Green Map Blog

On the Radio

Wendy at Green Map — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:27:04 -0500

From South Africa to the Americas, we’re on the news!

On Cape Town’s SAfm Enviro Show, host Nancy Richards interviewed designer Philip Todres on the wonderful Cape Town Green Map and Wendy Brawer about Open Green Map and progress in NYC on Thursday 5th Jan 2012. Both are linked here.

Carlos Martinez, formerly Green Map staff and now our Board Treasurer is creating radio segments for Radio Diaspora, a public affairs program on the issues and experiences of recent migrants from Caribbean and Latin America hosted by WRFG in Atlanta USA. This segment includes Campinas Green Mapmaker Leonardo Freire de Mello, along with director Wendy Brawer, Board member Thomas Turnbull and others on the Power of Maps. Enjoy!

Click to play Power of Maps

Thank you to Nancy and Carlos! We invite everyone to explore other recent media coverage, too.

We Win NetSquared Invitational!

Wendy at Green Map — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:37:25 -0500

We are happy to share the good news that Open Green Map has won the NetSquared Invitational!

Green Map System is really thrilled that our little video has received lots of votes and the jury's support. This award comes with plenty of help for our social mapping platform's ongoing development in the coming months, which is really great because we have big plans!! Thank you voters, NetSquared, TechSoup, our staff and technical team as well as the Green Mapmakers who have now published more than 250 diverse Open Green Maps!

This is the 8th award for the Open Green Map!!! 2011 has brought three honors to this resource - the Victor J Papanek Social Design Award, the Treehugger Best of Green (really for our mobile app, which features Open Green Map sites), and now the NetSquared Invitational.

We welcome your support for the Open Green Map and invite you to become a Green Mapmaker and use this remarkable resource to chart progress toward sustainability in your community, too!

Visiting Shameen

Fresh Green Map of Guangzhou — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:28:45 -0500

It was a lovely day that day, warm sunshine , blue sky and gentle breeze. We arrived Shameen in the morning, after being divided into two groups, we set out to searching Shameen to make a green map of it.

Shameen’s beauty is beyong description. On each side of the roads stand considerable ficus of old age. Their hair roots were swaying in the wind, wishpering the long history of Shammeen to every passers-by. It seemed that the buildings just wake up from the bird-singing, and the time was as if still when you stared at them. I’t was sort of walking in an old photo.

There were visitors walking slowly, and sometimes they paused to take photos. Foreign children were playing delightedly with their parents. And what impressed us most was that couples shooting wedding photos could be seen here and there, which made us envy a lot.

We walked slowly ,so as not to disturb the peaceful ,harmonious atmosphere . In the end ,we finished appreciating this delicate poet reluctantly.

Workshop in Shuishi Village, China

Fresh Green Map of Guangzhou — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:27:14 -0500

I think it to me, and to all the people of the workshop, November, 2011, 26 and 27 are memorable days. Because the two days, most of the people are the first time for full participation in the Green - Map drawing process. Attend the period, we learned a lot, thought a lot and felt a lot, grew many......

On the morning of 26th, our teacher——"Whale", a teacher from Taiwan Society of Wilderness brought and showed us many fine green-maps from all over the world. She gave us detailed introduction to the origin of the green-map and the development of it , and the differences between green-map and the general map , the green-map visit quartet (commentator, TaZha, drawings, share), rendering the purpose of green-map (environment education, community development, etc), green Icon and the story behind the green-map...

The group of green-map influence me very much. There are pictures of the Swiss a rural urbanization process of green space figure in the photo, the woods, houses, and the change of the river - clear performance in the whole process of urbanization, lost the woods, the growing numbers of buildings, factory, the river which was changed its’ direction, and maybe it is the true portraiture of my hometown. Maybe one day, the appearance of hometown will exist only in the memory of fuzzy and gone forever in the earth, this is to me is a complete tragedy...

In the afternoon of the 26 , all the members of the workshop in accordance with the requirements of Whale's group and for team unit to our drawing the target region-spike SHUISHI village, the TaZha. According to the division of labor before departure and route design, our TaZha smooth all the way . Along the way, my team members, with strong curiosity and profound insight, found many beautiful, and the figure of the green painted place (such as in one hundred kapok tree, the green roof kapok, old ancestral temple, etc), in fact we also have these places on the graph shows green-map , and at the same time, there are some bad phenomena and problems, such as the number of sewage pool)...... Come back later, each group of us to the TaZha were summarized.

In the morning of 27 , Whale and teachers led us to do a game (in order to dynamic atmosphere), we began the green-map drawing process... After half day of struggle, before 3 p.m , we finally made a complete green-map ! As is known to us all , in a short time, that's no easy task for no painting of strength people to draw a complete green-map... It may not be proud, but everyone has a deep sense of satisfaction and happiness, a heart the feeling of happiness.

The next share the meeting, each group of us shows their results, as well as the other found TaZha process, TaZha experiences. As the whale teacher says, painting figure very important aspect of green space is Shared. Yongjun said it well: "We did not need to completely according to the predetermined line in the activity, if there are special found that follow feeling, follow your heart go is." I think this not only applicable to TaZha, may also be used in our daily life!!!!

我想之于我，之于工作坊的所有人，2011年11月26，27日都是令人难忘的日子,因为这两天中，我们——绿地图工作坊中的多数人——第一次全程参与了绿地图的绘制过程参加工作坊期间，我们学会了很多，想了很多，感悟了很多，成长了很多......
26号早晨，我们的老师——台湾荒野协会的鲸鱼老师，给我们带来并展示了众多世界各地的精美的绿地图，并给我们详细介绍了绿地图的起源及其发展历史，绿地图与一般地图的不同之处，绿地图走访四部曲（解说，踏查，绘图，分享),绘制绿地图的目的（环境教育，社区发展等），绿地图的Icon以及绿地图背后的故事......
其中有一图组给我的印象特别的深刻！
那是一幅关于瑞士某一乡村城市化过程的绿地图，图中树林，房屋，河流的变化清晰表现了该地区城市化的全过程，失去的树林，不断增多的房屋，工厂，该向的河流，或许正是我家乡当前的真实写照吧,或许有一天，故乡的模样只能存在在我模糊的记忆中而永远消失在地球上了，这之于我是个完完全全的悲剧......
26号下午，我们工作坊的全体成员按照鲸鱼老师的要求进行分组并以小组为单位对我们的绘图目标地区——穗石村，进行了踏查。按照出发前的分工和路线设计，我们的踏查一路顺利地进行着
一路上，我所在的小组成员们，凭借着强烈的好奇心和深刻的洞察，发现了众多美的，值得绘入绿地图的地方（例如百年木棉，绿屋顶，老的祠堂等），实际上我们也有将这些地方画到绿地图上，同时也有发现一些不好的现象和问题（例如为数不少的污水池）......回来以后，我们的各个小组分别对这次踏查进行了总结……
27日上午，鲸鱼老师带领我们做了一个游戏后（为了活跃气氛），我们开始了绿地图的绘制过程……经过半天的奋斗，下午3点之前，我们终于绘制了完整的绿地图！！！要知道，在短时间内，对于没有绘画功底的人来说，绘制完整的绿地图，绝不是件容易的事……或许并不值得骄傲，但每个人都有一种深深的满足感和幸福感，一种发自内心的快乐的感觉
接下来的分享会上，每个小组都向大伙展示了自己组的成果，以及踏查过程的其他发现，踏查的心得。正如鲸鱼老师所说的，画绿地图很重要的一方面是分享。通过各个小组的分享，我们发现了踏查过程中自己忽略了的东西，也得以借鉴他组的有益经验。勇军说得好：“踏查的时候我们没有必要完全按照预定的路线进行，如果有特别的发现，跟着感觉，跟着自己的心走就是了。”我想这不仅仅适用于踏查，或许也很适用于我们的日常生活吧！

20 Years!!

Wendy at Green Map — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:16:03 -0500

December 13th is the 20th anniversary of a great idea!

I was with a group of New York activists at the United Nations, planning side events in New York during meetings leading up to the Earth Summit, which was held in Rio in 1992.

I thought about the individual’s experience during their 5 weeks in NYC – and realized a map would help people of all backgrounds discover signs of progress toward sustainability. I knew it was possible to make a fresh view of the city in a few weeks, and that it would be resource-efficient and fun!

That very day, I named the project the Green Apple Map and had 10,000 copies donated, thanks to the Municipal Art Society (Curitiba Brazil’s eco-innovations was their next exhibit and the Green Apple Map would highlight local examples).

The next day 12 eco-designers met and we planned and worked together to create not one but two Green Maps and a special event on the first day of Spring 1992.

Today – Green Mapmaking has spread to 60 countries! Thousands and thousands of people are making making the connection to green living resources, local nature and culture, thanks to the vision of dedicated Green Mapmakers!

This week – the United Nations is again hosting prep meetings for Earth Summit – Rio+20 and Green Map System is involved in events in parallel on Friday December 16 – please join with us in NYC to send a strong message about the Future We Want – details are here.

This coming first day of Spring – save the date for a celebration of our movement’s impacts - in NYC and beyond - throughout the past 20 years!

We welcome your involvement and support - help us guide the way for the next 20 years - there is so much we can to - and must do - together!

Think, global, map local!!

Wendy E. Brawer, founder and director

2011.12.10 Green Map Report for Odawara, Kanagawa prefecture

Green Map Japan — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:24:21 -0500

直前のアナウンスになってしまいましたが、神奈川県小田原市で、この3月に完成した、『おだわらグリーンマップ』とその後の展開につながる講演会が、明日、開催される運びとなりました。人数も小規模なもので、初の試みで、どんな感じになるかわかりませんか、少しでも関心をもってくれる方々の輪が広がるといいなと思っています☆2010年グリーンマップハーモニーも配布します！詳しくはこちらまで　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Green Map Exhibition & Workshop at Eco Life Plaza in Kitakyushu

Green Map Japan — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 04:26:00 -0500

北九州エコライフプラザにて、グリーンマップ展を開催しています。全国からのサステイナブルな商品を集めたエコライフプラザ。今回のグリーンマップワークショップでは、小倉駅周辺のお店を回りながら、『まち・生活・ショッピング』をテーマに、グリーンマップづくりをチャレンジします。『エコ』とか『環境に優しい』ものって良く聞くけどいまいちピンとこないっと感じる人は是非参加してみてください！１人１人のちょっとした毎日の生活への気づきが、世の中を変えていく... Think Global, Map Local!

“MAPA VERDE SOROCABA Sociedade, Cultura e Meio Ambiente” - UM BREVE HISTÓRICO - Soon in English

Sorocaba Brasil — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:09:01 -0500

O projeto “MAPA VERDE SOROCABA Sociedade, Cultura e Meio Ambiente” começou a ser formatado em fevereiro de 2009 e foi aceito pelo GMS – Green Map® System em dezembro do mesmo ano com a denominação GM Sorocaba.

O “MAPA VERDE SOROCABA - Sociedade, Cultura e Meio Ambiente” é um produto cultural que permitirá ao usuário, cidadão ou visitante, a identificação e a localização de diferentes atrativos distribuídos pela cidade. Nossa previsão é mapear a 200 pontos no município.
Os atrativos, divididos em seis categorias, além de estarem identificados visualmente no mapa base da cidade, contam com uma ficha de identificação onde estão disponíveis: endereço e contato telefônico e/ou digital.
Esse retrato permite aos usuários ter um panorama amplo da diversidade de atrativos oferecidos pela cidade e a forma com que se relacionam na malha urbana.
Nosso projeto prevê a distribuição gratuita dos mapas permitindo o acesso aos diversos perfis de público. Os mapas estarão disponíveis em 20 pontos de distribuição espalhados estrategicamente pela cidade.
Uma vez que o projeto não prevê a comercialização do produto a verba necessária para sua implementação e manutenção depende da parceria com o poder público local e o patrocínio da iniciativa privada.
A parceria com o poder público será firmada a partir da aprovação do projeto no edital de patrocínio oferecido pela LINC, Lei de Incentivo a Cultura de Sorocaba, que será aberto na segunda metade do primeiro semestre de 2010.

Primeira Fase
O projeto contou com a colaboração de uma equipe multidisciplinar e diversa formada por profissionais liberais de diversas áreas do conhecimento. Esse grupo formou nossa Equipe Estratégica e teve a função de coordenar e definir as metodologias e ferramentas utilizadas no projeto. Esse grupo também triou das informações levantadas na segunda etapa e a formatação final do projeto.

Segunda Fase
A segunda fase do projeto está direcionada a produção e/ou aquisição de uma base cartográfica que irá permitir a inserção dos pontos levantados criando um mapa funcional que será disponibilizado inicialmente em formato digital.

Terceira Fase
A idéia inicial do projeto é estabelecer parcerias com o poder público local. Uma com a Secretaria do Meio Ambiente – Sema e outra com a Secretaria de Cultura – Secult.
A parceria com a Sema tem o intuito de direcionar as discussões sobre o mapeamento e o levantamento dos pontos a três grupos ecológicos (infanto-juvenis) existentes em Sorocaba. Estes grupos ecológicos são parte dos programas da Divisão de Educação Ambiental da Sema e envolvem hoje mais 80 jovens.
A parceria com a Secult visa a participação do projeto no edital de patrocínio oferecido pela Lei de Incentivo a Cultura - LINC, que tem edições anuais sempre na segunda metade do primeiro semestre de cada ano. Uma vez que o projeto não prevê a comercialização do produto a verba necessária para sua implantação e manutenção depende da parceria com o poder público local e o patrocínio da iniciativa privada.

Quarta Fase
Esta fase prevê a formatação do arquivo que dará origem ao Mapa Verde Sorocaba. Nela estão prevista a revisão e a formatação das informações de todos os pontos levantados, a inserção dos ícones formatados, a montagem do arquivo final e a impressão dos mapas. A previsão inicial é a impressão de 6.000 unidades a serem distribuídas gratuitamente.
Uma vez finalizado o arquivo, caso ainda não haja verba para impressão, o mapa será disponibilizado em formato digital para download.

New Green Map Videos!

Wendy at Green Map — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:06:27 -0400

We are pleased to announce the debut of three new videos highlighting our tools, engagement, and icons.

These short videos demonstrate how Green Mapmakers can guide communities towards sustainable living choices both globally and locally.

Special thanks to the videography team at Dedicated Lane – Allie Compton and Christopher Fenech – for creating these 1 minute videos using images and clips made around the world by Green Mapmakers. Feel free to share them with your friends, family, and community, or embed them in your website, blog, and presentations.

We’ve also embedded the wonderful hour-long documentary about “4BsHive” project, highlighting outstanding teamwork over the last two years by four European cities. Created by the noted German filmmaker, Bjela Probowsy, it’s really a delightful way to experience the process developed by Green Mapmakers from Berlin, Bristol, Budapest and Bistrita.

Find out more about this great project at this poston our website or at 4bshive.wordpress.com/ where you can download the terrific new 4BsHive Guide to Green Mapping, explore photos and much more.

Find more Green Map videos on youtube.com/greenmapsystem!

Green Map Icons

Green Map Tools

Engagement with Green Map

4BsHive Documentary Video

Greenmap site received environmental award!

Blekinge Sweden — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 04:42:44 -0400

It is with great honor I received an environmental price for my 3 years of voluntary work with the site EkoBlekinge.se which is also home for Blekinge Green Map.

The motivation was that the site makes local environmental and sustainable projects visible and for the work with Green Map.

900 children in the region has participated and shared their thoughts on the subject "We will save the world". The result is a book with drawings, poetry and interviews on the subject which will be sold and the earnings is the award price. This enables me to put more work into the site and Green Map. That in combination with the publicity for EkoBlekinge.se will boost the visibility of local sustainable initiatives!

More information (in Swedish).

BGM at Federal Reserve Bank Richmond Conference on Data Mapping Tools

Baltimore Green Map — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:03:15 -0400

Baltimore Green Map was invited to present Green Mapping as an example of "How Communities are Using Mapping Tools" at Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's October, 2011 Unleashing the Power of Local Data conference.

Participants had their laptops open for the interactive element, with time to explore Open Green Map.

We combined information from our own archives, OGM screen grabs and the Green Map-OGM Resources/promote section to put together a presentation that illustrated a diversity of map scales and strategies to collect information.

We also wanted to demonstrate full utilization of the OGM features More info, Comments, Multimedia, Impacts before turning participants loose to browse maps on their own. Those user input features are where "the power" and potential of Green Mapping resides.

Besides Baltimore's four OGM maps, we directed participants to VCU Richmond, Brooklyn's Red Hook, NYC Green Apple, San Francisco and Capetown and also included DC Green as an example of a government using internal GIS mapping with GMS icons to display City sustainability initiatives. We will make the presentation available to others in Green Map System resources.

Here is the link! http://GreenMap.org/greenhouse/files/Felsten_Green_Map_Presentation10-11...

A New Brand of African Environmentalism

City of Cape Town — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 03:25:33 -0400

Janice Golding argues that Africa needs to cultivate environmental champions and high-thinkers who live by the heart, relate to the land and who can articulate an alternative indigenous environmental narrative to the western environmental neo-imperialism.

On continents that are colder and less giving than Africa, the fastest growing new mass religion is “Environmentalism”. Climate change and sustainability are its key drivers.

“Environmentalism” (also called “Going Green”) is an earnest lifestyle for it is fervent in the endeavour of reducing carbon footprints. Household examples are fruit and vegetable gardens, recycling, solar panels and the reduced use of motorised transport. But its safety net for personal well-being that is ensured by relatively prosperous economies makes this movement a holier-than-thou quest. This is because Going Green is not a fundamental necessity born out of poverty and survival as in most parts of Africa.

In many parts of our continent, Going Green is translated as regression rather than progression, and it is largely associated with the peasantry.

When the West’s particular brand of environmentalism is scoffed at, critics are regarded as self-serving plunderers of the planet. The West’s neo-imperialist critique of Africa’s refusal to convert to Environmentalism is met with dread about the effect of Africa’s damage to the rest of the world.

During the 1990s, environmentalists understood well that the marriage between poverty and environmental ideologies is founded on the fact that poverty of the pocket determines the state of the heart.

Today, the new generation shaping Africa’s environmental agenda belongs to a hip and trendy set. Many are young in their introduction to the ways and means of Africa. These busy over-achievers deify nature and climatic apocalypses based on rehearsed messaging of what is hot in the daily headlines. They sermonise about the benefits of eating organic food, exercising regularly, and breast-feeding. Ironically, these lifestyle values have been practised by traditional African families since time immemorial.

Pedigreed from the world’s leading organisations and universities, almost all preach the Western gospel of Environmentalism using a toolbox of jargon and ideas about its application in Africa. This is exercised it seems, with political zeal and vigorous career opportunism.

Currently, these new players are the change agents. But for them, nature – feeling it and living it with calloused hands and soft hearts embedded in the soil of Africa – is a surreal concept. It seems that these imposters are far removed from the robust lives of the millions of poor people struggling against the relentless limits of indignities arising from environmental injustices, globalisation and inequality.

Seen in this light, climate change conferences are deeply concerning. Exorbitant hotel and restaurant bills, and air miles make one wonder whether they are not merely talk-shops and hot air.

Since the adoption of the United Nations Berlin Mandate in 1995, the United Nations has managed the direction of climate change science, created public awareness (punted climate change fears), facilitated international treaties, and has also laid the agenda for carbon regulations and trading. That a single organisation has had this sphere of control of environmental expressionism is alarming. And still, key agreements at its meetings seem elusive as ever.

Climate change conferences are preparations for an unintended sophisticated global war of intelligence. It is not the “Going Green types, but the world’s poorest – the billions at the bottom of the pyramid – who will be victims. And it will be attributable to the collusion of multi-government systems locked in a technological race driven by climate change, and not by prominent warmongers responsible for genocides.

Much like Darwinian natural selection, where changes in nature drive evolution, survival of the fittest means that those who cannot adapt to a new World Order will suffer.

Solutions for unseasonal weather, environmental catastrophes and depleted natural resources do not entail going overboard with numerous, glitzy meetings in the world’s premier conference halls while the poor get poorer. Nor does it lie in disseminating an imported brand of new-age dogma that potentially undermines the development of Africa’s home-grown expression of environmentalism.

Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for the environment, preached the flipside of fairness in passing environmental judgements on Africa. By planting more than forty million trees and encouraging near-broken rural Kenyans and the donor community to “save nature”, she represented the poor and the voiceless. Maathai came, went quietly, but unfortunately, did not conquer.

In the dawn of the new climate change era, that conquering must still be done.

We should define a philosophy of “African Environmentalism”, determine its boundaries and establish where it intersects with, and deviates from the world’s other environmental philosophies. This will give the voice of Africa’s poor firmer feet in climate change summits.

Africa also needs to cultivate a cohort of environmental champions and high-thinkers - from Sudan to South Africa - who live by the heart, relate to the land and who can articulate an alternative indigenous environmental narrative to the western environmental neo-imperialism. Africa, rise up!
________________________________________
Dr Janice Golding is an Honorary Research Associate at UCT’s Plant Conservation Unit and writes in her personal capacity. This is an edited version of an article that first appeared in the Cape Times on 7 October 2011.

Green Map 2011~2012 year plan

China Blue Sky — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:25:07 -0400

One, regular activities
1, organization to the Department for children to a group to build the job, to form a whole; to map training, so as to make them into a state of;

2, continue to improve the Yao Hu campus map ( two ideas: 1, the picture into a update map; 2, will strive for this chart as a level 2012 neonatal guide map);

In 3, the year the Castle Peak Lake campus green map;

In 4, for in the proper time to Komsomolsk campus site check, for drawing the youth campus green map make preparations for;

5, strive for inside and outside the province and related community green map sector exchanges, cooperation;

In 6, the next semester to complete the department chief officer training, initially identified departments next old man.

Two, Department of cultural construction:

1, continue to do a good job of cultural construction of green home ( to the elderly and children birthday, as many departments of the child together and exchange );

2, actively allow children to participate in community activities to learn to understand other departments, other departments experience, practice, in-depth understanding of all aspects of the blue sky.

Be Detroitish!

Detroit — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:03:02 -0400

The Detroit Green Map team met in September to discuss goals and a plan for the future of Detroit’s Green Map. Folks involved in transportation, project planning, education, and art gathered at Marygrove College to represent the diversity of Detroiters.

We are in the middle of grant writing to fund the creation of a website and social media platform that will encourage Detroit residents to “be Detroitish” and celebrate the strengths and beauty of Detroit’s past, present, and future through participation in the Detroit Green Map. To lead off the grant efforts, the mission statement was dusted off and revised to reflect the new energy in Detroit. Strategies for increasing community participation were discussed and we plan to implement some of those ideas once the website and social media programs are in place. As the grant writing process proceeds here in Detroit, please share your tips for grant success.

CRUNCH TIME FOR TABLE MOUNTAIN, Cape Town, South Africa, IN SEVEN WONDERS RACE

City of Cape Town — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 09:09:11 -0400

Table Mountain could be named one of the New7Wonders of Nature, an accolade that could generate up to 11 000 new jobs and an additional R1.4 billion in annual revenue for South Africa.

The only way to win is to steal the largest chunk of citizen votes from the over 1 billion people who will take part in the campaign worldwide. To win that honour Table Mountain needs to beat 27 other admired and celebrated sites such as the Islands of Maldives, the Amazon in South America, the Dead Sea in Israel and the Grand Canyon in North America.

The announcement of the seven sites on 11/11/11 (11 November 2011) will bring to a close a battle which has spanned more than three years.

In 2008, Table Mountain was pinpointed as one of 440 magnificent natural sites selected by the New7Wonders Foundation to enter the New7Wonders of Nature contest. With three phases in the competition Table Mountain was then chosen to appear on a list of 77 sites, before being publicly voted onto a final shortlist of 28 sites in July 2009.

The New7Wonders Foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland then set a challenge for the nations who hosted the top 28 sites. Each was given two years to attract enough votes to win the prestigious title of Official New7Wonder of Nature. In South Africa voting platforms have been made accessible to everyone through the Internet and cell phones.

In an effort to involve more people in the campaign worldwide The New7Wonders Foundation has launched a new Facebook app which allows members of the world’s largest social network to vote for the New7Wonders of Nature. Go to www.facebook.com/New7WondersofNature, “Like” the page, click on “Vote Now”, select your top 7 wonders and click “Send your vote”.

Voting closes at 11:11am on 11/11/11, just 42 days away. All voting lines will be closed in the morning, and the announcement of the Official New7Wonders of Nature will be made later that afternoon.

“With the deadline quickly closing in, there is a sense of urgency to get people to understand the magnitude of this competition. South Africans have to make sure that our flat-topped wonder makes it into the final seven. It’s a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to create a legacy, an opportunity that we can’t ignore – there will never be another election like it. Once the final seven are decided, that’s it,” says Sabine Lehmann, chairperson of the Table Mountain Bid Committee.

The Official New7Wonders of Nature contest aims to raise awareness of the incredible variety and beauty of nature around us. The income generated through the campaign will ensure that these natural treasures are better preserved for future generations.

But what does this mean for South Africa?

If Table Mountain is named one of the seven wonders of nature, South Africa can expect a massive boost in tourism revenue and brand value.

A detailed report conducted by Grant Thornton, a leading tourism hospitality and leisure research company, found that tourism would increase by about 20%, with approximately 70% of these visitors being international tourists.

This would also generate an additional R1.4 billion in revenue for the year or about R116 million a month, and the expenditure would support around 11 000 employment opportunities in South Africa.

Voting for Table Mountain today means that for thousands of years to come, children will be learning about it as one of the New7Wonders of nature. It will forever have a place in the history books of the world.

New7Wonders Campaign Manager Fiona Furey says: “Table Mountain has a great chance of making it into the top 7 but risks falling down the rankings due to vote apathy. At this point the final 28 sites are pulling out all the stops in their campaigns. It’s time for action! All South Africans need to back this crusade by voting for their Mountain as many times as they can. It’s now or never, this is an opportunity that will never present itself again.”

There are four ways to vote for Table Mountain:

SMS “Table” to 34874 at R2 an SMS,

or visit www.votefortablemountain.com,

or vote via Mxit for only 20 cents,

or vote on Facebook.

If you vote via SMS or Mxit, you can vote as many times as you like!

4BsHive - Collaborational Green Mapping across Europe

Harta Verde Romania — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:21:29 -0400

The '4BsHive' is a transnational project between four river cities: Bristol (UK), Berlin (Germany), Budapest (Hungary) and Bistrita (Romania). The project set in motion a collaborative, green map-making process within and among these four European partners:

Querspur-Verein zur Förderung soziokultureller Aktivitäten mit dem Medium Video (Berlin, Germany)
Asociatia Ascendent (Bistrita, Romania)
GreenBristol Ltd. (Bristol, UK)
Tudatos Vásárlók Egyesülete (Budapest, Hungary)

The 4BsHive project started right after a Grundtvig Preparatory Visit in early 2009. After two years of numerous adult learners mobilities and green mapping workshops, the 4BsHive project ended in July 2011. You may learn about all common and local results at the European Shared Treasure database. One of our greatest result is a documentary video, which highlights scenes from the study visits and the workshops in each of the cities involved.

A Green Map is a locally-made map that uses the internationally standardized set of icons from Green Map System organization from New York to highlight the ecological, social, cultural, and sustainable resources of a particular geographic area. Green Mapmaking is about exploration, discovery, sharing and supporting these resources.

It involved the creation and improvement of online maps in all 4 cities as well as a paper map in Budapest. You can find these maps under:

All 57 adult learners (16 from Bristol, 16 from Budapest, 6 from Berlin and 19 from Bistrita) were recruited and visited Partner cities on Study Visits (mobilities). A more considerable number of adult learners were involved taking into account local learners not travelling on mobilities. The adult learners were partly from disadvantaged and under-represented social groups including older people, those without basic qualifications and unemployed people. In this informal adult education programme, the participants had the opportunity to learn and practice Green Mapmaking using a variety of methods. These included: online geographical information system (GIS), web mapping using Open Green Map platform, gaining new ICT skills such as blog writing, the skillful use of everyday multimedia tools like mobile phones, the utilization of free multimedia applications on the internet; and learning more about sustainability issues and active citizenship.

The programme included one preparatory meeting, four international Study Visits hosted by each of the partners, one final evaluation meeting, and locally held workshops. The process included photography, film-making, audio recording and editing as well as storytelling, thematic city tours (on foot, biking, by bus or boat), and other cultural activities. In the Study Visits, Adult Learners were able to exchange personal experiences and learn about other European communities and what differences and similarities they have with other Europeans.

Beyond the educational process, the main outcomes of the project are the 4BsHive blog written in a collaborative manner, a film documentary on the project as well as an electronic booklet entitled “The 4Bs’ Green Mapping Guide”.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Oficinas Green Map acontecendo

Curitiba Brasil — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:48:45 -0400

Entre os dias 03 e 07 de outubro realizam-se oficinas no campus Botânico UFPR: UFPR – Setor de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas Campus III - Jardim Botânico Rua Prefeito Lothário Meissner, 632. O Mapa Verde Curitiba é tema: dia 03 as 14:00horas(onde houve participação de alunos dos diversos campus da Universidade)e dia 05 as 19horas. Lembrando que a feira é aberta a toda comunidade!

Pense local, mapeie global!

The Cape Town Green Map is evolving

City of Cape Town — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:42:14 -0400

It has been a very busy few months. The Cape Town Green Map team has just finished and printed its 3rd Edition of its Green Map. We even managed to get the City's Mayor to pose for the cover. Added to that we have redesigned our website layout and content structure, see Cape Town Green Map.

We also had two international interns join us for 3 months to assist with the project. Line and Mari really got stuck in and helped us with many aspects of the project, including our website redesign, a customer survey of all green sites, they held a small work group with green map participants and they also provided us with a project report on how we can improve our Cape Town Green Map Project.

With COP17 just around the corner we are very busy getting into the swing of things and gearing up for a frenzied media campaign. Cape Town will be hosting many events leading up to COP17 and maybe we will see some Green Map makers from around the world in cape Town?

Cape Town has just launched its Climate Smart Cape Town Campaign.

Please join our :Facebook Page and follow us on :Twitter

Victor J. Papanek Social Design Award - 2011

Wendy at Green Map — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:50:28 -0400

We are proud to share the news that the Open Green Map is a Winner of the first Victor J. Papanek Social Design Award!

As Victor's groundbreaking work helped to inspire the inception of Green Map System, we are delighted to be one of the four recipients of this prestigious new 2011 international award. Our Director will take part in the awards ceremony and exhibition opening in Vienna on November 9, followed by a conference celebrating the new Papanek Foundation. More details about the New York Design for the Real World Redux exhibit will be added here soon.

8.23活动第一天活动记录（简化版）

HeFei CHINA — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:17:05 -0400

自从6月申请到了GREEN MAP SYSTEM认可的合肥绿地图制作权以来，已经过去了整整两个月，两个月里，暑期实习和学校迎新工作又占了很大一个比例。时间紧迫，队员从全国各地提前赶回也非常辛苦，活动进行的背景不能不说是很艰难。另外，学院关于实习报告的上交时间突然提前到了8.24，听到这个消息后心里“嘎登”了一下，但为了可以把活动尽量做到和策划一致，提高完成度，我想我们团队只能放弃申请全国优秀暑期社会实践调查报告的机会了，真的很遗憾。

在活动进行前，我们联系了我们的专业系主任，把活动课题从原来比较空泛的”研究城市化中的绿化问题并寻求解决方法”改为了“合肥西北郊区部分地区绿地图绘制”，在这两份绿地图中我们会绘制出人文信息和绿化信息，从而让人们看到合肥城市化进程最明显的城郊的人文环境和自然环境情况，最后我们根据这份地图和这些信息来总结出合肥城市化中出现的部分问题，并归纳出一些解决方案，然后把地图、问题、解决方案和活动进程一并上传到GMS官方网站上，作为合肥绿地图制作者的参考和部分学者做研究的资料，也可以吸引世界各地的人来关注我们关注的这些问题并一起做一些探讨。这里绘制绿地图的地区主要是岗集镇的几个村和合肥西北部的大蜀山森林公园，绘制的内容包括人文信息（如城市基础设施、商业活动、文化设施、交通等）和自然信息（如环境污染源、动物、植物、水土），这些方面都在GMS上有专门的图标表示，这就使得我们的可选择性提高了，地图的绘制也会更为规范。

下面就来向大家介绍我们今天（8.23）的活动情况吧！

因为前期和岗集镇民政办有了联系，所以今天上午的活动进行的非常顺利。以下是我们今天的活动进程：

7：00合肥工业大学新区小北门集合出发

9：00到达岗集镇镇政府，随民政办主任前往卧龙山村

9：00~10：00 敬老院在卧龙山村村长兼岗集镇敬老院院长的带领下，我们了解了这个在岗集镇风评甚佳的社会福利机构——岗集镇敬老院的管理、设施还有各种规定，并和敬老院的几位老人聊了天，帮老人做了点家务事。在和院长的聊天中，我们也有幸了解到了岗集其它福利设施的建设情况。

10：00~11：00 村民家访同样是在村长的引导下，我们采访了卧龙山村的几户村民，主要是询问了居家生活、绿色观念、生态农业方面的问题。

11：00~13：00 随车回到了岗集镇政府，进行午餐

13：00~15：00 分成四组按照左图国际标识查找岗集镇镇中心地区的相关建筑、设施。

其实整个过程要是不下雨就完美了，不过，下午雨下得相当大，给活动增加了很大困难，导致不得不提前结束今天的行程，又是充满了遗憾。但是这算是整个三下乡的首发，有了今天的经验，相信之后的大蜀山之行会简单一些。明天就要画地图了，有点紧张也很期待。希望大家持续关注我们团队的进程。

下面来上图咯：

左1：村长介绍敬老院相关设施中

左2：敬老院的食堂

左3：老人家平时的活动

左4：采访敬老院的老人左5：采访附近村民

岗集镇镇中心，根据绿地图图标查找相关建筑设施并绘制草图中...雨很大工作路况很糟==

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