Green Map System is starting the autumn on a high note! We’re opening our doors so you can come and help us make important decisions about the world’s only global symbol system for maps, in person or online! We’re also releasing great new education tools and an updated edition of our Compost Green Map of Manhattan, too.

One Planet - One Visual Language

Join us as we improve our award-winning iconography to reflect our deeper understanding of sustainability and the diverse types of green living, ecological, social and cultural initiatives being charted on Green Maps around the world. Visit our website anytime during October and click the New Icons button to view and respond to these new and updated symbols – please help us ensure they communicate optimally!

On Monday, October 15th, we’re holding our first-ever Green Map Icons Open Studio and inviting everyone to comment on our work-in-progress. If you are in New York, come explore our iconography in context, surrounded by scores of unique Green Maps that utilize them. We want to hear what you think!

The Green Map Icons Open Studio is an opportunity to do something that might seem simple but that will have a truly global impact. Designers, sustainability and community specialists, students and educators, IT folks, mapmakers, map users and wayfinders are invited to join us between 4 and 8pm at Green Map System’s global office, 220A East 4th Street between Avenues A & B in Manhattan’s East Village. Special thanks to our project supporters, Fosters Community Grants. Treats include our staff’s homemade cookies, Red Jacket Orchards cider and more. See how our small office and our shared visual language is expanding to energize communities worldwide to chart a sustainable future!

With this major global project underway, much of this newsletter is focused on Green Apple projects that benefit our hometown community in New York City

New Exploration Tools for Youth

Our exciting new Energy & Environment Exploration education modules designed for NYC youth are now available! Street trees, car-free and waterborne mobility, the '3 Rs', school energy resources, and using the Powerful Green Map (which inspired the whole series) are presented in lively ready-to-use 6-page PDFs. Each of the six modules includes a handy educator guide, mapping and activity suggestions, related links, discussion and learning resources. Be one of the first to use these free resources! We intend to add outcomes from this first year of use in NYC schools, clubs and camps to the final edition of this toolset, and then to make global modules for use outside of NYC, too. Download now!

"This is a GREAT addition to the Green Map/sustainability movement. We MUST involve the youth!" - Jim Embry, Sustainable Communities Network

Compost on a Roll

What's on the Compost Green Map of Manhattan? To celebrate the second edition of this informative and surprising map, join the mapmakers on Green Apple Compost Map Cycling Tour to explore sites we've charted, indoors and out.

Saturday November 3, 3pm
Starts in Union Square at Lower East Side Ecology Center's Greenmarket Stand
Finishes at Green Map System in the East Village around 5pm

This is an easy, free ride. Bring a lock. Rain cancels. Co-sponsored by map partners Green Map System and Lower East Side Ecology Center, plus Time’s Up! Details to come on getting copies, too.

Our Next Big NYC Project!

The Green Schools Green Map! We're now in the development phase of an exciting project designed to connect healthy learning environments, communities and youth citywide. Con Edison Foundation and an anonymous donor have already stepped up and provided support. Won’t you join them in assuring that all our city’s 1,100 K-12 schools' green initiatives can appear on the map? Donate directly through our site or though Global Giving.

The Ever-Growing Global Movement

Over the last month, we have welcomed new Green Mapmakers in diverse locales including Buea, Cameroon; Kilauea, Hawaii; Halifax and Sooke BC, Canada; Wrexham, Wales; Kobe Japan; Xi'an and Wuhan China and even Riverdale New York! Lots of new Green Map profiles, images, articles and blogs have been added to GreenMap.org, too. Visit often!

It’s a great time to send a tax-deductible donation! Please click here or mail to Green Map System, POB 249, NYC 10002. You can help energize positive change in hundreds of communities at once!

Feel free to forward this newsletter. Join our emailing list on the homepage at GreenMap.org! Contact us anytime at info@greenmap.org or +1 212 674 1631.