Did you know that the UN declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity?
I wasn’t aware of that and I’m wandering how many of you actually were.

Throughout the year countless initiatives are being organized to disseminate information, promote the protection of biodiversity and encourage organizations, institutions, companies and individuals to take direct action to reduce the constant loss of biological diversity worldwide.

Among the many initiatives (www.cbd.int/2010/welcome/) one that caught particularly my attention was the transformation of the Champs-Elysees in Paris from a fashionable but busy street into an extraordinary garden.

You have to see it to believe it therefore I’ve posted here some pictures to show you the amazing transformation (only for few days) of the famous Champs-Elysees.

Continue reading 2010 International Year for Biological Diversity and Paris

What does a Church have to do with a green roof?
Well, you might be surprises as I was to discover that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints built a massive conference centre with a massive green roof on top of it!
Amazing isn’t it? We should never judge, should we! Have a loof at the pictures!

Continue reading Churches and Green Roofs?

I know that growing vegetable seem to have nothing to do with Living Roofs or Green Roofs but it actually does!
In fact the empty space of rooftops can be used not just for ornamental plants or ecological purpuse but to produce fresh vegetables too.
And I think that looking at what the horticulture industry is actually doing and how is evolving can be very usefull also for rooftop farming.
What do you think? Let us know! Antonino G.

Rooftop Farm in Chicago

Continue reading Carbon Footprint and Vegetables

Great news for Australians, so close to Singapore and therefore able to join the Skyrise Greenery Conference 2010!

When: November 1-3, 2010
Where: Venue to be announced, please register at http://www.skyrisegreenery.com/index.php/conference/

The conference is organized by the National Parks Board and International Green Roof Association (IGRA) and the theme is “Surfaces of Creativity: Spaces of Delight”

It will serve as a platform for the holistic exchange of ideas in the new innovations of urban greenery and its potential to transform our cityscapes and the lives of the people.

It will also serve as a platform where international urban greenery experts from various discipline, will come together with the academia, architects, landscape architects, landscape contractors, policy-makers and stakeholders to discuss the present and future trends of this growing sector.

Topics will include the various essential aspects of skyrise greenery such as specifications and installation of green roofs and vertical greenery systems, technical studies (eg. heat shield and the thermal aspects, integration of skyrise greenery with sustainable eco-processes) as well as the sharing of the experience garnered from global political incentives and guidelines.

The conference will be presented in forms of lectures, workshops, projects and site excursions.

The U.S. Government is not only shifting many of its policies and funding programs to include green infrastructure such as green roofs and green walls, it is using its own portfolio of buildings housing more than one million federal workers across the country as a way to Lead by Example.
Congressional Action and Presidential Executive Orders have set a high standard of environmental performance for federal buildings, and in just the last few weeks standards have been issued requiring, for example, that all federal buildings manage most of their stormwater on-site.
In some cases that may mean more ponding areas, but in the most densely developed areas that include federal buildings, the best and most cost-effective options will be to install green roofs, green walls and stormwater collection systems.

Urban farming is a growth industry in New York city’s concrete jungle and with little open land free, agriculturalists and beekeepers have taken to the rooftops to pursue their passion.

Andrew Cote uses the emergency fire ladder to climb up to the roof of his East Village building, where he tends to 250 bee hives.

Continue reading Rooftop farming booms in New York

Philadelphia’s plan envisions transforming the city into an oasis of rain gardens, green roofs, treescapes, and porous pavements, which advocates say is cheaper than tunnels and makes for a more liveable, prettier city with higher property values and better community health.

Green roofs prove even more effective in fighting global warming than first thought

By Jeff Salton (Ecogizmo)

You only have to watch a TV show in which the camera flies over any major city to realize the numbers of ugly, stark, gray, flat roofs that occupy millions of square feet but contribute nothing to the environment. It’s almost an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude we have with these unoccupied spaces. But what if we could turn these wasted environments into something beneficial to the environment, while at the same time beautifying the tops of our tall buildings and skyscrapers?

Continue reading Greenroofs and global warming