Mapping a Greener Future

Image Gallery Heeley City Farm in Sheffield, England, hosted a community gathering to begin the process of creating their map. Green maps from many locations were displayed for inspiration. SCOTT FLETCHER

For thousands of years, maps have played pivotal roles in human history. They've been used to chart voyages of discovery, find buried treasure, even fight wars. In our modern, car-oriented society, we depend on maps to help us get where we want to go. Today, communities are using the visual power of maps in a provocative new way: to chart a path toward a greener, more environmentally sustainable future.

From Kalamazoo, Michigan, to New York City, students, teachers, and activists are creating green maps to promote farmer's markets, locally produced goods, natural food restaurants and environmentally sustainable businesses.

Green maps also are being used to reconnect people with community parks, bike paths, recycling centers and museums—unique places that give our communities a rich sense of identity, but are often overlooked in today's fast-paced culture.

Like conventional road maps, green maps provide practical information for residents and visitors by using a set of icons. But that's where the similarities with road maps end.

Green maps involve people in the rediscovery of their community. Filled with compelling facts, figures and the stories behind the symbols, green maps help users understand where their water comes from, how their buying choices affect the environment and what they can do to promote a greener, more sustainable way of life.

It's an idea that's quickly catching on. There are now 165 green map projects in 36 countries around the world, with more map projects springing to life every month. "It's amazing to see the growth," says Wendy Brawer, one of green mapping's founders and director of the New York Green Map System, a nonprofit group providing global support for local projects.

In the United States alone, more than 60 towns, cities and regions have completed or are working on their own green map projects. Brawer says by reconnecting people to nature, history and local culture, green map advocates are hoping to turn the tide against the mounting environmental and social threats facing communities throughout the United States and around the world.

Legerton says the green maps inspired one North Carolina resident to donate five riverfront acres to the community for a local nature center.

GREEN MAPS MARK PROGRESS

Many areas across the country are struggling to maintain their identities in the face of rapid growth, urban sprawl and an increasing sense of social isolation. (See "From Suburbia to Superbia!" Page 54). According to Timothy Beatley and Kristy Manning, authors of The Ecology of Place, development continues to consume land at an increasing rate. In the United States, a staggering 1.3 million acres of farmland are lost to development every year. Other regions face faltering economies from the loss of manufacturing jobs, further tearing the social fabric that binds communities together.