2015 was our 20th year as a PR service for the hometown environment. We are proud of the role Green Map System has played in support of our beautiful planet, her people and home places. Much more than maps have been made as our network shares knowledge and skills that contribute to community greening and resiliency across the board in 65 countries.
Help us make a 2016 climate wise turning point for communities, near and far!
In the wake of the Cop21 agreement in Paris, we’ll be starting off right, looking ahead with a New Year Board retreat. We'll also be welcoming new interns, from near and far. They will both give and gain much, as have the 125+ interns we have worked with to date.
Counter-Climate Change Media and Capacity Building
If we are to succeed in fulfilling the mandate of the new Climate agreement, communities worldwide must do more to reducing their footprint and restore waterways, gardens, production and habitats in ways that improve the health and sustainability of all of us.
Thus, the role of Green Map becomes more important. Our map projects have always brought complex issues down to the local level, contributing to healing of the only planet we will ever have.
We impact all global regions. Help us fulfill the promises of Paris and contribute in any way you can.
Wishing you the best for the coming year - may all the changes be in the right direction! Thank you from the entire Green Map network!
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The season is off to an exciting start at Green Map System. We’re just back from working with great project leaders in Iceland and United Kingdom, where we delivered six talks and workshops.
While delivering a keynote address at the International Visual Methods conference at University of Brighton, our director encompassed many of the values of this multimedia form of community-engaged research. Wendy Brawer’s talk was captured as a ‘graphic recording’ by a talented Scriberia artist.
In addition to the packed conference workshop with our network partners from UVic (Victoria BC Green Map), CUPP and Community 21, Maeve Lydon, David Wolff, Nick Gant and Wendy also hosted a local community mapmakers exchange. 60 practitioners, researchers and professors took part.
In Bristol, a research and media network met at the University’s School of Art. Cornwall Green Mapmaker Dominica Williamson gave an outstanding presentation of her mapping explorations, ranging from patiently uncovering an archeological site, unlocking government data, and developing thoughtful biodiversity walks for young people. We also met with Steve Parry of the 4B's project (linked below) and community leaders in this, the 2015 European Green Capitol.
Our work is about people and about place. That’s why it was so moving to start this European journey surrounded by Iceland’s remarkable landscape. The entire country is featured on Nature.is, the website for the Iceland Green Map made by Guðrún Tryggvadóttir and Einar Bergmundurat. Events at Listasafn Museum and Solheimar EcoVillage drew surprisingly diverse audiences interested in our adaptable approach to climate health and sustainable communities.
While on the road, we have welcomed new projects from Chile to New Jersey, and beautiful new Green Map editions are informing communities from the US to South Africa. Our board is meeting frequently as we develop a solid vision for our 20th year. We’ll be sharing that vision with you soon. Our best wishes for Climate Week and harvest season!
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Green Map has ‘moved the mountain’. Yes, after nine years of great progress and global accumulation, we have moved two blocks east. Overlooking a community garden and a lively urban streetscape in the East Village, our new space brings us closer to our diverse community and local sustainability efforts. Our new address is 292 East Third St, #1A. We’ll be ready for visitors soon, and a fresh flock of summer interns is starting this week.
Our season is starting off with an update of our popular book, Mapping our Common Ground (linked below). It focuses on community mapping and grassroots sustainability. Created with Green Mapmakers in Cuba, Brazil, the US and Canada, this update is led by the great team at University of Victoria, and supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Our recent workshop, pictured above, builds on this project!
We’re also developing our research archive, the new road map and 20th anniversary activities designed by university student teams this spring, and shifting our mapping platform. Our board has expanded, too, adding Meredith Gray of the Coop School, Lela Prashad of NiJel, and Chelsea Wittman of Google. Our appreciation to outgoing board members Lara Penin and Randy Meech, as well as to you! We can’t do this work to benefit people in so many places without your help!
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At Green Map, we’re in the process of moving! Not just where we work, but also in some ways, how we work. As always, it’s an exciting journey in support of positive change.
As spring weather finally arrives in this part of the world, we are starting the process of ‘going open’. It will take some time to fully explore options and set the course forward together with our beloved Board of Directors, Green Mapmakers worldwide, staff, student teams from social design programs at Parsons and SVA, and members of the open source community. We invite your participation in this process. We believe going open will make it easier to contribute leadership, energy and expertise to enhance our global movement, and extend the usefulness of our outcomes.
Why? Our world and climate are changing quickly. More people need to be involved immediately to meet the new challenges we face, and Green Maps can help them do that! Going open will help us share and further develop our toolkit more sustainably, equitably and collaboratively.
Watch for more news about our journey to open as 2015, our 20th anniversary year, rolls out! We’d love to hear from you.
In the meantime, we’re gearing up for a change in location: after eight great years our uber-nice office will be turned into a classroom over the summer, so we are soon to encamp at a new Lower Manhattan location. Once all the dust settles, we will tell you where we’ve landed – and yes, there will be a party to say “goodbye and hello again,” date to be announced.
Contact us any time, or join us at an event:
On April 11, join us at the New York Map Society where we are presenting 'Putting Vibrant Communities on the Green Map'. This takes place at the The New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W 64th St, starting at 2:30.
On April 13-14, we're taking part in the Common Ground Community Mapping Institute and Celebration at the First Peoples House, University of Victoria, BC, Canada. All welcome (see link below)
We're also delighted to be included in Women in Cartography: Celebrating 400 Years of Unsung Contributions to the Mapping World at Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine. This exhibition, curated by Alice Hudson, moves to Boston next.
Our best wishes for a great April - check our twitter for more events, as the season rolls along.
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Holiday season wishes to all our Global Giving donors!
At a recent Board meeting, we discussed the ways our network is mapping the pulse of what matters, and recalled a wonderful video created by the Earth Institute at Columbia University that attests to the value of this work. It's just 8 minutes long, and ties together so many issues that are in the headlines today, including social justice, community health, faith and #AllLivesMatter. It's linked below.
Whether made in the heart of the city or in the countryside, Green Maps engage residents in urgently needed action. Together with 915 diverse locally-led projects, we're mapping changing communities to help them change for the better.
Your support is catalytic - it yields tools, icons and technologies that result in more mapmaking that leads to more and more sustainable living sites that belong on the Green Map.
Your support helps us look ahead, too and together with our board, are planning 2015 as a powerful year of re-invention. Thank you, once again, for helping us move toward this goal!
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