So much for blogging while on the road! Two weeks have passed since Green Roof Safari ended, and I’m only getting caught up now. That said, after the Safari ended, I got swept up by the World Green Roof Congress, and then by a week in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Grosses Walsertal. Apologies, as I digress (but must admit they are nice memories!!).

This blog posting is meant to share some reflections of the Safari. Since I’m only skimming the 6 day study tour, please don’t hesitate to send me your questions, either as a comment (at the bottom of this posting), or via email.

For its first run, Green Roof Safari visited between 4 and 6 sites a day, with a range of project designs which included Hundertwasser, intensive public spaces, extensive Sedum ‘deserts’ and ecologically designed roof habitats. For integrative, holistic projects, we visited two sustainable communities -Scharnhauser Park (near Stuttgart) and the Vauban District of Freiburg. Both are former military barracks remodeled for efficiency and mixed-use.

The tour met with a number of local experts representing policy and municipal campaigning, green roof design, research, and installation. The tour is indebted to the generosity of Stephan Brenneisen (Zurich University of Applied Sciences), John Doeveling (City Stuttgart), Christian Lang (Top Gruen), Christian Mathys (City of Basel), as well as our colleagues at Gemperle AG. Thanks also to Hotel Contel and Hotel Abalon for entertaining our curiosties.

We had great weather the whole trip, right up until the last day. And then, my, did the weather turn BAD! The downpour was torrential, and relentless. Nonetheless, we visited some unbelievable living facade projects in Zurich-Oerlikon. Doesn’t Brent’s red umbrella add a nice touch to MFO Park?

The night spent in the Alps, on the Rigi at 1,500 m above sea level, was literally in the clouds, so we didn’t get much of a view. Not of the Alps across Lake Lucerne, and hardly even of the little green roof bar on the terrace. Still, we knew that through the haze was the representing ‘green roof above 1000 m’. The photo below was taken in early August.

There is not a date for Green Roof Safari 2009 yet, but stay tuned to the website. Please don’t hesitate with questions or inquiries, and I’d love to hear any comments below.

Truly,

~ Christine

Hi, I’m George Irwin, a contributing editor here on Greenroofs.com - The Green Wall Editor. I write the occassional Green Walls Column, and as promised I will convert and dedicate most of my personal blog thoughts from a prior blog site to Sky Gardens…..One thing I do not care about when Im writing is the grammar or spelling mistakes I make when Im spilling my thoughts, so if you’re reading this blog and want to comment on my mistakes….too bad:)

I think free writing is important not to be interrupted by the conscious thought of making mistakes, it takes away the creativity of transferring the thoughts to writing. The same holds true with new research and products introduced to the market. Dont be afraid to make mistakes, take chances and like Nike “Just do it”. You will make mistakes…..So there is the inspiration for my first post.

The second part of the post is our Green Living Technologies Green Living Newsletter, not associated with Greenroofs.com but I thought you might be interested in my personal business, too. This month we have some very cool changes…yes change is good…for both our green roof and green wall systems. We are also charging the way into Central America, Honduras to be exact. Im hoping to bring you into my thoughts and also provide a combination of education, stimulated thinking and comments…..as always I make myself available for contact via email at the greenwalleditor@greenroofs.com.

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Green Living TM Technologies and THE GREEN LIVING NEWS
Current September Issue:

I want to welcome the new subscribers to our newsletter! Lots to talk about this month! Our dedication is to improving our products making sure they are both affordable and functional. This month we are proud to release our Roof Tray system that was designed to retain stormwater.

New Product Launch: Green LivingTM Roof Tray

Rochester NY…. Green Living TM Technologies announces the release of its advanced patent pending Green Living TM Roof Tray with water retention. The heavy gauge aluminum soon to be zinc Green Living TM Roof Tray was developed as a simplified way to install a basic green roof. The original Green Living TM Roof Modular System requires a higher level of installation skills and green roof know how. The Roof Tray has a price point similar to the cost of the original modular system but the installation labor cost is half. It’s easier to transport and can be pre-vegetated or filled and planted on the roof. “This is a great product for clients who have the ability to lift and place the trays on almost any flat or minimally sloped roof without hiring a green roof contractor.” The Green Living TM Roof Tray comes complete with a hydro-blanket that also acts as a filter. The system was designed for stormwater retention. The trays measure 20″ x 24″ (3.5 square feet) and come in standard 4″, 6″, 8″ and 12″ depths. The 4″ depth can retain up to 4.35 gallons of stormwater and still provide unlimited drainage through the large .25 drain holes within the sides of the tray. Just like the Green Living TM Roof Modular System once the tray reaches saturation the stormwater flows to the roof and into the designated drains. With embossed feet, to allow the tray to sit off the roof for air and water flow and built in handles for easy transport and carrying, two people can install a complete 1000 square foot roof in less than a day! Even fully saturated, we still maintain 15 +/- pounds per square foot.

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Change is Good! for the Green Living TM Wall

With all good companies product improvement and development is a high priority. After additional R&D we have made some key changes to the Green Living TM Wall. Before we announce the changes let us make note the corner panel is now part of the standard Green LivingTM Wall System. The first change is the safety hem on the outer edges of the wall panel structure. Second is the two part assembly that led to removing any torque. The result is a green wall panel that is easier and safer to handle. With our patented cell technology we still retain the unlimited drainage and root migration within the panels themselves and unlike plastic components the Green Living TM Wall will not warp or crack with the expansion and contraction of heat and cold. Also now available in standard increments of 6 inches and custom manufacturing, powder coating and laser engraving are always available.

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Green Living TM Wall Featured on Dream Home w/ Lisa Quinn on October 4th, 2008

Green LivingTM Technologies and the Green Living TM Wall was featured in one of the San Francisco area’s Dream Home episode. Join us as we work with Lisa Quinn, co-host Alexandrea Schardt and GLT’s George Irwin on how easy it is to dress up an otherwise drab wall by planting and installing a 2 - panel Green LivingTM Wall system with manual irrigation.

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Green Living TM Technologies in Honduras

Green Living TM Technologies Breaks ground with Angela Stassano of Techos Verdes and her partner Lazarus & Lazarus in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. October 13th we will be in Honduras with Angela to establish the installation of the Green LivingTM Systems. In addition the location will also serve as a continuing education and eventually a growing facility. Congratulations to Techos Verdes and Lazarus & Lazarus. I will have more pictures and in depth coverage for our next newsletter!

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Green Living TM Technologies reps and installer Michael and Angela Bucci, G-Space Philadelphia, showcase the Green Living Wall

Green Living TM Technologies’ Philadelphia-based and authorized representative / installer G-Space (Not to be confused with another “G” company) displays one of their latest Green LivingTM Wall projects on the exterior of the refurbished Vorhees Coliseum, home of the Arena Football League’s Philadelphia Soul. Great job to Michael and Angela Bucci and the entire G-Space staff!

I can be reached via email also at George@agreenroof.com. If you like our Green Living TM Technologies and THE GREEN LIVING NEWS newsletter and want to receive it directly, register for email updates.

That’s it for now, look for my next Green Walls Column soon!

George Irwin, The Green Wall Editor on Greenroofs.com and President and CEO of Green Living Technologies, LLC (GLT).

Check out the September 29, 2008 issue of People Magazine, and turn to the next to the last page.  ”Up on the Roof” are Troy Wagner and his wife Julie - center stage on the mostly graphic two-page spread, talking about their 110-year old home in Tacoma, Washington.  Back at the beginning of the year Troy had shared his experience with us about building his two greenroofs using a rather unique method.  Based on traditional Scandinavian turf homes, one has a 12/12 pitch planted with sod, and he actually has a resident goat who provides a unique but sustainable form of maintenance from time to time!

The second greenroof is over his lesser pitched garage, which he actually mows.  On one side the couple tends to vegetables while the other is a flower garden.  Troy told me that after having owned a roofing company for 15 years and looking at 20,000 roofs he felt it was time to set an ecological example, so in 2004 they built their living roofs.  Check out the ”Troy’s Green Roof“ profile in The Greenroof Projects Database. People also has photos of the Roofscapes’ Life Expression Wellness Center, the California Academy of Sciences, and a private residence in Sunol, California.

Known for their spectacular coverage of celebrities as well as plain old regular folk, I was surprised when one of the People article’s authors, Maureen Harrington, called me back in July to pick my brain about “the phenomenon of greenroofs in the U.S.” - I guess greenroofs really are becoming mainstream!  She was looking for facts, and Ed Snodgrass of Green Roof Plants, who was interviewed, referred Maureen to me.

Everyone wants hard statistics (I also recently fielded some from Bloomberg News and Newsweek), and we get requests from tons of freelance writers all over the world - the UK, Chile, France, Poland…you name it.  The point is our industry is still accumulating these figures since research and projects, at least in North America, are relatively new.  I say relatively because although we can been studying and building modern-day living roofs here since the 1990’s, the Germans have figures from many types of testing and trials from the 1970’s.  The websites of both Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) and us here at Greenroofs.com have been up since 1999 and in terms of facts, each has a lot of specific data: GRHC in their Tree of Knowledge page and from Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference proceedings (available for purchase if you didn’t get to each one), and Greenroofs.com in FAQ’s, ResearchLinks, Industry Support, and The Greenroof Projects Database.

But getting back to the People article, I suggested ranges rather than hard facts for costs and energy savings because each greenroof project is unique, something we have all been harping on for years.  And in terms of numbers of projects, I gave my best guesstimate of “more than 500″ based on what we do have listed in The Greenroof Projects Database, profiles waiting to be entered, plus approximate numbers for under represented U.S. cities, including the more traditional sod homes found across the northern states.  And they only wanted figures for residential projects, so that number includes not only Single-Family but also Multi-Family and Multi-Use profiles.

That’s why it’s so important to keep compiling case studies from across the globe to show the world that greenroofs are viable, demand and construction are thriving, and the market is here to stay.  Everyone wants to know where they are, what type they are, who designed them, how big they are, etc., and of course everyone wants to see photos, too!  The Greenroof Projects Database is meant to be a free international resource, so we encourage you to continue submitting profiles with as much information as you feel comfortable sharing, and we always send readers back to the original source for follow up.

Getting back to the article, Ed has a couple of quotes and referring to the added capital investment of greenroofs, he simply says:

“It’s like getting a Prius or solar panels…It costs more upfront but there are long-term savings.”

In addition to the obvious ecologocal, economic, and aesthetic benefits, we all know that greenroofs offer habitat for displaced birds, butterflies and other wildlife.  I don’t know that goats up on a roof are the wave of the future, but I do believe that eco-friendly architecture is.  In today’s environmentally conscious climate, eco-trends are here to stay and as these trends become the norm and turn mainstream, we’ll see costs driven down and then the vegetated roofing market will really take off.

And who knows, maybe in a few years’ time alongside perusing the Best & Worst Dressed People issue we’ll be also reading about the Best Sustainable Design Trends in People - perhaps even an article behind the greening of the White House?  Now there’s a people story!

My husband (and business partner) Aramis and I were lucky to sidestep our film scheduling issue and we are very pleased to be able to go to The World Green Roof Congress in stately London this upcoming Wednesday and Thursday, September 17-18!  Presented by CIRIA in partnership with Livingroofs.org, this Congress promises to offer us greenroof aficionados an interesting mix of the latest in innovation and research progress in the UK and around the world in addition to a great working vacation. 

In 2005 we attended the Congress in Basel, Switzerland, where I presented my paper “An International Call for The Greenroof Projects Database.”  We enjoyed a wonderful conference spending time with many old colleagues and friends; from the jokes of the late Dr. Dave Beattie and Dr. Rob Berghage to the wonderful hospitality of Dr. Stephan Brenneisen and staff to Trish and Kelly Luckett (our travel buddies from all the Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities conferences and the International Green Roof Congress in Nuertingen, Germany back in 2004), we learned a lot and had a grand time.  And we fully expect the same with hosts the likes of Dusty Gedge, co founder of Livingroofs.org, and company.

I’ve known Dusty now for six years, and for those of you unfortunate ones not to have met him (yet - he’s always making new friends), he’s quite a character - in a good way, of course!  I know everything is relative, but he has quite a thick accent, and when he gets really excited he speeds up, making it a real challenge to catch everything he’s saying.  In fact, Dusty recently told Aramis, “I am practising talking slowly!”

We first started corresponding in 2002, when he was the lead for the Black Redstart Action Plan for the London Biodiversity Partnership, and this was the topic of his first 2003 Guest Feature article for Greenroofs.com.  In October, 2003 Dusty took me on a personal greenroof tour of projects in Deptford Creek in the Thames corridor within inner London, and across several roofs within Canary Wharf, a huge and hugely successful urban regeneration development, and his enthusiasm and knowledge - not to mention his energy, was intensive!  In November, 2004 he contributed “Livingroofs.org ~ A New Independent Green Roof Organisation for the UK” and through all his hard work he has become one of the leading campaigners in the UK on greenroofs.  His commitment to promoting living roofs is genuine and wholehearted and is only comparable to his passion for sustaining and mitigating biodiversity in the built environment by incorporating living architecture.

Back to the Congress - the Keynote address will be given by Richard Blakeway, adviser to the Mayor of London on environment issues; who else will be in attendance?  Many local UK and international professionals will be speaking, and including Dusty, to name but a few are: Dr. Nigel Dunnett, University of Sheffield, UK;  Dr. Ken Yeang, Llewelyn Davies Yeang, UK; Paul Collins, Nottingham Trent University, UK; Dr. Manfred Kohler, University of Applied Sciences, Neubrandenburg, Germany and WGRIN, President; Wolfgang Ansel, International Green Roof Association (IGRA), Germany; Dr. Stephan Brenneisen, Life Sciences and Facility Management, University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland; Kristin Getter & Dr. Brad Rowe, Michigan State University; Peter Lowitt, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, North America; Dr. Elizabeth Fassman, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Auckland, New Zealand; and Dr. Sam Hui, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Hong Kong, as well as couple of our own Greenroofs.com Contributing Editors:  Ed Snodgrass of Emory Knoll Farms/Green Roof Plants is presenting “Green roof plant selection and landscapes” and Christine Thuring of Green Roof Safari is just ”going for fun” - after six days from guiding her first Green Roof Safari tour.

I’m planning on blogging while in jolly old England, taking lots of photos and film of presenters, attendees, exhibitors, and local greenroof projects.  So if you can’t go, check back here for some casual interviews and discussions with friends and associates, old and new.   You know it won’t be all work - we fully expect to enjoy a few relaxed, informal evenings with a pint or two in some lovely English pubs with lots of local character(s), too!

Learn more about The World Green Roof Congress 2008.

As an airline employee I’ve flown now on numerous 9/11 anniversaries, including today, returning from Orlando this morning from visiting my beautiful daughter, Anjuli.  Days after this other day which will also live on in infamy, we were given lapel pins which read “Remember, Honor, Renew” and I’ve worn it ever since on my uniform in remembrance.  You can’t help but Remember the horrific events of September, 11, 2001 - the panic, the disbelief, the heroic actions of so many, the souls lost, the families separated within this lifetime, and also the rather selfish line of ”Where were you on this date?” which people love to go on about.

So today on Patriot Day here in the Untied States we Honor the people from around the world whose lives were lost on U.S. soil here in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvannia because of what, obvious acts of aggression and extreme violence which equate to social/psychological/political intolerance? religious fanaticism? or perceived meritorious acts of moral justice or superiority?  Maybe also a combination of these and ideals from a certain small but albeit powerful faction of Muslim separatism, an extreme type of eco-centrism, and a belief that these terrorist acts are selfless, divine, and which according to these fanatics result in the extinction of evil and the promotion of greater good?  I recently read about “The Romantic Ideal” pertaining to The Holy War, which on one website states, 

“Muslims emphatically insist that the Jihad, or Holy War, was only a means of defence and was never used as an offensive act…”

I don’t pretend to know much about it, but I do know that many Muslims were dismayed and appalled at these actions.  Read much more on the war on behalf of Islam.

We also need to Honor everyone who reacted immediately with selfless acts - specifically the brave firefighters, police, and unnamed civilian heroes, and afterwards also to those of all races, creeds and nationalities who spoke against these inhumane actions - thank you!

So how about Renew part?  Let’s continue the healing process to renew our faith in human beings - as neighbors carpooling each other’s kids to individuals influencing our local and national political candidates - to ourselves as citizens of the world.   If we understand that we all live on one Earth, we can extend this committment to renewing our stewardship of our own planet - I mean, if we’re going to renew something, there’s nothing more sustainable for the long term than “live locally, act globally!”

When I put my pin on this morning it occurred to me, as a former student of landscape architecture back in the late 90’s and now as an ecological designer of greenroofs and green walls, that “Remember, Honor, Renew” is also a great philosophy in terms of environmental design.  We are taught to look at a site’s history, both physical and cultural, to determine the “genius loci” or spirit of place as a basis of design.  So from this perspective we can create a spiritual connection to the past in addition to promoting a renewal of ideals and ecological principles for the future, and really express the true nature of a site.

But the Imagine piece of the equation came to me from a rather personal perspective, but one that fits this new amended motto of “Remember, Honor, Renew…and Imagine.”  Our oldest son, Joey, celebrated his first anniversary with his wife, Korinne, in late July, and he picked out John Lennon’s “Imagine” as our wedding song together as mother and son - talk about a tear jerker!  It seemed the perfect fit for my firstborn who has grown into a young creative man with high ideals, so why not for the more jaded of us, too:

“Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one” ~ John Lennon, 1971

 

 

 

Imagine a world working in tandem to combat issues as seemingly unimportant as a specific religion (God is God, right?) or political theology to more pressing ones such as global warming (Nature as God perhaps?) and freedom, peace and safety for all.

So, “Remember, Honor, Renew…and Imagine.”  Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, maybe the new Freedom Tower which will replace New York’s World Trade Center (finished by 2011 or so) will embrace this new credo, but we certainly don’t have to wait until then to continue believing in ourselves and each other, and imagining a better future, do we?

Linda V.

After months’ worth of planning and organization, this Sunday night I find myself in a green roofed hotel in Darmstadt, Germany. Tomorrow Green Roof Safari will run its first day, and I’m hoping everything unfolds as it ought. As does our small group of jet lagged participants, I’m sure!

Tomorrow, we’ll launch the itinerary with a colourful bang - Hundertwasser ‘Waldspirale’.

The Waldspirale (“Forest Spiral”) in Darmstadt is a remarkable achievement of an original Hundertwasser concept, truly representing the Austrian artist-architect-ecologist’s goal of “harmony with nature”.

A flowering meadow, interspersed with trees and shrubs, carries the visitor from ground-level slowly upwards in a horseshoe shape, eventually reaching a tower 40 m above ground.

From Darmstadt, we’ll proceed south to Pforzheim, where we’ll visit the FBB-green roof of the year (2006). The Schloessle Galerie Pforzheim is an intensive green roof atop a shopping centre, and is an island of green surrounded by densely packed houses. At 7,000 m2, the green roof includes lawn, a bamboo ring, plant caverns, a playground, an Amelanchier grove, and walkways.

From Pforzheim we’ll continue to Stuttgart - the first city in the world to  promote green roofs with financial incentives (since 1986).  We’ll spend 2 nights here.

My Green Roof Safari partner, Joerg Breuning, is originally from Stuttgart.  Joerg has been working with green roofs from apprenticeship through his own business for over 25 years. And I lived in Stuttgart for a year, on a year abroad at Uni Hohenheim. At the time (1997), I didn’t even know what green roofs were, quite happy with a summer job working in the botanical garden.

On Tuesday morning we’ll meet John Doeveling, Garden Architect for Stuttgart’s Office of Gardens, Cemetaries and Forests.  One of Doeveling’s jobs in Stuttgart is to coordinate, care and control Stuttgart’s incentive program for privately-owned green roofs.  We’ll spend the rest of the day packing in as many green roofs and views as possible!

From Stuttgart we’ll head to Freiburg and visit with Christian Lang, who was my internship supervisor back in 2002. It will be great to meet with Christian again, and check out some of the projects in the area.

I’ll try to write more when we get to Basel.. some reflections on Germany before the Swiss goodness kicks in!

Stay tuned,

Christine