I talk to Wendy Brawer and Thomas Turnbull about the origins of Green Map System (greenmap.org) and what they to accomplish when they launch the Open Green Map (opengreenmap.org) in the coming months.

Post-NetSquared, Summer's been lots of fun at Green Map as our team grew. By the end of July, we completed Phase 1, and opened the http://OpenGreenMap.org website to our network of locally-led Green Map projects. In the few days since, the first 35 maps are being charted and about 1000 sites have been charted.

After being farmcore all weekend, it's awesome to ease into geekcore with cross-over friends (just look for the tell-tale dirty fingernails). I just met Richard Roth who's been creating Farmer's Markets that have both farm stands and social service booths with wireless internet access and guidance so people can sign up for needed services. Richard also showed me the "Harvest Bucks" his group created--people can exchange their food stamps for the Harvest Bucks and use these at the individual farm stands.

Spread this activist meme: the re-awakening of community through urban farms and farmer's markets.

The main problems in Peru as poverty, low productivity, inadequate infrastructure and poorly integrated markets are often exacerbated by an under-developed agro-industrial sector. Little attention has usually been paid to the value chain through which agricultural commodities and products reach the final consumers in Peru and abroad.

According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO, 2007), while high-income countries add US$180 of value by processing one tonne of agricultural products, developing countries generate only US$40. Moreover, while 98 percent of agricultural production in high-income countries undergoes industrial processing, barely 30 percent is processed in developing countries.

As community manager for happyfrog.ca, i often rally up a crews of  bloggers, photographers and podcasters to create social media of green minded businesses, sustainability focused organizations and other stories which the mainstream media don't pick up.

Recently at the EPIC Sustainable Living Expo in Vancouver, we pulled off the biggest social media bonanza i know of with over 50 posts including audio, video, and narrative, plus a Flickr pool of hundreds of candid shots from the trade show floor.

A little about Capitol News Connection:

Here at Green Map System, we're tickled pink to be among the 21 featured projects for N2Y3! Thanks much to all who voted for us and are already connecting to share ideas, resources and advice! This project is getting better, day by day, with your involvement.

Our work on this project really began in Fall 2007. Among other things, we floated a few different names out to the Green Map network. Open Green Map was their top choice, but we decided to test out a few other options, including My Green Map, as working names. As we used the different names, we watched the reactions.

Last year Avatar Action Center (AAC) was a fairly new project based in Second Life and dedicated to raising awareness about global sustainability issues when we entered the Netsquared competition, and I'm very pleased to say that we are still at it! In fact, we even recently received fiscal sponsorship from the Tides Center and have become the first group to form in Second Life that has gained 501(c)3 status (at least nobody has disputed this claim in the few months I've been asking around)>

I'm a social enterprise research consultant at the University of British Columbia, and I'm also working with Vancity Credit Union in Vancouver, British Columbia on accountability frameworks for social enterprise.

I'm interested in hearing about how social enterprises are using technology to improve their impact and performance. If anyone has an interesting stories or case studies - please don't hesitate to fire them my way.

I also host a minimalist blog on the topic here. Stop by and give me your two cents. I try to be provocative and to the point.

Hello! Our last economic sustainability session will be more conversational thanks to our panelist, we will be mixing it up for a bit. This is Evonne Heyning and I will do my best to liveblog this session as it flows.

Panelists:

Anita Figer, Nonprofit Finance Fund, hired by foundations to look at economic sustainaiblity of nonprofits

Susan Walters, California Emerging Technology Fund, broadband technologies in low income communities Panel leader: Ask tough questions! Don't be afraid to share what you think.

TAKING IT GLOBAL