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Making a Green Map How much do you observe the natural scenery around you? How much do you know about the cultural history of your community and the green resources around you? Try to chart a Green Map of the environment that you are familiar with and discover the green resources and cultural images that have been ignored. Put down natural, cultural, ecological and environment-friendly sites on a map and allow yourself to connect and interact more with your hometown. Now just slow down your steps and follow the instructions below to experience and explore in person the relations between people and the environment. Then apply your imagination and creativity to document your new discoveries and inspiration and creat your own Green Map. |
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Produce a Green Map 1. Choose an area for your map and prepare a preliminary map. Draw an area surrounding your residence. Usually about a mile is enough. It will be great if you wish to challenge yourself to drawing a bigger area. It can be around your school, office, the place where you grew up, or any place you wish to learn more about. Select a map of your chosen area on the Internet or in the bookstore and make a larger copy of it. This will be your preliminary map. 2. Get to know the icons and what green sites are. Try to think about what a green life means. Which sites in your charted area are ecology or culture related? Which activities of economic development are friendly to the Earth? Does any pollution source call for more attention? If any of these icons can not represent your green site, design one and you are welcome to share it with us. 3. Make a field trip to green sites Choose a day good for walking and embark on the adventure with your family, neighbors or friends in a relaxed mood. Walking is better than riding on a vehicle in this scenerio. Do not forget the basic tools an explorer needs: a prelimary map, a pen, a notebook, icons, Site Notes, a camera or recorder, and above all, curiosity. Every green site in our daily environment is worth observing and investigating. Talk to the shopkeeper if you see an interesting little shop. Ask him/her for the ideas and feelings about opening a shop. You usually get to hear an attractive story. Do not overlook a store in the corner. It usually witnesses the history of the community development. When you see some beautiful tree, enjoy the shadow of it. Watch carefully if there are other residents in it. Put your ear on the trunk and you can hear the flowing sound of its veins. Make friends with it and it will share its different expressions of four seasons with you. Explore the seemingly ordinary events and things around you with childlike curiosity. Write down your feelings and thoughts. These records will make a Green Map richer and more friendly. (Refer to the Site Notes in the appendix for keeping records.) 4. Organize information of green sites After you have collected information of sites, determine which sites are green sites, categorize them according to the icons and come up with introductions to show the features of these sites. Examine whether you have left out anything. You can search for additional information on these sites on the Internet or in the liberary. 5. Draw the map When all the information is ready, it is time to apply your creativity. Draw the major streets of your preliminary map on another piece of paper. Identify the sites and draw icons on them. You can also number them so that it is easy to make an index of them. Write a basic description of each site next to or on the backside of the map. Also write down your feelings about exploration so that a user can learn more about this region through your observation. Do not forget to make use of colors or your creativity to make your map readable and attractive. Include the following on your Green Map: Copyright: The icons and logo are copyright Green Map System, Inc. and all rights reserved. The sources of the preliminary map or photos. A compass. All the names of the participants and the dates of mapmaking. 6. Share your Green Map Bring your completed Green Map to the school or the center of community to share with more people the process of your mapmaking and discovery. You may copy them in large numbers and take them to the green sites of the map for visitors’ use to encourage more people to protect the green sites on the map.
Hand-drawn Green Maps You are welcome to hand-draw a Green Map. Making a Green Map is an interesting process of exploring the environment and a collective work of observation, words and art. To respect the copyrights of the icons and logo, please specify the following copyright notices on your Green Map. The icons and logo are copyright Green Map System, Inc. and all rights reserved. The Society of Wilderness is authorized to use these icons and logo for promotion in Taiwan. We suggest that include the following items to enrich your Green Map. 1. XX Green Map 2. Specifications of the icons. 3. Participants, dates, compass, etc. For more stories about Green Map, please refer to “Energetic Green Map Movement”: Ye-Ren Publishing House The Society of Wilderness wishes to share the experiences of making Green Maps with you. Please fill out the Basic Information Form and send it back to the SOW. The SOW will continue to share more Green Map stories with you.
Sources of materials and photos: Green Map / Making a Green Map (Maintained by The Society of Wilderness) Energetic Green Map Movement / The Society of Wilderness: Ye-Ren Publishing House (2005) 資料與圖片來源:綠色生活地圖-製作綠活圖 (由荒野保護協會更新維護) |
