2022 Winner, Andrew Kapochunas Environmental Map Award

2022 Detail 1: Jana Vanagė, Lietuvos statistikos departamentas

2022 Detail 2: Jana Vanagė

My comments, translated into Lithuanian by Vilnius University Professor and Secretary, Lithuanian Cartographic Society Giedrė Beconytė, read by her on November 25, 2022, in Vilnius, Lithuania at this year's CartoCon at Vilnius University (I decided, given my recent health issues, that I would not attend in person):

"I would like to thank all those who worked on and submitted a map for consideration for this year’s Environmental Map Award:

· Austė Noreikaitė of “Vilniaus Planas”, with co-authors, submitting the interactive map project “Intelektualūs miesto plaučiai”

· Neilas Žarskas of Vilnius University, submitting “Saulės energijos potencialo vertinimas pastatams: Marijampolės pavyzdžiu.”

· Jana Vanagė of Lietuvos statistikos departamentas, submitting: “If glaciers melt tomorrow, the sea level would rise 70 meters, and Lithuania would look like this.”

"This year’s award winner is Jana Vanagė!

"Even though her map’s scenario may not happen for centuries – if we’re all lucky! -- I believe her map is exactly what Lithuanians – and the rest of the world – need to see, and be shocked by, right now. It is a necessary counterpoint to what the former US president said just last week to a nationwide audience:

“They say the ocean will rise an eighth of an inch over the next 200 to 300 years. But [they] don’t worry about nuclear weapons that can take out entire countries with one shot.”

"His audience at Mar-a-Lago laughed and cheered – reassured that there’s no need to worry about climate change, especially when we could die tomorrow from nuclear war.

"A reality check by the US government’s National Ocean Service: It is now considered inevitable that 3.3% of Greenland’s ice sheet (equivalent to 110 trillion tons of ice) will melt by 2100 even if the world immediately stops emitting planet-warming greenhouse gases. The resulting sea-level rise just from that event is now projected to be up to a foot – twice as much as recent projections.

"I am hopeful that some Lithuanians previously unconcerned about the consequences of global warming will be inspired by seeing Jana’s map to become actively involved in Lithuania’s environmental organizations. And that is the kind of result my Environmental Map Award was meant to achieve. Thank you, Jana – and thank you, Giedrė and the Lithuanian Cartographic Society for giving me the opportunity each year to reward those whose maps help raise concern for Lithuania’s environment."

Giedrė Beconytė speaking in Lithuanian about maps, on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU6gJvBsjxU