Open Green Map to Support the Greening of China

Green Map has ‘moved the mountain’. Yes, after nine years of great progress and excitingly diverse global accumulation, this summer we 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 own community's local sustainability efforts. 

During our move, we took time to organize all of our photos, maps and materials from Green Map projects around the world. We so enjoyed this that selected resources from China are featured here. This work is helping us prepare to update our popular book, Mapping our Common Ground. 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 Groundworks project at University of Victoria, and supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. 

Our organization's Board of Directors has expanded, too. Our first Chinese member is Josh Yu, who is the North America Liaison at the Taiwan Green Trade Project Office here in New York. We also added Meredith Gray of the Coop School in Brooklyn, Lela Prashad of the mapping for impact organization, 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.

Our best wishes to all as Summer turns to Autumn!

Links:

• A new Green Map from Guang Fu Township, Hualien TW
• 2007 Blog post by Tianjin Binhai Community Action - 15K readers!
• Photos from Aichi Expo2005, featuring Society of Wilderness!

Thank you, as always for your support. This quarter, we thought this story would interest you. 

Groups of Chinese students from Yunna Normal University have been visiting the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island in BC, Canada for a week-long experiential field school. Students attend lectures on local history, gender studies and sociology. One of the capstone days takes them to a beautiful park called SNIDCEL to engage with and hear from First Nations elders and teachers, SeaChange Marine Conservation Society and the Uvic Community Mapping Collaboratory (see link below).This university has a great history of working with community residents in support of virtually all disciplines, and has been a partner to Green Map for more than a decade.

Knowing these visiting students would be absorbing new ways of interacting with sustainability, we sent over an array of locally made Chinese Green Maps to help these students draw connections from the places they visit to the places where they live. Ken Josephson of Uvic adds “the Green Map iconography provides a voice that transcends language and culture”! 

With the outcomes from Chinese and Taiwanese Green Mapmakers in hand, a new audience sees how community participation and environmental betterment go hand in hand. We hope the inspiration you have helped to generate resonates with each individual.

Thank you again, and our best wishes for Spring! 

Links:

• About the SNIDCEL (aka Tod Inlet)