A short introduction:
This post is my dream for 2020, and I think is also the dream of many others.
A dream is, of course, just a dream. For my dream, for our dream to become true, I will have to work, we will have to work together.
Dear Santa Claus,
this year I am writing to you well in advance, because I would like to ask you something special, and I think that you need time, to make everything ready before the end of the year.
For 2020, I would like a blue sky, green grass, clean and clear water, and a lot of flowers, yellow, red, blue, purple.
Something like this, a city with trees, flowers, and clear water
or like this, in natural areas and parks
And, of course, one small, small detail: I would like to have this Everywhere in the World and, just to add a last word, yes, I promise, just a last word, I would like to have it … Forever.
Don’t worry, Santa, you will not be alone in this. Last year we already started to clean, and we did it all around the World. You can see here, we have a project (Local Guides Clean The World - A Local Guides project) and we already cleaned a lot. Please, check the map, that @DavidTito is maintaining day by day.
David is in Australia and I am in Italy. Yes of course, @RiverDefender and @br14n are in Indonesia, @HUMVILA is in Spain, @KarenVChin is in California, @KashifMisidia is in Pakistan, @Venance is in Ivory Coast, @Julien44 is in France, so? We are Local Guides, we are everywhere, and we are all friends.
Dear Local Guides, more seriously now: with a few words I wanted to look back at what we did, with #LocalGuidesCleanTheWorld, in less than one year. It looks impressive, but …
Is volunteering to clean by collecting plastic and abandoned waste, the correct way to act?
Yes it is. On one side, what we are doing collectively is extremely important. But on the other side, I believe that we have to find another, more pragmatic and systematic way of making an impact.
I have been thinking for a long time, before to come with this proposal. All of us, we are volunteering for Google Maps, a wonderful tool, with a huge capacity for future, and helpful implementation. So, why not to ask an improvement, that I call:
#WasteReporting.
Is #WasteReporting replacing the actual #LocalGuidesCleanTheWorld?
No, the original activities will continue, with meet-ups, education, and more. Waste reporting want to be an additional activity, something that we can do every day, in group or alone.
- Every time when we see abandoned waste, we can take a photo.
- We can add the photo to our personal map
- We can share the map with other Local Guides
- We can send the maps to the local authorities
- We can share the maps in social media, and of course, here in Local Guides Connect
How can we have a “personal Maps”?
This is the easier part
Start reporting: How can we report?
- Build up a mymaps and start to add photos in there. If you prefer, you can also copy and modify this one
- Share a link to your map in a reply in this post
- Spread this post to your friends. More people is acting in this, more information we will add
Do you need help in managing it? @DavidTito will share his expertise with you, just tag him.
In this way we will start to populate the maps
Do we need to arrange a meet-up for this? Of course a meet-up is always welcome, but it is not necessary. When, in your daily life, you see abandoned trash, just take some photo, and add it on the map.
If you see something that need to be noticed, write in here
What about the future? Of course, I have a dream. You can support it, if you like: Waste reporting - on Google Maps
Thank you for reading, thank you for your feedback
UPDATE: here below the links to the Mymaps course, prepared by David Tito:
