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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