we face globally, talk a little bit about, you know, the World Cycling Alliance and what you are looking to, you know, do to fulfill your mission.

00:32:21:01 - 00:32:46:20
Speaker 1
Well, I mean, let me be honest with you, John. We are at the moment a fairly loose federation of cycling alliances in different continents. And we were set up only in 2014. We meet quite regularly. And of course, since COVID and the development of new technology, we meet virtually. So our board meets six times a year and very little cost to anybody.

00:32:46:23 - 00:33:33:09
Speaker 1
But we do not have the kind of staff or resources that some of our individual member federations have. What we are trying to do at the moment is to develop in conjunction with a number of foundations the capacity to be able to take best practice from North America or from Europe or sometimes even from Africa. And just so that when we go to a country which has a government, let us say a newly elected government with a transport or an environment minister who really wants to do things, when we talk to these people, we say, Well, explain your issues to us.

00:33:33:11 - 00:33:45:23
Speaker 1
Explain what it is you want to achieve. And we will try to find examples from elsewhere in the world that have worked so that you're not having to reinvent the wheel all the time and they're all.

00:33:45:23 - 00:33:47:24
Speaker 2
Pardon the pun.

00:33:47:26 - 00:34:22:02
Speaker 1
Believe me, there are many, many government ministers who are waking up to the dangers of climate change. And almost everywhere you can find somebody who is wanting to develop a local campaign to promote cycling in their town or in their area. And that's really what we are about. We will be going to New York later this year. A number of us to talk to various foundations to see if we can raise some of the finance that we need to do this.

00:34:22:05 - 00:35:02:08
Speaker 1
We'll be doing the same in Brussels and in Berlin and elsewhere. But I believe that given the number of charitable foundations who are now seriously concerned about environmental damage and the number who are seriously concerned about the damage that we're doing to public health through the way we live, that we will be able to find that support and we will be able to deliver in some of the most unlikely places the kind of policies that we already see in the more enlightened towns of the wealthier countries.

00:35:02:11 - 00:35:30:24
Speaker 2
Yeah, And and here's that call to action of being able to make a difference. And and, you know, you mentioned York and so one of the philanthropies that I that comes to mind for me is the Bloomberg Bloomberg Philanthropies and the global design guide initiative and at Lancaster was was representing you know Fellows city there and the World Bank is another that comes to mind.

00:35:30:24 - 00:36:00:01
Speaker 2
And my mind is is as a potential there and here's here's sort of the the the closing page here with your contact information. So folks if you are with an organization or associated with an organization or has ideas, don't be shy. Let us know, is there anything that we haven't talked about yet that you'd like to leave the audience with?

00:36:00:03 - 00:36:36:29
Speaker 1
Well, I think we've we've covered a lot, John, But but one thing I would say is that as the more and more we we we know about human psychology, the more we're beginning to understand that cycling or other forms of of exercise, I mean, it may be walking. We are currently there's currently a single task which is the Partnership for Active Travel and Health, which is working at global level with the United Nations, with other bodies to try to promote active mobility.

00:36:37:02 - 00:37:03:17
Speaker 1
And the more we learn about this, the more we learn that it's not simply air quality and physical health related here. It's mental health as well. People feel happier, they feel more fulfilled. They are less stressed when they are walking or cycling rather than using a car, particularly in urban situations where they don't need to use a car.

00:37:03:19 - 00:37:13:00
Speaker 1
And I think the more we understand about that, the greater we will be able to deliver. In terms of human development.

00:37:13:03 - 00:37:49:23
Speaker 2
Yeah, and I just pulled up that website again, the Partnership for Active Travel and Health Path. I love that acronym. I used to be engaged and involved with a path, the People's Advocacy for Trails Advisory. And so it's a it's a wonderful acronym and so incredibly important. And yeah, I mean, this gets right to the, the, the heart of of, of my background in public health and behavior change in and trying to look at our built environment to encourage natural active travel and active mobility.

00:37:49:25 - 00:38:10:23
Speaker 2
So yeah close to my heart and as soon as I saw that the path was coming together, I was one of the early signatories to that and engaged very early on with that organization. So thank you very much for for bringing that up. And and Sir Graham, thank you so very much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast.

00:38:10:23 - 00:38:13:04
Speaker 2
This has been an absolute joy and pleasure.

00:38:13:06 - 00:38:16:09
Speaker 1
John, and great pleasure talking to you. Thank you.

00:38:16:11 - 00:38:32:26
Speaker 2
He thank you all so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this conversation. If you did, please give it a thumbs up and leave a comment down below and share it with a friend. And if you haven't already done so, I'd be honored to have you subscribe to the channel. Just click on that subscription button down below and bring that notifications bell.

00:38:32:28 - 00:39:04:24
Speaker 2
And if you're enjoying my content, please consider becoming an active town's ambassador. Just head on over to the active town's website and click on the support button or donate button. And there's several different options out there. You can become a patron member. You can make a donation to the nonprofit, you can leave a tip, I belong here and YouTube as well as head on over to the active town store for some fun streets or for people, schwag and water bottles and all that kind of good stuff.

00:39:04:27 - 00:39:33:25
Speaker 2
Every little bit helps and is so very appreciated. And until next time, this is John signing off by wishing you much activity, health and happiness. Cheers and again sending a huge thank you to all my active town's ambassadors supporting the channel on patron buy me a coffee YouTube super thanks. As well as making contributions to the nonprofit and purchasing things from the active town store, every little bit adds up and it's much appreciated.

00:39:33:27 - 00:39:35:04
Speaker 2
Thank you all so much.