Barcelona, Spain is a city abundant in historical and cultural character, attracting a vast tourism industry. The city’s free, McDonald’s sponsored tourism map, Barcelona Tourisme, highlights many of these sites for visitors. However, ecotourism sites that advance Barcelona’s sustainability are left uncharted. Barcelona Green Map, now led by Petz Scholtus of Pöko Design Studio, seeks to change that.

Barcelona’s green resources were first charted on Mapa Verd in 1999. Led by solar engineer Josep Puig, hundreds of sites were plotted on the map. Since then, the city has advanced its sustainability efforts, including a bike share system that revolutionized sustainable transportation throughout the city. To share these resources with tourists, Barcelona’s Green Mapmakers have created an eco-advocating refinement to the thousands of maps distributed by McDonald’s. Using the existing Barcelona Turisme as its base, Pöko Design Studio created an overlay printed on transparent vellum (trace paper) that adds a layer of green sites to the free map available at the Barcelona Tourist Office. This provides tourists access to natural, cultural and green living resources, in addition to the sites on the underlying map. Barcelona Green Map also provides its sites with a window tag, identifying their inclusion on the Green Map and promoting them as sustainability sites. read more »

So much in this city can be described as “green.” Each street corner may reveal a sprawling farmer’s market of local fruits and vegetables or perhaps a painted green concrete bike lane. As New York City enters an age in which it must improve its energy yield, Green Building is at the forefront in creating a sustainable metropolis. In 2007 Mayor Michael Bloomberg released PlaNYC, a plan to reduce New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30% by 2030. In April 2011, an updated version of PlaNYC concluded that 80% of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions are due to the operation of buildings. From sprouting skyscrapers to historic brownstones, buildings define our cityscape. In order to move towards sustainability, NYC must improve the performance of existing buildings and any new construction to come.read more »

First published in 2007, the Compost Green Map of Manhattan has been a beacon for gardeners and waste-aware citizens across the city. Indicating both composting how-to’s and sites for community composting, this small yet powerful map teaches residents of Manhattan how feasible—and beneficial—it is to turn food and garden scraps into rich new soil. Our partner on the project, the Lower East Side Ecology Center, has resultantly experienced exponential growth in the amount of compostables dropped off at their locations in Manhattan!

In 2011, policy makers have acted to increase composting in Manhattan and funded 23 new projects, including the expansion of the online edition at OpenGreenMap.org/compostnyc. New sites are springing up all over. Each of these new efforts is mapped thanks to a grant from Borough President Scott Stringer, Manhattan SWAB, and Citizen's Committee for NYC.read more »

日本語は英語の下にあります！

This summer, Green Map invites you to an exciting ‘2011 Summer Green Map Special Exhibition’, held in Zenrin Map Gallery in Kita-Kyushu Japan, starting from Thursday July 21, 2011 and through August 31.

Sponsored by a Japanese major map company Zenrin, Inc., the exhibition shows about 50 unique locally designed Green Maps from all over the world. Visitors also have a chance to touch and experience Open Green Map in the exhibition. During the exhibition there will be workshops for children and parents to actually make a Green Map, and meet Green Map Japan and mapmakers from Kita-Kyushu. read more »

Green Map’s internship program supports aspiring environmentalists and geographers, providing them with a diverse experience in the non-profit world. Whether based in Green Map’s global office or through Internet collaboration, internships have encompassed an array of projects, adding to the global mapping movement. Internships have also led directly to employment; such is the case with Morgan Leykam, a geography major and Green Map intern who I’ve had the opportunity to interview. To me, a current intern, her story inspires ambition and provides insight into pursuing a career.

Leykam’s internship experience was unique in that she partook in Green Map’s "virtual internship" program. This program fostered mapmaking and independent research skills during the summers of 2009 and 2010, allowing numerous interns to conduct their own Green Map projects while collaborating online via blog. Leykam’s project involved mapping the Syracuse University Area, in order to document its increasing focus on sustainability. Her project began in 2009, and she developed it throughout the next year, ultimately completing it as a senior thesis. “My internship with Green Map completely shaped my last year of college,” said Leykam. “It tied together all the different things I was learning about and helped me focus what my concentration in geography was.” read more »

With my freshmen year of college almost at its close, I made it my priority to find a summer internship. Having had a connection to Green Map through a research project I’d conducted during high school, I contacted Wendy Brawer—founder and director—to inquire about any available positions. Having been intrigued by Green Map’s innovative methods of identifying and teaching sustainability, I was thrilled when Wendy told me I was welcome to an internship.

On the first day, Wendy introduced my fellow interns and me to the numerous projects Green Map was participating in that summer: projects involving sustainability in NYC, updating existing maps, and researching energy improvements being planned for the city. I became involved in my first project—updating a map of bicycle routes in NYC. read more »

日本語の記事は下にあります。

Hi! My name is Yutaka, how are you guys doing? First, let me introduce myself very briefly. I’ve started interning at Green Map in May 2011, and right now I am managing collaboration works with Green Map Japan.

Green Map Japan is an NPO, established in 2002, as a support “hub” for Japan’s Green Mapmakers. Thanks to the coordinator Misako Yomosa-san’s dedicated work, Japan is a country with some of the most Green Maps in the world, as seen in Green Map Japan’s annual newsletter, “Harmony”. There is also a Green Map Japan's Facebook page to check out.

As you all know, a massive earthquake hit Japan about 3 month ago, and things really changed in Japan as a result. Less food supply, less electricity, transportation impacts, etc. I was in Yokohama when the earthquake hit Tohoku, and experienced the fear of explosion of the power plants, the waters and air being nuked, etc. For me it was my first time to experience this sort of emergency. My friends, brothers, parents were all safe, but I would like to express my sincere condolences and pray for the victims to overcome this difficult hurdle.

Hiroo Maruya, an advisor to Green Map Japan gave us a strong message about the disaster, how powerless we are against nature, and what map-making means for humanity. It’s on the bottom of this page (in Japanese). He is also an architect and a city planner, and recently he has established an organization dealing with recovery in Tohoku, called ”The Road of Japan” (「日本の道」). Please support his work!

It’s a tough time and still an emergency situation in Japan, and most people are still feeling depressed. But like Maruya-san, many of those who are not directly impacted want to do something for the future. Both Green Map Japan and Green Map in New York want to help! We welcome your help and support - let know how you want to pitch in.

For example, right now we are looking for volunteers who can help us translate the Open Green Map interface so Japanese mapmakers can use this platform more easily to create an interactive map at virtually no cost. If you want to gain experience translating or just have free time and good English to Japanese skills, please contact me yukata (at) greenmap.org. With your help, we can finish this project in Summer 2011.

If you are interested in Green Map and want to participate in mapmaking in Japan, please start at GreenMapJapan.org and see how you can contribute to a healthier, fresher, friendlier Japan!

Yutaka Nakashima

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こんにちは＆初めまして！

NY本部のグリーンマップで先月からインターンをしている中島と言います。 これからこのブログやFacebookなどを通じて、グリーンマップ本部の状況やグリーンマップジャパンに関する情報を発信していこうと思っています。よろしくお願いします！

さて、みなさんもご存知のように３月１１日、東日本地域で大地震・大津波が発生し、東北地方や北関東を中心に多大なる被害を受けました。また福島県では原子力発電所がメルトダウンを起こし、放射能による汚染が広がっています。地震や原発の事故によって日本の生活は震災前とはまったく違うものになったと感じます。私も地震があった時はまだ日本におり、また原発が爆発した映像も生でテレビで見て衝撃を受けました。被害に見舞われたかたがたに対し心よりご冥福をお祈りします。また一刻も早くこの困難を乗り越えられますようグリーンマップはがんばりたいと考えています。

震災に関してグリーンマップジャパンのメンバーである丸谷博男さんから、生きること、そして地図を作ることについて力強いお言葉をいただきました。記事の最後に載せていますので是非一読ください。また丸谷さんは復興支援のための団体「日本の道」を設立し、復興支援のみならず新しいコミュニティのありかたについて提言、尽力されています。どうか彼の仕事をサポートしてください。

震災の影響は凄まじく、簡単に立ち直ることは難しいですし、原発に関しても心配は増すばかりですが、落ち込んでばかりではいられません。被害にあってない身 としては逆に震災をより持続可能なよりよい社会やコミュニティ作りにするきっかけにしたいと思っていますし、グリーンマップはそれをおおいに手助けすることができるツールだと思います。グリーンマップを活用して復興の手助けをしたい、何か提言したい方はいつでもコンタクトをお待ちしています。

例えば現在グリーンマップではオープングリーンマップ（OGM）の翻訳作業を手伝ってくれる方を大募集しています。OGMは、ウェブやiPhoneから気軽にグリーンマップ作りが参加できるプラットフォームです。 OGMについてはグリーンマップジャパンの解説サイトが充実していますのでこちら をどうぞ！

OGMに興味があるかた、英語の勉強がしたいかた、または日本語の勉強がしたいかた、など等お気軽に私にご連絡ください！連絡先は下にあります。

最後に、先日グリーンマップジャパンはフェイスブックページを開設いたしました。グリーンマップジャパンのフェイスブックページはこちらです。最新情報の発信、また情報交換の場としてどんどん活用していきたいと思っていますのでどうぞよろしくお願いします！またイイネ！ボタンを押すこともお忘れなく！

中島　豊read more »

The launch party of Local Spokes, a new bicycling coalition in the Lower East Side and Chinatown was a success last Wednesday, May 25th as supporters, members, and interested local participants gathered in the picturesque 5th St. community garden, El Jardin del Paradiso.

Based in the community, Green Map System is a member of the 9-organization coalition. I took part, along with 6 other summer interns, Wendy, the director of Green Map, and Matthew Willse, Green Map’s designer who created LocalSpokes.org.

At the Local Spokes party, Green Map System provided a participatory mapping experience, where attendees were able to use stickers to mark bike related locations. These included points such as bicycle parking, bike repair shops, caution or traffic hazard sites, bicycle paths and parks. This enabled participants to help spread their knowledge of certain cycling sites, and to learn of suggested cycling routes from others. read more »

On June 10 2011, 'Green Map International Workshop' will be held in Ansan, Korea. The '2011 Green Map Maker School' in Green Gyeonggi 21 workshop is hosted by My Town Green Map

This workshop is held in cooperation with Green Map System in New York. My internship at the global office is ending just in time to take part in this workshop held near my home. I will bring Green Map materials and a short greeting video I made with Wendy Brawer, founder of the organization.

We are delighted that more than 80 people will grace the occasion with their presence. A special guest speaker, Marco Kusumawijaya, will take part. He was the first to create a Green Map in Indonesia, and has supported the movement’s spread to more than a dozen diverse communities in that country. He’s also been a great support to the Asian Green Map network and has created an influential blog(click to the blog), at the Rujak Center for Urban Studies.read more »

I am a high school student interning at Green Map System in Fall 2009.

While I worked here I researched sites around my hometown, New York City, I photographed sites in the East Village, researched sites in Staten Island and the Bronx and learned more from sites that had already been added to NYC's Open Green Map.

Just being in the office also showed me a lot of new things because so many of the people at Green Map are from countries besides the United States. I got to see how Green Map had affected places outside of my country and how global the effort to improve our environment had become.read more »