Grow a Garden in the Sky

A simple and attractive way to cut energy costs, reduce power-plant emissions, improve air quality, and ensure public health.

By Sacha Zimmerman

From For America

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Each time a city building is erected, the grass in that spot and trees that once reached up to the sky are replaced by a swath of asphalt or a tar roof.

Add to that the construction of roads, parking lots, and yet more buildings, and the total lost green space can have a very real effect on a city's air temperature, air quality, and energy costs. On a summer day in most American cities, a tar roof can feel like the inside of an oven. But what if we could replace the hot roof of each skyscraper or building in a city with grass or a garden?

Whether it holds vegetable gardens, wildflowers, or meadow grasses, a green roof can lower the temperature above a building by 60 degrees, which can reduce the building's energy costs and, if used more widely, could decrease a city's total energy costs, reduce power-plant emissions, and improve air quality and public health.

But that's not all -- green roofs are a great way to handle water management in urban areas with overwhelmed sewerage systems (green roofs soak up excess precipitation), provide sanctuaries for urban wildlife, and actually extend the life span of the roof itself. And green roofs do something else: They beautify the city -- whether you're on the 3rd floor or the 30th. Now that's a crowning achievement.

The environmental nonprofit group Earth Pledge is promoting a Green Roofs Initiative. To learn more about how to create a green roof -- and the benefits it will provide -- visit its website at EarthPledge.com.