Big green roofs lead to a healthier life

I can make that statement, right? Tuesday's Metro  summarizes an extensive Canadian study by Health Canada which states living near a green space leads to a healthier life. A similar study in 2008 confirms this. So one could reasonably assume just living near a big green roof would have similar effects, right? Read the full story and let me know what you think.

-If you live in Michigan and would like a sweet aquaponics setup for a reasonable price, someone posted one last week on craiglist. Talk about a deal!

-Another aquaponics system might be on the market or the occupants of a co-op will be looking for a new place to stay because their aquaponic system may get them evicted. You know a family truly loves urban agriculture when they brush aside their co-op board and threaten to double-down by expanding to growing mushrooms! I hope cooler heads prevail, for we all know urban agriculture works in New York City apartments.

Get to know your urban farmer!

A preview of an upcoming short film:

A couple of things

-Two green roof studies have been recently referenced on The Earth’s Institute website. It will cost you a bit to get your hands on the studies, but well worth the price.

-Near and far innovative food security efforts continue to assist those in need. Of particular interest is a permaculture project in Malawi which has trained hundreds of teachers and planted thousands of trees.

Urban agriculture + permaculture events

May is rapidly passing us by and there is lots to look forward to this summer.

The PeaceMeal project has planned a four day workshop, from June 18-23 at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). If you have ever thought how can my “daily act of eating contribute to creating a more peaceful world”, this is for you! Also in Toronto is a one week Locavore Food Camp. On the menu, growing, preserving, cooking, harvesting local food at the incredible Evergreen Brick Works.

And I can’t forget to plug an Architecture for Humanity get together next week, a speed networking event where two people have five minutes to discuss one topic and then it's on to the next topic and attendee. 

Lastly in July, once you have attended the first ever Mediterranean Regional Permaculture Conference in Istanbul, you can head stateside to get your permaculture teaching certificate in Oregon.  

Before you get married, you must plant a tree

-Not sure what this statement means, but it appears the Gill Tract saga at UC Berkeley has entered a different stage. Does anyone know where one can get an objective summary of what happened in Berkeley and what it means for all stakeholders?

-It’s the best when press releases are issued which include the names and contact information for your elected officials. Last week Sioux Falls began a discussion on urban agriculture husbandry, while St. Paul launched a new website to “encourage the increased consumption, production and distribution of healthy, sustainable and locally grown food.

Minnesota has a ton of fantastic initiatives growing strong, like the Minnesota Food Association, a “small business incubator teaching immigrant and minority persons how to operate financially viable farms. A member of the National Immigrant Farming Initiative, the MFA is just one of many such programs thriving across the USA. 

-If you want some interesting banter and a few urban agriculture yucks while doing your household errands, listen to last week’s Science Friday talk on NPR. From rooftops to abandoned lots, there’s much to be eaten in your city, wherever you are.

-Naturally you are wondering about today's title. Across the world people understand the importance of trees and in different places, different things are being done to preserve the tree canopy. From the Great Green Wall in the Sahara, to an interesting idea in the Philippines where before getting a marriage license one city would like to mandate that the couple must first plant a tree.

Bees on a green roof - in song

I was up on a green roof just last week and when reflecting on my May song list couldn’t help but think that I have never done a list of songs concerning bees. How could I forget them, I have certainly been stung enough. Maybe if I dedicate a post to them, word will get around and they will cut me some slack? It’s worth a try:

Taj Mahal - Queen Bee

Cleveland Crochet - Sugar Bee

Cannonball Adderly & Nancy Wilson - A Sleepin’ Bee

Elvis Presley - I Got Stung

Rainwater harvesting info overload

Every once in a while I like to dig into my crate o' bookmarks and share some of the info I have collected over the years. I hope some of the following is useful.

North American resources:

-Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting

-Rainwater Harvesting: System Planning

-A Methodology for using Rainwater Harvesting as a
Stormwater Management

Feasibility of Rainwater Harvesting BMP for Stormwater
Management

-Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure, Municipal Handbook, Rainwater Harvesting Policies

-Chesapeake Bay Region
Bay-Wide Rainwater Harvesting Design Specification & Spreadsheet

Australian resources

-Australian Guidelines for Water Recycling: Stormwater Harvesting and Reuse

-Managing Urban Stormwater: Harvesting and Reuse

-Urban Stormwater Harvesting Options Study for South Australia

Montreal's urban agriculture conference begins

I hope that everyone's Mother's Day was fantastic. The GILA (green infrastructure, living architecture) community took a break like everyone else, but there were a couple of interesting events/articles. The biggest was a guest blog post from Will Allen on Forbes.com making a call for all to support the next green revolution. Of course we cannot forget Montreal's long awaited urban agriculture and food security conference, which kicked off on Saturday. Can't wait to hear the details.

Urban agriculture word of the week: grand-chickens

Yes, for those of you who are over 50, childless and raising chickens (can I say “chickenfull”...is that a word I just made up but need to trademark ASAP?) comes the word “grand-chicken”, for poultry you treat like family...but you eventually eat. Anyway, I digress. Add Arlington, VA to the list of towns debating current zoning laws restricting urban agriculture. 

-Has everyone been following this Occupy the Farm movement in Berkeley, California? You’ve got to read about it daily, because the situation is constantly evolving, from the original occupation, to the ongoing negotiations and the displacement of the occupiers and more.

How about a quick look at some world green infrastructure news?

-We’ll start off in Britain, where a recent article from the Green Prophet states how gardens play an important role in Islam and Muslim culture and delineates the difference between traditional formal Islamic gardens and gardens reflecting Islamic traditions 

-In Kenya, it looks like we have the first rumblings of a green roof movement. 

-Lastly in Malaysia, if you have a moment, read more about this groups struggle to save a permaculture influenced farm from the government. And if you are so moved, sign the petition.

Food security job opportunities just posted

For those of you in the Toronto area looking for a year long gig, FutureWatch just posted the following opportunities:  Food Box Worker and Food Security Garden Worker.

Knotweed is bursting + songs of the month

May is here. Leaves, flowers and knotweed are bursting. But we’ll get to that later. Here are the songs of the month:

Bee Gees- First of May 

The Caesars - May the Rain                                     

      And one for Mother’s Day: 

Jeannie C. Riley- Harper Valley P.T.A. 

-Quite often I’ll judge a dish by it’s recipe, that’s why I’ll reluctantly try Marie Viljoen’s knotweed soup. I have been a little afraid to try any recipes with Polygonum cuspidatum in it, as it supposedly has a laxative effect. But she’s right, this stuff can really grow. The picture below is the knotweed next door, hard to tell but it's already over 6 feet tall. 

Last year it hit about 10 feet. And it has stretched it’s footprint, underground, about 6 feet in one year. Sometime before my arrival it moved to this side of the fence and it has been a formidable challenge since day one. Anoter note of caution, if you do see tasty young sprouts in between mature stalks and want to indulge, be careful...splinters, scrapes and cuts are highly probable.

The Green Roof news just keeps coming

Who knew I would have to update Wednesday’s post this quickly?

I was made aware that last week Mayor Vincent C. Gray, of Washington DC announced Sustainable DC.

The Mayor wants DC to be the  “healthiest, greenest, and most livable city in the United States”, which would include installing over 1.5 million square feet of green roofs on buildings in the city within a few years. He's psyched about urban farms too. Is it too late to give them another star?

According to Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, DC is 2011’s green roofing champ. Overall GRHC reports a 115% leap in green roof installations. Wow!

-You have my summary on Toronto’s recent green roof battle, if you want another perspective check out NOW Magazine.  

And lastly is an interesting report on San Francisco’s urban agriculture movement. In my view the most interesting tidbit is that Seattle spends almost twice as much per plot!

State of the green roof movement in North America

In light of recent discussions in Toronto and Montreal, I thought that we could take a look at the state of the green roof movement around the world, starting with North America. In about a year we'll take a look at the list again to see what has changed. 

My rating system:

*** = green roof guru

** = green roof supporter

* = green roof newbie

Feel free to let me know your thoughts!

Austin - 

In the Southern United States Austin has been a true green roof pioneer. Starting with a white paper jointly produced by their water protection, conservation and planning departments in 2007, they have experienced slow, but constant growth. Incentives are offered in Austin for the installation of green roofs, however not in the form of direct grants. They still have three more years left in their implementation plan, so I would say the future looks bright in Austin. Although their current mayor is up for re-election. And we all know how important political support for your cause is. 

**

Chattanooga -

Talk about late breaking news, on Monday came the first signs they will begin offering credits to developers.

*
Chicago - 

What can you say about Chicago? It's green roof cred is rock solid. In 2001 Mayor Daley jumps in, sedums a' blazin', and they haven't looked back.

Don’t get me wrong, it would be great if they still gave cash incentives, let’’s hope they do with Rahm Emmanuel at the helm. Ahhm...Rahm?

**1/2

DC -

Get your cash!!! One of the latest big cities to join the party, they offer a very generous $5/square foot, up from $3. Let’s hope in 3 years time it jumps to $8. We can hope, can’t we?

**1/2

Louisville - 

We've got some good signs coming from Louisville. Last fall incentives for developers were agreed to, which is a great start.

*

Milwaukee -

Since 2003 Milwaukee has steadily increased support for green roof (and of course, urban agriculture). Tom Barrett is your man with a plan, but with his entry into the gubernatorial race, if he wins, what happens in Milwaukee?

**

Minneapolis -

Add a green roof and you can receive up to a 50 percent credit (aka reduction) in your stormwater utility fee. Sweet!

**

New York City -

After a comparatively slow start, New York City has gotten serious about green roofs and green infrastructure quickly. A comprehensive green infrastructure plan and $187 million dollars over the next three years with perhaps $2 billion more over 20 years speaks volumes.

The green roof tax abatement is up for renewal this year, but I feel good about its extension considering the city is building “green” playgrounds now and the mayor put a green roof on his foundation. 

***

Philadelphia - 

In 2010 Philadelphia began offering a tax credit for businesses willing to install a green roof, great move!

**

Portland - 

The city is synonymous with green and for good measure. Their program started in 2008 and has been going strong since, installing over 100,000 square feet in 2011 alone! 

**1/2

Seattle -

It appears Seattle had an incentive program back in 2007. Then in 2009 changes were made to Seattle's building code opening the door for developers to get credit for installing green roofs. Then the green roof momentum slowed. Not sure what is happening now. 

*1/2

And last but not least, one small but committed municipality...a 30-45 minute drive from the centre of Vancouver, Port Coquitlam has it’s very own green roof bylaw. 

**