We decided to make a Green Map for a couple of reasons. First, we love the idea of the Green Map and think it can serve as a powerful tool for change within a community. We live in Albuquerque and love it. Albuquerque has an incredible creative energy, an exciting mix of cultural and historic influences, and magnificent high desert surroundings. Unfortunately, it also has a history of haphazard, car dominated sprawl, and is facing growth at alarming rates for a city with limited water resources. We believe that a Green Map can illustrate alternate forms of development by highlighting current green amenities and the networks between them. An Albuquerque Green Map can deomonstrate opportunities to work within the city structure that we have--sprawl and all--to build a sustainable, vibrant city.

Second, we love maps. We love that a map can functionally navigate its readers to services or destinations, while sparking their imaginations about all of the possible places that they have yet to explore. We think that maps are fun and creative, and look forward to telling a story about the Albuquerque that we live in.

We plan on creating a map that addresses the two biggest environmental issues that Albuquerque faces--it's reliance on the automobile and a limited water supply. Many of the things that we are interested in mapping can be considered related to these issues, such as gas stations that sell alternative fuels, car dealerships that sell hybrids, junk-yards for recycled car parts, park and ride lots, commuter rail stations, bike shops, bike trails, walking trails, city wells, our new river-side drinking water treatment plant, the river water conveyance pipes, and more as we think or it, or the community requests it.