Steel is just about the most recyclable building material on earth. You could be well reading this in an office building built with steel originally smelted from iron in Julius Caesars day.
So it makes good green sense to build eco prefab houses with steel…
Inhabitat shares a great set of stories on Alive Structures: a Brooklyn based green roofing collective. Together, with the most creative native gardeners in the city, Alive Structures will be giving tours of their rooftop gardens at NYC wildflower week. All those in the greater New York area make sure to stop by to explore this exciting dimension of the greening of cities.
City roof gardens create a nice natural habitat for pollinators and migrating species, and additionally “they provide open green spaces for property owners and the public to enjoy.” Green roofs are known to improve air and water quality, lessen storm-water runoff, lower building energy consumption, and reduce urban heat island affect.
Green roofs are constructed as a series of layers including:
The GreenRoofs.org “Green Roofs for Healthy Cities” Conference is on the horizon in Atlanta this coming June 2009! It is just ideal for:
“Green roofs are an important component of green infrastructure. They provide valuable public benefits related to stormwater management, reduction of the urban heat island, improvement of air quality (including removal of particulate matter), and general improvement of the quality of life in communities.” ~GreenRoofs.org
A project of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics) at Exit Art, “Vertical Gardens is an exhibition of architectural models, renderings, drawings, photographs and ephemera that depict or imagine a vertical farm, urban garden or green roof.” The exhibit features over 20 projects, both imaginary and real, by artists and architects envisioning solutions for building greener urban environments.
Details for the FREE two-day event (featuring eco architects, artists, professors, and poets) at Exit celebrating Earth Day 2009 are as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Part of the White House lawn is becoming a vegetable garden. For the first time since World War II, our First Family is setting the example of eating locally and sustainably. Lawns consume inordinate amounts of water and chemical fertilizers. Gardens produce fresh healthy food with far less inputs.
Suburbia can follow the example set by the Obamas. Vegetables fresh from the garden burst with flavor and nutrients. Kitchen gardens are enjoying a new popularity this season. With the renaissance of gardening, many Americans will “taste” vegetables for the first time.
The vegetables we find at the grocery store are attractive, but commercial varieties are selected to endure mechanical harvesting, storage, and transportation. Their flavors are a mere shadow of the more ephemeral heirloom vegetables grown by our grandparents.
Summer fruits are appearing on grocers shelves. But are they locally grown? Are they sustainably grown?
Unfortunately, the peaches and plums that are now available have been shipped from Central or South America. Transportation gives these fruits a large environmental footprint and a high price. Although they may look enticing, these fruits were harvested green and have little flavor. The most delicious and the most environmentally friendly fruits come from our own gardens.
Spring weather entices us outdoors, and our thoughts turn to delectable fruits that will soon be ripe. Many of the spring fruits that we see in grocery stores are shipped from Central or South America, definitely not a green option! Those same spring fruits grow well in many home gardens. Homegrown fruits are healthier, tastier, and they have a fraction of the carbon footprint.
Bing cherries were once grown throughout the Santa Clara Valley. However, the valley has warmed, and only lower chill cherry varieties now produce fruit in the same locations. Lapins and Stella cherries require less chill, and they rival Bing in flavor. Royal Rainier is a lower chill yellow cherry that is as scrumptious as Royal Ann.
Edible landscaping is the best way to eat locally. We save the fossil fuels used to transport produce thousands of miles from farmers’ fields to the grocer. When grown organically, produce requires far less energy than conventional agriculture. We also save the chemical inputs needed to maintain a lawn.
Imagine harvesting fresh fruit and vegetables just steps from your door. Harvested at the peak of ripeness, homegrown produce is more flavorful and nutritious. Many of the best fruits are too delicate for transport and storage. They are only available to home gardeners.
Here at Green Options, our coverage of tree houses on Clean Technica and Feel Good Style lead me to a discussion on treehouse hotels. This started me thinking about the the perfect way to experience ecotourism…
…in a way that might further ecological education and preservation. For example, show above are aerial views of Hinchinbrook tree house hotel in Australia, which is tucked inside a 96-acre national park with lush rainforests, sandy beaches, plus mountain hiking.
Realizing not all of us may have the ability to dash away to a resort, a simpler treetop experience is Free Spirit Spheres (shown below), that is something Inhabitat updates us on as you can not only visit their unique place, you may buy own orb from them.
The Ecosphere is in a grove of trees, and can be your little personal treehouse spacecraft among the branches. Read the rest of this entry »
A new study in the December 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine suggests that an increase of green space in a neighborhood may decrease the chance for childhood obesity among neighborhood children. In the study, researchers from the University of Washington, Indiana University-Purdue University and Indiana University School of Medicine followed more than 3800 children aged 3 to 16 over a two year period. Using satellite imagery, the researchers found that of the predominantly African-American and poor children studied, those who lived near greater concentrations of green space had a greater chance of lower body mass index (BMI.) Children whose activities were limited to streets and sidewalks faced greater risk of childhood obesity than those who had access to open spaces such as yards, parks, or vacant lots.
This study finds that what is good for adults may not be good for children. A previous study done by the same researchers found that higher urban concentrations led to less driving and more walking by adults, and a corresponding drop in BMI. Read the rest of this entry »
Green Building Elements
At Green Building Elements, home owners and LEED accredited professional alike can learn about advances in green and renewable building materials, current projects in sustainable architecture and progressive urban planning, and local guidelines for creating green structures in different regions of the U.S.
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