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As October winds down, we're doing more everyday to see that communities around the world have the connections, skills and resources needed to make healthier, greener choices everyday!

Update: Green Map Icon Update!

It’s been exciting to invite everyone to take part in the updating process for the Green Map Icons. Over 2,500 people came to the comment-collecting web page in October, and our ‘live’ event in New York drew members of local sustainability and mapping networks and participants from as far as Glasgow and Beijing, and even Baltimore! We highly value your many thoughtful comments and have extended GreenMap.org/icons through Monday November 5th. Add yours today!

Next, finalization of Version 3 of the Green Map Icons begins. Your support will help us deliver its many products - fonts, posters, educational resources - to communities worldwide in early 2008.

Think Local, Map Global!

Our next big global project is starting to take shape - and it’s our most inclusive undertaking to date. The Global Green Map will deliver thousands of green sites to your desktop, sharing great examples contributed by Green Mapmakers, content partners and the public from all corners of the earth on one flexible interactive online platform. Watch for details online and find out how you can get involved next month.

Global News

Director Masahiro Horiuchi and Green Mapmakers at Urban Ecology Tokyo won one of Japan’s most prestigious honors, the Good Design award in the communications category. The jurors pointed out how the “Tokyo Cycling Green Map is a design evolution that emerged from citizens, not from corporations.” They also recognized the importance of raising the quality of design in all social movements, so we’re pleased that a Green Map is now an official example of Good Design. Find out more in our Blog, and explore our Maps section for more great cycling-themed Green Maps.

There’s also a wonderful new San Francisco & Northern California Green Map, published this week by David Kupfer, just in time for the SF Green Festival. Our Director, Wendy Brawer, will be on a panel about ‘localization’ on Friday afternoon, November 9.

Transylvania - just in time for Halloween! has one of the newest Green Map projects under way (in Cluj Napoca Romania)! In October, we also welcomed new Green Map projects in Yosemite National Park & Mariposa California, Belfast N. Ireland Kobe and Shimata, Hikari Japan and throughout the University of Puerto Rico Campuses. Watch for the most recently published editions around the world in GreenMap.org’s Maps section.

November 3 Event in NYC

Come this Saturday to celebrate the launch of the second edition of the Compost Green Map of Manhattan. Our 2 hour bicycle tour of mapped sites, indoors and out, starts at 3pm at the Lower East Side Ecology Center’s stand in the Union Square Greenmarket. Rain cancels. Bring a lock (and a helmet if you are 14 or under). This free Green Apple Compost Map Cycling Tour is co-sponsored by map partners Green Map System and Lower East Side Ecology Center plus Times Up!

Want a copy of this free map? Download or pick one up at the Greenmarket, or contact us about getting a quantity. For 1-2, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Compost Green Map, PO Box 249, NYC 10002.

Update: Last month, we noted that our new Energy & Environment Exploration education modules can now be downloaded. Already, educators and other interested folks in 2 countries, 5 of the US states and 3 of NYC’s boroughs have put them to use!

Giving Season is almost upon us!

Hot off the presses, "Mapping our Common Ground", our co-created community mapping book (2nd edition) is now in full color! Green Maps and our other media projects in our Store make wonderful gifts.

Your support can help energize positive change in hundreds of communities at once. If you would like to receive our special 2007 Green Map booklet by mail, please send us your address. Note that for the next 60 days, Americans over 70 ½ years of age can donate IRA savings to Green Map System tax-free. Federal legislation enabling you make charitable distributions of up to $100,000 from your traditional or Roth IRA expires on 12/31/07. For more information on this and other giving opportunities that support our mission, please check online or contact our Director, Wendy Brawer at web@greenmap.org.

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