May 6th, 2011

Landscapes can help neighborhoods keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
We know this. Still homeowners, and especially developers, typically don’t maximize on the opportunities provided by strategic tree placement, green roofs and walls and yard vegetation.
The American Society of Landscape Artists is here to help. Using a government grant (you can thank the Endowment for the Arts), the ASLA produced a series of five animations and instructional guides aimed at teachers, students and homeowners who want to learn more about sustainability. The set of videos can be found at the ASLA’s Sustainable Landscapes webpages.

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December 28th, 2009

By Sommer Saadi
Green Right Now

Ben Flanner’s farm grows lush in summer with rows of squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce. And during all seasons, it provides a visual feast: a perfect view of the Manhattan skyline.

Rooftop Gardens in Brooklyn

That’s because Flanner’s farm is on top of a vacant three-story warehouse building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

A 6,000 square foot slab of concrete covered in more than 30 varieties of fruits and vegetables (not to mention the herbs) is unusual, but it’s no longer rare. Communities are pushing for greater access to locally grown food, but with land in the city so expensive, non-profits, restaurants, residents and entrepreneurial farmers like Flanner and his partner Annie Novak are turning to the city’s most under-used and readily available spaces: its rooftops.

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a 145-corporate-member green roof and walls industry association, reported a 35 percent increase from last year in the number of constructed green roof projects nationally, which totaled more than 3.1 million square feet. That number is likely to increase as more city farmers discover, as Flanner and Novak did, that rooftop farms can be profitable ventures.

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July 6th, 2009

By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

The Sears Tower is undergoing a renovation of massive proportions. As the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, the Sears Tower is already relatively eco-friendly, meeting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria. But now it is aiming to be even greener.

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