This column is written specially for our local teachers of history and science. I am looking for their help in putting Troy on the map - A new map that is! One that promotes the natural and human history of our great city and environs.

Back in 1995, artist Wendy E. Brawer, an ecological designer in New York City, created the Green Apple Map that promoted NYC's environmentally significant places. It was so successful that she developed a project called the Green Map System, an award-winning local-global collaboration that now reaches into 35 countries.

It was quite a simple concept. Come up with a set of environmental icons and symbols that everyone around the world could identify and create maps of your hometown that promoted the environmental resources using these common symbols and icons.

She spun the Green Map System off as a separate not-for-profit organization in 2000 and her concept has won numerous awards.

As she tells it, "the Green Map System was inspired by a desire to: help urban dwellers of all ages represent and share the ecological and cultural resources in their cities; promote good greening efforts underway in communities across the globe, build inclusive networks that extend community capacity and expedite progress toward sustainability, employ the info-web in service of the web-of life celebrate and learn from the beauty, brilliance and diversity of Nature, and together, make our hometowns better, healthier places."

Her concept was to "conceptualize a systematic approach that would make each Green Map just as useful "away from home" as it was for hometown residents. A globally designed shared set of Icons to symbolize the green sites was the perfect "heart" at the center of all Green Maps."

There are now Green Maps on the Internet and there are traditional printed ones on paper. You can find them covering areas such as Adelaide, Australia to Washtenaw County/Ann Arbor, Michigan. It's time to put Troy on a Green Map.

What we need are some interested teachers who will work with me in creating the Troy Green Map. This would make a great class project and could be launched on Earth Day this year. The kids would help create the icons and symbols that would be used and identify the various environmental resources that would go on the map. This would also entail the students exploring the city to locate resources that should be on the map. Nothing like a good adventure.

Furthermore, this would also help launch a new map concept that I feel will complement Wendy's Green Map project, called the "Maps on Roots" or "RootMaps" Project (not sure which is catchier). This project would borrow from the Green map idea but would focus on developing maps that depict only the historic and cultural resources of the city. We will design icons and symbols for historic buildings, archeological sites, cemeteries, churches, mills, factories, and other historic resources. The final product would be an interactive Internet based Web site and/or printed map that can be distributed.

This will also allow the kids to learn about their city since they will need to determine what goes on the map (research based), as well as decide what kinds of icons and symbols need to be designed. How do you create a symbol for an old mill versus and old house that anyone around the world can quickly identify?

Since Troy has such a history of innovation, it seems to me that this is the likely place to launch this innovative project. From here, we will branch out and do Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga, and then the world! Interested? Contact me at drittner@aol.com.