Greenroofs.comConnecting the Planet + Living Architecture

Happy New 2014 to everyone in our greenroof and greenwall community, and to your families as well!

While implementing (and breaking) our New Year’s resolutions and planning for the new year, the world has also been dealing with some challenging freak weather lately.

As in other areas of the southern United States, here in the metro Atlanta area we just experienced a devastating near complete shutdown of interstates and highways after Tuesday’s snowfall – in fact, the governor issued a state of emergency for the entire state of Georgia.  Due to the snow, heavy traffic and sheets of ice, motorists were inching by or stranded for hours on hazardous roads, children had to stay overnight at schools (reports say about 8,000 students across Georgia and Alabama woke up yesterday in school gyms or on buses), and we have experienced thousands of accidents.  At present, there are still hundreds of abandoned cars all over the roadways.

“Tennis courts like a sauna” and “extreme heat.” – After 2013’s recently being declared Australia’s hottest year on record, Melbourne experienced three consecutive days of extreme heat above 40°C during the recent Australian Open.  Some spectators, ball kids, and tennis players became ill or fainted during these sizzling hot days when temperatures reached up to 109°F (43°C) .  To avoid heat stress they placed bags of ice on their heads and necks between points and the scorching heat even halted play.

Results of global warming?  Maybe.  At least these are examples of some major temperature extremes in just the first month of our new year!

On Tuesday, here in the U.S. we watched President Obama’s fifth State of the Union address before Congress. Just a couple of his economic proposals regarding climate and energy highlighted working with states and communities on climate change resiliency and cutting pollution plus urging our Congress to end tax benefits for the oil industry and use revenues to invest in advanced vehicles that use cleaner fuels.  Awesome.

Obama says let’s make 2014 “a year of action.”  Certainly we cannot continue to heavily depend on high-carbon fossil fuels but must continue to strive towards a sustainable approach to drive innovation and embrace clean renewable energy solutions.

In our greenroof and wall world we all, too, must take a look at how we conduct business and how we can make it better – more profitable, more sustainable, more inclusive.  What are you doing within your organization to lower costs, increase sales or open up areas of debate?  Share your 2014 stories and strategies with us – we’d love to share your experience through a Guest Feature Article or blog post here on Sky Gardens.

Here at Greenroofs.com we have been brainstorming ourselves.  We sat down to plan: our activities for Earth Hour and Earth Day (should we bring back our Love the Earth, Plant a Roof Photo Contest?), which conferences we will attend (possibly Grey to Green in Toronto in June; World Green Infrastructure Congress, Sydney in September; Qingdao International Ecocity & Green Roof Conference in China in October; CitiesAlive in Nashville in November), and think about what we want to accomplish and how can we best maximize our time, serve our community, and continue to change to reflect the evolving needs of our readership.

We are convinced that information sharing and open communication are key to a vibrant, growing living architecture industry.  As markets continue to open up across the world through private and public support, opportunities abound – locally and globally.

Along those lines I just wrote a chapter in the upcoming book entitled Green Cities around the World to be published soon by PRONATUR (a Spanish rooftop agricultural group head by Dr. Julian Briz and Dr. Isabel de Felipe, member of the World Green Infrastructure Network or WGIN) and WGIN itself.  It’s entitled “Greenroofs & Greenwalls in the New Millennium: The Influence of the Age of Technology through Online and Social Media.”

I present an overview of how the advancement of greenroof and wall design, construction, and the industry itself has flourished since the turn of our new 21st century with the advent of the widespread use of the Internet, through its innate entrepreneurial spirit, and the continuing rise of information technologies.

Did you know that, according to Internet World Stats, by December 31, 2000 the Internet had 360,985,492 users worldwide and by June 30, 2012 the amount had exploded to 2,405,518,376 users?  Our views of culture, social relationships, and how we interact in the world of e-business have forever changed through electronic media and smart devices.   The Internet has altered the way we do business forever – surfing the net has become a way of life around the world.

And, as most people know, social media is no longer an emerging new world in cyberspace, but an exponentially growing online reality of fantastical proportions.  The impact and importance of social media and how it is changing the landscape of both the personal and professional worlds cannot be overstated.  Here are some recent figures of the most widespread social networking websites used to create new online business contacts and friendships with people who share similar interests:

Facebook  (1.26 billion users as of December, 2013);
LinkedIn (259 million users as of October, 2013;
Twitter (500 million total users as of October, 2013):
Google+ (540 million monthly active users as of October, 2013):
Pinterest (70 million users as of July, 2013;
Tumblr (216.3 million monthly visitors as of May, 2013):
Flickr (87 million users as of March, 2013);
and Instagram (more than 75 million monthly active users as of December, 2013).

This brings me to planning for our third virtual conference, the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2015: Connecting the Planet + Living Architecture.  We firmly believe this platform is the future, a synthesis of technology and social media – education, entertainment, and social networking – interacting directly with people across the world in our highly targeted community.  We’ve been searching for a new, lower cost medium to be able to broadcast the amazing video content provided by so many brilliant individuals and hard working organizations and further engage everyone in lively video, audio and text chatting.

While strategizing new relationships and collaboration partnerships, we continue to investigate out-of-the-box ideas and certainly welcome your input for an even greater, fun and vibrant virtual summit in 2015.  Next month we’ll start airing our 37 videos from our Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2013.  We hope these keynote, panel sessions, and individual videos will inform and inspire you!

Let’s make 2014 a year of taking new actions: plan your business and marketing strategy along with your educational and personal growth goals; engage your friends, associates, and peers to help you execute your plans; and network with new social endeavors, online and in real life!  If you’re not already connected with us, do so.

Stay warm (or cool), and try and have fun, no matter the circumstances.

I hope to see you at a physical conference or chat online soon!

~ Linda V.

Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video. Here’s the transcript from September 2 and August 26, 2011 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here.  Enjoy!

– Hello, I’m Anjuli Velazquez and welcome to This Week in Review for September 2nd, 2011 as well as for last week, August 26th on  GreenroofsTV.

– Project of the Week

–  Our project of the week this week is the  extremely cool 8 House built in 2010 in Copenhagen, Denmark.  And our project of the week last week was the Duke University Ocean Conservation Center built in 2010 in Beaufort, North Carolina.

–   The 8 House is a 61,000 square meter bowtie-shaped mixed-use building of three different types of residential housing and 10,000 square meters of retail and offices which make up Denmark’s largest private development. It stacks its lively urban neighborhood into horizontal layers of typologies connected by a continuous walking and cycling path up to the 10th floor which creates a three-dimensional urban neighborhood where suburban life meshes with the energy of a big city. Two sloping green roofs totaling 1,700 square meters are strategically placed to reduce the urban heat island effect as well as provide the visual identity to the project and tying it back to the adjacent farmlands towards the south. The architects wanted to design a “long, coherent house with immense differences in height, creating a strong inflow of light and a unique local community with small gardens and pathways that channel your thoughts into mountains in Southern Europe and memories of a childhood home.”

–   The Duke University Ocean Conservation Center houses a lecture hall, teaching laboratory and commons area and uses geothermal pumps for heating and cooling, solar panels for hot water and photovoltaic rooftop panels to convert sunlight into electricity. Local building materials, like yellow southern pine and Atlantic white cedar and recycled wood, are used throughout the 5,600-square-foot center. In 2008, the Ocean Conservation Center was awarded Gold LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council and in 2009 was awarded a Green Building Wood Design Award from Woodworks. The extensive green roof was installed in 2010 over the low-slope portion of the Energy Star roof and is a Xero Flor pre-vegetated extensive system, with specialized components to secure the green roof from high wind coastal exposure. Living Roofs worked with Xero Flor America and Frank Harmon Architects to design the green roof system and the irrigation which is supplied by a rainwater catchment system.

To learn more about the 8 House,  click on our project of the week photo on our homepage and to learn more about the Duke University Ocean Conservation Center, type in project ID number 1155 in our Projects Database.

“What’s New“

–  Industry News

–   We’ve released our agenda, our international speaker line-up and the trailer for the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011!  Held on September 27th & 28th, we have some simply awesome professionals speaking who are all passionate about what they do!  Check out the press release for all of the highlights for this ground breaking event or head on over to virtual.greenroofs.com and watch our exciting trailer that was really fun putting together, read our agenda, and learn more about our speakers. While there, you can pre-register for the event by September 9th and be eligible to win an Apple iPad2!

–   Make sure to read new columns from three of our contributing editors:   The Green Wall Editor George Irwin’s latest is “Green Wall Deception, Death of a Green Wall”¦“ where he gives personal opinion about the potentials for failure.

–   Energy Editor Chris Wark’s latest is: “Consider the Source.” It’s a very classy response to an inaccurate article about the so-called benefits of greenroofs in the June 2011 issue of the ASHRAE Journal.

–   And enjoy the article “I am excited about the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011“ from our Sustainable Business Insights Editor, John Shepley, about reducing your carbon footprint.   He cites our Virtual Summit as just one example of “Awareness.”

–   Over at Sky Gardens, check out Linda’s latest posts:  “Greenroofs.com’s “˜This Week in Review’ on GreenroofsTV: August 19th, 2011“ and our GPWs (8 House and Duke OCC).

– “Upcoming Events“

–   September 7th-9th: is the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) 2011 International Symposium: Emerging Technologies and Roof System Performance in Washington, D.C.

–   September 9th: the Early Bird Registration and contest period for your chance at winning the first of 2 iPad2s ends for our Virtual Summit 2011.

–   And September 27th & 28th: of course is the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 – Connecting the Planet + Living Architecture: People, Projects & Design, held online around the world!

–  Check out our homepage for more Upcoming Events!

– “In the News“

–   Tyler Falk of SmartPlanet, reveals “NYC’s urban agriculture potential.” He shares some interesting insights in a new report from the Urban Design Lab at Columbia University’s Earth Institute that explores New York City’s urban agriculture potential. The report showed nearly 5,000 acres of empty land that would be sufficient for farming throughout the five boroughs, and that urban agriculture can have a huge impact on food security in neighborhoods where fresh and healthy produce is needed the most with help from more city farmers. He found some more interesting information in the report like how urban farms equal green infrastructure, and that rooftops are numerous in New York City but are not being utilized enough for urban agriculture and more. Check out the full article for more information and a link to the complete report: “The Potential for Urban Agriculture in New York City.”

–   Stephen Totilo of Kotaku, talks about “The Coolest Things in Nintendo’s American Headquarters (And One Uncool Thing).” Well the only “uncool thing” he says about the headquarters is that they don’t “let visitors take pictures of the best parts of the building.” When you walk into the headquarters of Nintendo of America in Redmond, Washington, you have to sign an electronic waiver promising you won’t bring firearms, will keep any Nintendo secrets you hear to yourself and won’t take any unauthorized pictures. There are a few spots you can take some photos, which he did, so be sure to read the full article check to them out. The Nintendo headquarters was awarded Gold LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in May of 2010. Among other eco-friendly additions, they have bamboo floors on each level, daylight sensors near the windows that dim or brighten interior lights based on the natural light in the room, heat and motion sensors in the many conference rooms, and there’s a 75,000 square foot Sedum living room to top it all off.

– To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or newslinks section of our website.

– Have something you think we should know about and post on our website?  Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or green wall info with the world!

– Make sure to keep up with everything  Greenroofs.com by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, being a member of our network on LinkedIn and subscribing to our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube!

–   This has been This Week in Review for September 2nd and August 26th, 2011 on GreenroofsTV.  I’m Anjuli Velazquez and I’ll see you next week!

*This week’s episode is sponsored by The Greenroof Directory, brought to you by Greenroofs.com.*

Did we miss something? We’d love to hear from you!

~ Linda V.

Of course, we’re not the only ones with an Earth Day related contest – I just received my newsletter from MBDC (McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry) and saw this great contest between MBDC and one of Greenroofs.com‘s perennial favorites, Inhabitat (I get Inhabitat’s Daily Digest as well, but don’t always read it right away since it has so many cool posts – I do need enough time to read them all!).

To celebrate Earth Week, the two have joined up to offer Inhabitat readers  four fabulous prizes  during Earth Week.  Each winner will receive and a copy of the book  Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things and  the following Cradle to Cradle Certified^CM products:

Monday: Method products & Casabella Eclipse cleaning system
Tuesday:  Pendleton Eco-Wise wool throw
Wednesday:  Herman Miller Sayl work chair
Thursday:  Shaw Ultra Shag area rug (as featured in InStyle Magazine)
Friday:  Winners are announced

At the 2001  Greenprints Conference Visionary Dinner here in Atlanta, I had the pleasure of (briefly) meeting early green architect  William  McDonough (after standing in a long line).  I had become aware of his firm’s work when I still a student of landscape architecture at the University of Georgia in the late 1990’s and had encountered the awesome  Gap Headquarters (901 Cherry).  Former Partner & Director of Practice  Kevin Burke was very helpful to me in my initial studies of greenroof technology, and I’m a big fan of William McDonough + Partners‘ work.

Cradle to Cradle Certified^CM products resulted after the wonderful success of the book  Cradle to Cradle, 2002 from North Point Press, New York, NY, written by William McDonough and environmental chemist Michael Braungart.  I fully embraced the philosophies behind the “paradigm shift” in our thinking towards our built environments and products, and the need for “eco-effectiveness” versus just “eco-efficiency.”

In fact, in my Recommended Readings book review of  Cradle to Cradle, I felt that this book should be a part of every teenager’s reading curriculum so that we may inform and inspire our young minds to rethink and remake our architectural and engineering worlds to be actually good for the Earth.  This is one true “Bible” of green thinking that should be a part of each of our libraries.    If you’re interested, you can read more here.

On a related note, Cradle to Cradle CertifiedCM products will be featured on  The Early Show for Earth Day.  You can tune in to CBS on Friday, April 22 7:00-9:00 am EST to see some of them.

To enter the Inhabitat Green Giveaway, go to www.inhabitat.com and click on the daily blog post.  In my opinion, just receiving a copy of Cradle to Cradle is well worth winning!

Happy Greening,

~ Linda V.