View from the tram: Apartments alongside a major road into StuttgartWhen I heard this news I was angry. More than that: furious. I waited a bit to write this, but to be honest as I type I’m getting angry again.
Michi, Stephan and Lucas went to the children’s doctor today for a check up. When they came back they had an information sheet and some emergency medication for pseudo croup. This was what Lucas was rushed to hospital with last year. Apparently it could happen again and we need to be prepared. Croup is a virus: pseudo croup looks and sounds similar, yet it is caused by pollution from the procession of cars and trucks going by our apartment, many of them looking for a short cut between the Autobahn and Stuttgart/Esslingen. We're now looking for another apartment.
Stuttgart (the “Green city”) has one of the most polluted city centres in Germany, mostly from road vehicles. Pseudo croup (and asthma, and other respiratory illnesses) are extremely common, especially in children. I know about the half-hearted measures to “make cars more efficient” and regulate more polluting cars on certain days. I know trucks are banned in Stuttgart on through journeys- for some reason we can't do that in Kemnat. It's not anything like enough: more a sap from a government too timid to confront the road lobby.
People here often drive into Stuttgart for various reasons including work, shopping, or church in the centre. I know: you don’t like waiting for ten minutes to catch the tram, and your car is ooh, at least 3 minutes faster, and more comfortable. So the cars keep chugging into Stuttgart down roads like the one in the picture, between apartments with children like Stephan, Tobi and Lucas, whose parents and friends love these children as much as we know you love our boys. Many of those children grow breathing in the cocktail of car exhausts, and many become sick, and their parents may well also have moments where they have to call an ambulance and they think their child may die.
These are our neighbours, who we are told to love as members of the church. This is one area where you can begin to make a difference.
So take the tram. These children are worth an extra ten minutes of your time.
Michi, Stephan and Lucas went to the children’s doctor today for a check up. When they came back they had an information sheet and some emergency medication for pseudo croup. This was what Lucas was rushed to hospital with last year. Apparently it could happen again and we need to be prepared. Croup is a virus: pseudo croup looks and sounds similar, yet it is caused by pollution from the procession of cars and trucks going by our apartment, many of them looking for a short cut between the Autobahn and Stuttgart/Esslingen. We're now looking for another apartment.
Stuttgart (the “Green city”) has one of the most polluted city centres in Germany, mostly from road vehicles. Pseudo croup (and asthma, and other respiratory illnesses) are extremely common, especially in children. I know about the half-hearted measures to “make cars more efficient” and regulate more polluting cars on certain days. I know trucks are banned in Stuttgart on through journeys- for some reason we can't do that in Kemnat. It's not anything like enough: more a sap from a government too timid to confront the road lobby.
People here often drive into Stuttgart for various reasons including work, shopping, or church in the centre. I know: you don’t like waiting for ten minutes to catch the tram, and your car is ooh, at least 3 minutes faster, and more comfortable. So the cars keep chugging into Stuttgart down roads like the one in the picture, between apartments with children like Stephan, Tobi and Lucas, whose parents and friends love these children as much as we know you love our boys. Many of those children grow breathing in the cocktail of car exhausts, and many become sick, and their parents may well also have moments where they have to call an ambulance and they think their child may die.
These are our neighbours, who we are told to love as members of the church. This is one area where you can begin to make a difference.
So take the tram. These children are worth an extra ten minutes of your time.
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