As the temperature sank down to minus six we rode through the streets with some of the worst air pollution in the city. Our placard at the back of the ride read, “Honk your horn for a Carfree city” (translated) and this month we got an unusually large amount of audible support from the local motorists.

A theme of the ride was air pollution, with the EU laws on air quality in place, as of this year; we made the point that Gothenburg city is breaking the law. The city council is not taking enough action to deal with the problem. We even suggested that the planned solutions wouldn’t work. I’m no expert on atmospheric chemistry but raising the price of public transport at the same time as planning for a 30 % increase in road traffic over the next five years doesn’t seem to be the answer to illegally high pollution levels.

The Critical Mass took the initiative to place pollution-warning signs at strategic places as the city council have refused to do this. The idea is that putting up sighs warning people that they are in areas that regularly have illegally high pollution levels might lead to embarrassing questions in an election year. This probably explains why the council hasn’t done it. What is the health of your constituents compared to getting re-elected!

At least the Gothenburg’s Critical Mass has a social responsibility.
Long live Critical Mass