1. Transport
April 24, 2015updated 20 Jul 2021 10:31am

Medellin celebrates car-free day

By City Monitor Staff

For most of us, Wednesday was just a normal day. The truly virtuous among you might have noticed it was something called “World Earth Day”, where we’re all meant to be thinking about the environment and doing green things like plant trees and sing earth anthems.

But Medellin, Columbia’s second city, went hard on the whole environmentally-friendly thing: under a municipal decree, all private cars and bikes were banned for the day in a bid to reduce pollution and promote public transport and walking. 

The day’s slogan is, rather endearingly, “Turn off the engine, turn on your heart”. The image above shows a performer dressed as a zebra, presumably celebrating the day’s positive environmental impact We’re a little mystified by the fact that there seem to be quite a few private-looking cars and bikes behind it, but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Here are some emptier streets:

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And here’s our zebra friend again, wishing you all a happy earth day:

 
All images: Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty.

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