Green Map System Raises Climate Awareness

[Rose Spaziani]

Wendy Brawer, founding director of Green Map System, talks about her efforts to raise awareness about climate change issues.

Rose: So Wendy, you’re the founding director of Green Map System. What is Green Map System and why did you start it?

Wendy: Green Map System is a way for people to make maps of their environment in communities around the world. The maps are all about sustainability and how communities are making progress toward their goals. So local mapmakers chart on the maps green living resources, nature, local cultural and social resources that contribute to a healthier, lower impact, but richer life.

Rose: How is your group involved in raising awareness on the Day of Climate Action, which is today? What do you have planned?

Wendy: Well today, we’ve planned a green apple cycling tour, so we’ll be seeing sites including solar installations, composting sites, organic restaurants that have special partnerships with local farmers, the green market, which is of course all locally grown food, looking at bike innovation and infrastructure, and also looking at things like the changing of the shoreline of Manhattan. We have a historical map that dates from 1609, and we look at it and talk about how far away are we right now in terms of some of the predictions. And looking at issues like how well climate risks change the map of NY yet again.

Rose: Your Open Green Map was shortlisted for an Index award, a Danish prize for design that improves life. When you traveled to Denmark in the summer to hear the outcome—you traveled to Denmark this past summer—what was your impression of the momentum around climate change issues in Copenhagen? Do you think New Yorkers and their local government are as invested in greening lifestyle and raising awareness about climate change issues in the run-up to the climate conference in December?

Wendy: Well, being part of the Index social design awards was terrific. People are very serious about reducing their impacts on the environment, on the climate and doing more to support biodiversity, social equity, as well as business that is more attuned to all this. Business integrity is something I found very strong there. And I see all three of these things—the integrity of business, the vitality of the environment and social equity—as being critical to sustainability that we need for climate change. So, to see the role of design center stage in Copenhagen was terrific. I could see, of course, everywhere, people have reduced their impacts far beyond where we think we can do it. So this idea, just the bicycling alone, if you take that one example in Copenhagen, something like 40 percent of all trips are made on bicycle, right? Here in New York, we’re just getting started in a serious way, and we’re up to something like 130,000 people commuting every day by bike.

Rose: OK and you’re going to be in Copenhagen in December for the conference. You’re actually going to be attending Klimaforum and speaking there, right? So what are you going to be saying? What is Klimaforum?

Wendy: OK, well, I’m really excited to be going back to Denmark and taking part on the 10th at 10 a.m. You can come to the Green Map forum at the Klimaforum and I’ll be presenting some of the global work that’s being done. We also have green mapmakers coming from the Copenhagen Green Map and also the Malmo Green Map. Malmo, they’re specifically charting climate-related sites. It’s just across the way from Copenhagen. I hope a lot of people who are coming, as well as people who live there, will take a tour of some of these places during the climate conference. And the Green Map project in Copenhagen is looking at the increase in green space in the inner city, and this is very important because again all of us are looking to Copenhagen for ideas of how we can live well in the future. Live well in a lower impact way.

Rose: You have an app coming out for the iPhone, right? You’re going to be meeting with a Finnish collaborator when you go to Scandinavia this December. Is that correct?

Wendy: Well actually, I met with our collaborator when I was there last time. But we’re working on the app, and you can see these are some of the images on it. It will soon be ready, so we’re really excited because you’ll be able to click a button and find out what’s green nearby. And hopefully this will not only transform the experience of a visitor to a place but residents will suddenly be able to find all these kinds of resources they never realized were in their community. So we’re quite excited about getting this out there. We know our first version will serve billions of people, not necessarily only those who have the iPhone, so we’re looking very broadly at reaching and moving a lot of people around the world. This is how we work. We always seek the lowest common denominator and how can we lift up people and at the same time bring ideas from the global south up to the north and vice versa, so we can really have a cross-cultural exchange on green living.

Rose: Alright, well thank you for joining me today Wendy.

Wendy: Thank you so much Rose.

Check out Wendy's maps at http://GreenMap.org. To learn more about Green Map events in Copenhagen this December, go to http://GreenMap.org/greenhouse/en/cop15.