August roundup - green roofs, urban agriculture, green architecture

As the east coast hurricane leaves us and we bid adieu to the end of August, here are a few more stories which caught my eye:

-Faith based groups have often lead the way in change. In Madison, Wisconsin the Holy Wisdom Monastery is the undisputed leader.

-St. Lawrence University has just launched Canada's first Sustainable Local Food Certificate for this fall.

-Here's a fantastic article about what President Obama can do to help fight the recession utilizing urban farming.

-What is the capacity of NYC for urban crop production, green roofs and what are the potential benefits of urban agriculture in NYC? Columbia University's urban design lab has the answers.

And lastly, there are a couple of ways for North Americans to get involved in their city with living architecture.

-In Montreal a working group needs 15,000 signatures on a paper petition by Nov. 8 to have a public consultation on the state of urban agriculture in Montreal.

-If you are an Atlanta resident you can help design an urban farm.

New green roof book

Just finished a new book by Nigel Dunnett, Dusty Gedge, John Little and Edmund C. Snodgrass. Bringing together pioneers from both sides of the pond, Dunnett and Snodgrass alone have perhaps 10 books between them before they decided to write "Small Green Roofs" - Low-tech options for greener living. This is another must have for the library of every living architecture professional, but if you are new to the green roof world and perhaps want to install small green roof on your home, whether it be by a professional or yourself, this is the book to have. Chock full of examples, explained in terrific detail, many of these roofs could be easily replicated. And what's more, small roofs are rarely highlighted on green roof blogs, websites, magazines or in newspapers. I guess the logic goes, if it's only a few feet big, will it be interesting to the rest of us? Will it increase readership or sales to the media outlet? I am glad the author's decided to write the book because every roof is someone's pride and joy and everyone deserves to have a green roof if it's possible. And one has many options if they are open to the possibilities. Check it out today!

Another cool book is Green Architecture - An Asian Perspective. This is the first time I have seen an entire book on video. This a little about green walls on page 98.

2011 Summer Music to Garden playlist

Last year I compiled a list of songs to garden to and heard that a few people like it. So here's year 2...

Green Day Sassafras Roots
Elvis PresleyGreen Grass of Home
Simon & Garfunkel Scarborough Fair
Stone Temple Pilots Wicked Garden
They Might Be GiantsC is for Conifers!
Itzhak PerlmanAntonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Autumn


And if you want to find a few more songs to listen to, here's a list of songs, some of themI have never heard of.

Let me know what new tunes you dig up!

Will food prices lead to unrest?

-Predictions of social unrest in 12-24 months as a result of food prices.

-This story has been widely bounced around the net. But foraging on unused or vacant land made a
big splash in the NY Times. What's amazing to me are the details of the story, like 1 in 50 homes in Atlanta have been foreclosed. Or, one positive aspect of this misfortune, in Oregon officials offer property that has been seized for back taxes to community and governmental organizations for gardens.

-In a fantastic application of permaculture, food grown in school gardens is used in the preparation of South African school lunches.

-600 local governments, representing one-fourth of the U.S. population, have signed on to the Climate Resilient Communities program by ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA. Chicago is using green roofs as a part of their strategy for resisting climate change.

-If you're looking for some of the best bills in the last year check out Connecticut’s HB 6399: Setting a Path towards a Green Economy. Hopefully the task force can devise great ways to create even better green jobs.

A green roof, 2 years later

Okay folks, here are the pictures. Any differences?

Upon completion:

Toronto Residential Green Roof by verticiel Inc. - Upon completion 2009

Year one:

Toronto Residential Green Roof by verticiel Inc. - Year 1 - 2010

Year two:

Toronto Residential Green Roof by verticiel Inc. - Year 2 - 2011

Odds and ends from the last few weeks

Want to know what to do with peach leaves and corn cobs???

-For all of those in Central America, there's a permaculture course in Nicaragua happening this February.

-No surprise that in the UK 6% of city kids are interested in becoming farmers. But when they spend 2 days in the countryside and 17 watching tv, that makes a lot of sense.

-Not every African country is behind the idea, but it looks like Senegal is doing its part to make the the Great Green Wall project and stop the "Sahara creep" (I just coined that term) a reality.

-Lastly the Washington Post reports organic farming is reducing resistance of certain bacteria to antibiotics!

New York City law makes green roofs, urban gardens and greenhouses easier, other cities make it harder

Big news this week out of New York City, as City Council passed giving access to more land for urban gardens and to make it easier to build rooftop greenhouses.

Is New York now in the lead for greenest city in North America? We know they take their green seriously, they take it even more seriously in Uganda. How about a fine or imprisonment if you don't report how many animals you own?

Detroit's first commercial farm is finally getting started! It's 1/1000 of the size they wanted, but it's a start. The law needs to be changed to allow more farming in Detroit, Philly and elsewhere. And this article outlines some of the challenges.

Let's introduce these researchers to green roofs!

Saw a couple of articles recently and wished I could have talked to the researchers earlier to encourage them to consider how green roofs could have (or do) impact their findings.

-We all know that trees like carbon, but how about a 10% increase in trees equaling a reduction of 12% in carbon emissions? Sounds good to me. This study covers mid-size cities, that would lead me to think that in large cities which are even more built up and out, green roofs and walls could play the same kind of role.

Another study says that cities are a great place for pollinators because of a range of flowers available at different times. As I am always thinking about green roofs, I wonder, are they more diverse than other gardens in general?

-The living architecture word of the day: Parkmobiles.

-Last week we learned the basics of Chicago's new urban agriculture platform, here's more of the nitty gritty with comments from residents as well.

-Permaculture meets punk in Mexico City.

-And finally, there are year-long urban agriculture internship opportunities in Detroit.

A green roof book review and bikes from bamboo

Just finished a newish book, the Green Roof Manual by Edmund Snodgrass and Linda McIntyre. Subtitled "A Professional Guide to Design, Installation, and Maintenance, it is fantastic for those who have just entered the green roof field. Written from a professional's point of view, it provides a number of lessons and best practices it took me years to learn in the real world. Definitely worth your time and money!!!
And of course, because this is truly an example of living architecture, Alexander Vittouris brings us the Ajiro, a naturally grown urban personal mobility.



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