National Today is a news media company that tracks all the special holidays and events around the world. National Today just announced that the International Car-Free Sunday celebration will be held on Sunday, September 22, 2024. Sponsoring this kind of global event on Sunday serves two purposes. First, it establishes a global forum for community action aimed at promoting more sustainable car and transportation habits. Secondly, it designates Sunday as the official day to sponsor these kinds of leisurely activities due to the fact that so many people already see Sunday as the collective day of rest. Sunday is traditionally associated with family gatherings, church worship, and relaxation, which makes it the perfect day to participate in environmental stewardship.
National Today published the following about Car-Free Sunday 2024:
• “World Car Free Day is celebrated every September 22. The day encourages motorists to give up their cars for a day. Some cities and countries organize events in celebration of this day. The events, which vary by location, give motorists and commuters a glimpse of what their locality would be like with fewer cars.” [1]
• “Car-Free Sunday has its origins from when the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) set the inaugural annual Car-Free Day on the first Tuesday in their Green Transport Week, which was sometime around 17 June. In 2000, the agreement was made for it to be a self-standing day held on September 22 — originally as a pan-European day — organized under the sponsorship of the European Commission. It was later expanded globally — during this time, a large number of cities around the world were invited to close their centers to cars. Pedestrians, cyclists, and other forms of sustainable transportation were encouraged instead.” [1]
• “The idea of this holiday is that people can reflect on what their city would look like with fewer cars, and what measures would be required to bring that picture to reality. Advocates report that over 100 million people in 1,500 cities around the world celebrate International Car-Free Day, though it is done on days they choose and in ways they choose as well.” [1]
• “The idea behind Car-Free Sunday is to do without your car that whole day. You can cycle or take another means of sustainable transportation instead.” [1]
In an effort to lessen pollution and save the environment, there is a global movement underway that is seeking to ban automobiles on Sunday for at least one day a year. But dedicating even a single Sunday to the environment creates a dangerous precedent because it sets a standard for others to follow in the future, which could very easily lead to a weekly day of rest.
One thing is certain: the idea that Sundays are for the environment is becoming increasingly popular. How popular is it? It has become so popular that on September 22, 2024, 100 million people will join in on Car-Free Sunday. How can anyone deny that Sunday rest and ecological sustainability are being aligned together—hand in hand—in today’s society?
“In free America, rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance” (Great Controversy, p. 592).
Sources
[1] https://nationaltoday.com/car-free-sunday/
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