More cycling, better public transport and car bans… Places all over the world are taking a range of measures to lower traffic pollution.

Paris

    Paris bans cars in many historic central districts on weekends, places odd-even(单双日制的) bans on vehicles, makes public transport free during major pollution events and encourages car-sharing programs. A long section of the right bank of the river. Seine is now car-free and a monthly ban on cars has come into force along the Champs-Elysees.

The Netherlands

    Politicians want to ban the sale of all petrol cars from 2025, allowing only electric of hydrogen vehicles. The new law will allow anyone who already owns a petrol car to continue using it. Most cities encourage bicycle use.

Freiburg

    Freiburg in Germany has 500km of bike routes and a cheap and efficient public transport system. One town, Vauban, forbids people to park near homes and makes car-owners pay 18,000 for a space on the edge of town. In return for living without a car, people are offered cheaper housing, free public transport, and plentiful bicycle spaces.

Curitiba

    The southern Brazilian city of two million people has one of the biggest and lowest-cost bus systems in the world. Nearly 70% of its people go to work by public transport and the result is pollution-free air and traffic-free streets.

Copenhagen

    Copenhagen prioritizes(优先考虑) bikes over cars and now has more cycles than people. The city calculates that one mile on a bike is worth $0.42 to society, while one mile in a car is a $0.2 loss. Large parts of the Danish capital have been closed to vehicles for decades.

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Hello friends,

    This is Christmas Week, when you may have any emotions of happiness or sadness, pain or panic, fears or frustrations. Put the negative emotions aside and focus on building better relationships with our tips below.

    Relationship Tips for Getting Along at the Holidays

    1). Speak Your Love in Words. The best gift you can give another person is words of praise, thankfulness, and appreciation from your lips.

    2). Hear What Your Friends and Family are Voicing Their Stress. Listen carefully to those around you -- a gift that will lower their stress.

    3). Center Your Heart. Focus on the true, deeper meaning of the holiday season. This will help everyone become easier to get along with because the heart of Christmas will remain whole.

    4). Ask those who are celebrating with you what their expectations are. Communicate the plans clearly so people feel informed.

    5). Be prepared for changes. Don't be a Christmas Scrooge ordering family around. Instead slow the pace, be agreeable, and give choices so that you create an environment of connecting and sharing.

    6). Take Time for being Romantic. The greatest gift you can give your husband or wife, children, and friends is harmony at home.

    7). Express Your Joy. Make memories (and take lots of pictures) by making the most of all your relationships. Capture the best moments with your camera.

    Get the rest of the10 Holiday Tips from each of 14 Experts like this in Simplify Your Holiday Season, available HERE. Get one of the 50 free copies on a first-come, first-served basis or a 50% discount off $30 by Jan 1.2017.

    Mark Your Calendar（日历） for January 4 & 5 our free next online workshop "New Year, New You: Maximize Your Time, Minimize Your Weight."

    Have a very lovely Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope I prepared you well for Christmas, since over 1,000 people downloaded my 8 week Holiday Plan. I hope you were one of them and are peaceful and ready.

Warmly,

Marcia Ramsland, The Holiday Coach

www.OrganizingPro.com/Holidays

"Coaching Busy People to Make Every Day Count!"

    Generations of Americans have been brought up to believe that a good breakfast is one of life's essentials. Eating breakfast at the start of the day, we have all been told again, is as necessary as putting gasoline in the family car before starting a trip.

    But for many people the thought of food as first thing in the morning is by no means a pleasure. So despite all the efforts, they still take no breakfast. Between 1977 and 1983, the latest year for which figures are available, the number of people who didn't have breakfast increased by 33 percent-from 8.8 million to 11.7 million-according to the Chicago-based Market Research Corporation of America.

    For those who feel pain or guilt about not earing breakfast, however, there is some good news. Several studies in the last few years indicate that, for adults especially, there may be nothing wrong with not taking breakfast. “Going without breakfast does not affect performance,” said Arnold E. Bender, former professor of nutrition（营养）at Queen Elizabeth College in London, “nor doegiving people breakfast improve performance.”

    Scientific evidence linking breakfast to better health or better performance is surprisingly inadequate, and most of the recent work involves children, not adults. “The literature,” says one researcher, Dr. Ernesto Pollitt at the University of Texas, “is poor.”

    OPENINGS AND PREVIEWS

    Antlia Pneumatica

    In a new play by Anne Washburn, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll, a group of estranged friends gather at a Texas farm house to bury one of their peers. (Peter Jay Sharp, 416 W. 42nd St. 212-279-4200. In previews.)

    Bright Star

    Steve Martin and Edie Brickell wrote this bluegrass-and-Americana musical, in which a magazine editor meets a soldier returning from the Second World War. Walter Bobbie directs. (Cort, 138 W. 48th St. 212-239-6200. In previews.)

    The Crucible

    Ivo van Hove directs Arthur Miller's classic drama about the Salem witch trials, starring Saoirse Ronan, Ben Whishaw, Ciaran Hinds, and Sophie Okonedo. (Walter Kerr, 219 W. 48th St. 212-239-6200. In previews.)

    Dry Powder

    John Krasinski, Claire Danes, and Hank Azaria star in Sarah Burgess's play, in which an executive at a private-equity firm (私人股本公司) tries to rebound from a P.R. disaster. Thomas Kail directs. (Public, 425 Lafayette St. 212-967-7555. In previews. Opens Oct. 28, 2017)

    The Father

    Frank Langella stars in a play by the French writer Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Doug Hughes for Manhattan Theatre Club, about an eighty-year-old man who is losing his grip on his own life story. (Samuel J. Friedman, 261 W. 47th St. 212-239-6200. Previews begin Oct. 28, 2017)

    Theater is one of the oldest and most important art forms in world culture, it is also one of the richest art forms. Many people work together to bring a play to life. There are playwrights, directors, set designers, costumers, lighting technicians, and, of course, actors. If the performance is a musical, the skills of a songwriter, a choreographer, and musicians are also required. The excitement of opening night can be felt by the people waiting to watch a performance and by the performers and workers backstage waiting for the curtain to go up. Live theater is thrilling because no one really knows how well the play will go until it is performed.

    The word theater comes from the Greek theatron, which means "a place for seeing." One concept from Greek theater that is still seen in some plays today is the "Greek Chorus". This consists of several actors or characters watching the action of the play(almost like the audience) and then commenting on what whey just saw with either reactions or dialogue.

Although most people think of the theater in terms of a play performed on the stage, theater has taken on a much broader meaning in the modern world. You may find yourself walking into a theater with no seats in the rows. Instead, you are seated among the set pieces, which makes you part of the setting. Sometimes theater may come to life on a street corner, or in a classroom. The excitement of theater is in its very nature—-it is an art form that changes as it is interpreted(诠释) in different ways by different people. That is probably why the works of the greatest playwright of all time, William Shakespeare, are still performed and enjoyed today, both in classic and new interpretations.

    One evening I was going back from a supermarket. As I was approaching my car, I noticed that some person came and stood beside me. He was the one that could be considered as a bum. It seemed that he had no car, no home and no job. I thought that he would ask me for money, but he did not do that, he only said: "Your car is very nice".

    After several moments of silence, I replied: "Thanks", and then the inner voice told me, "Ask him if he needs help". After a short hesitation I asked him if he needed any help. His response was astonishing. I will never forget those simple three words that I heard from him: —"Don't we all?"

    It was a true discovery to me. I needed help. Although I had money and a place to sleep, I recognized that I needed help too. Then I opened my wallet and gave him enough money to get a meal and some shelter for a day.

    Suddenly I understood that no matter how much money we have, we all need help. On the other hand, no matter how poor you are and how many material problems you have, you still might offer your help to others and you still might be giving. Even it's just a nice word, you can give that and it can be priceless to other persons.

    Maybe that man was just a homeless stranger, but to me he was more than that. Maybe he was sent by the Highest Loving Power personally to me to open my eyes and to show me that there is one thing, among all other values, which is very important and irreplaceable for each and every person. Actually, it is a true gift and it is called Giving.