About « Sourcemap Blog

About

Our Mission

Sourcemap is a platform that enables users to contribute to and share ideas about sustainability. Whether you are inviting people to an event, buying ingredients for a recipe, or designing a product, your choices have a significant impact. Some decisions have impacts that stretch across the world, whereas others are primarily regional. Understanding the reach of our actions and facilitating positive change is fundamental to improving economic, social, and environmental conditions in our own society and the world at large.

1. Visible Supply Chains

We have a right to know more about the products and services we consume, including where they come from and what they are made of. Sourcemap is an open source project dedicated to tracking, documenting, and mapping where all of the components for our everyday goods come from. In short, it’s a supply chain publishing platform dedicated to transparency.

2. Social and Environmental Sustainability

Industrial production can be environmentally and socially beneficial in many ways. Unfortunately, with the resources currently available to the public, it’s nearly impossible to find out how products and services impact the earth and our society. And, if we don’t know those details, we are more likely to make unintentionally poor choices. To that end, we are developing Sourcemap so that those who are interested can make informed, sustainable decisions at home and in the workplace.

3. The Bottom Line

Sourcemap was built to sustain business: it is a diagnostic and marketing tool that helps to plan for and advertise a long-term outlook on the choices that we make. After all, saving energy and materials saves money, and healthy communities become prosperous markets. Sourcemap provides an edge so that you can respond to shifting supplies, communicate with customers, and plan for the future.

How it works

Sourcemap is a tool for producers, business owners, and consumers that allows them to understand the impact of supply chains. Our site is a social network where anyone can contribute to a shared understanding of the “story” that underlies a product. For example, you can simulate the impact of manufacturing, transporting, using, and throwing away products using our Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) calculator. We use linked data from geological and geographic resources, and we rely on user contributions and a panel of advisers to keep information up-to-date. Each “Sourcemap” can be used to help market socially- and environmentally-conscious products and to evaluate carbon offsets. Supply chains published on the site can be embedded in external Web sites, printed onto product packaging, or linked through QR codes that are readable by camera phones. As the site grows, suppliers will be able to contribute their products to the Sourcemap database, providing a geographic catalogue of materials and products for sale around the world.

We realize there are many ways to use Sourcemap, and we are working to ensure that more users can benefit from its myriad applications. Here are some of the ways to get involved:

Visitors
Sourcemap is a resource for anyone to find out what things are made of and where they come from. Feel free to browse our maps, materials, and transportation options to learn more about the impact of specific production decisions. Soon, you’ll be able to leave comments and choose your favorite maps. Also, you can contact us if you have specific questions, and you can suggest new features or point out bugs at our project management site. Also, you have the ability to make your own map when you need to make an important sustainable decision!

Registered users:
When you’re ready to create a map—whether you’re planning a menu, a meeting, or planning to build something—you can register and start using the tool immediately! You’ll find that, as you select where something is made and what it’s made of, you can track which decisions have the greatest impact and find a way to mitigate that negative effect. Plus, if you know more than we do about a particular material or its footprint, you can update the information yourself or suggest a part of your own!

Here’s who we are: