Living roofs: gardens and meadows are sprouting on rooftops as city planners and pioneering homeowners give urban life a spiritual lift, a respite from summer heat and a little fresh air - Community

Natural Health, April, 2004 by Nancy Stedman

"Part of the reason you create green roofs is that they're good for the environment," says Vitro, "but it's the human aspect people get excited about." Other project on the Earth Pledge roster include low-income apartment houses in the green-deficient South Bronx and Harlem.

Concludes Peck, "It's astounding how many benefits you can generate with green roofs. You can create a sense of community keep people off the streets, provide social assistance and help the ecology."

resources

To learn more about greening your own roof or to join the green-roof movement in your city, let these organizations be your guide:

Earth Pledge in New York City (earthpledge.com) promotes vegetated rooftops through its Green Roofs initiative and Greening Gotham plan (greeninggotham.org).

DC Greenworks in Washington, D.C. (dcgreenworks.org), is a nonprofit group that supports greenroof projects as part of an overall effort to promote urban greening.

Greenroofs.com, based in Georgia, provides abundant information on green roofs, including instructions, research, and a project database.

Green Roof Plants, located at Emory Knoll Farms in Street, Md. (greenroofplants.com), provides tips, seminars, links to research, and roof-appropriate plants.

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities in Toronto (greenroo~s.org) is a network of public and private organizations; the group's spring conference, "Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities," will be held June 2-4 in Portland, Ore.

The Northwest Eco-Building Guild (ecobuilding.org), with 10 chapters in Oregon, Washington and Montana, is the area's leading ecological building association.

RELATED ARTICLE: Greening your roof.

If you want to install a green roof on your home, odds are you'll be the first on your block to do so. Unless, that is, you live in the ecologically savvy Northwest U.S., where around 50 residential roofs already exist, according to Patrick Care,/, a Seattle architect and director of the green-roofs project of the Northwest Eco-Building Guild. (For more information on the guild and other green-roof groups, see "Resources" on page 94.)

Pioneers reap many benefits: Not only does green-roof technology on your home make your roof last longer, it reduces air-conditioning bills, cuts down on water runoff and improves your view. "You can look out the window and instead of seeing a hot and dry roof, you see something green," says Tom Liptan, an environmental specialist for the city of Portland, Ore. "You're improving livability."

So far, green roofs cost more than the standard sort, Suppliers are oriented toward commercial clients and haven't yet scaled down their products or their prices for homeowners. And you can count on hiring an architect or structural engineer to make sure your roof will bear the weight of plants and the soil medium.

Because of the expense, and because green roofs are simplest on flat surfaces, Liptan recommends that first-timers start off by having work done on their garages or on outdoor structures like garden sheds. If you plan on redoing the roof on your home, he suggests waiting until your current one needs replacing or at least serious repair.