Foundation for a Green Future, Inc.

We are thrilled to announce that a Brighter Planet was responsible for offsetting the  carbon footprint  of Boston GreenFest 2009.  Although we did our best to keep our footprint low, we could not cover our entire usage.  Thank you, Brighter Planet.

Just shy of a month ago, the annual Green Roof for Healthy Cities Conference took place in Baltimore, MD. Two years ago it was here in Boston.  Much has happened since.  In 2007 there was an estimated 30% gain from 2006 in the square footage of green roofs in North America   Now the figure has jumped to 2,407,525 square feet according to the survey of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities – a gain of  40% for extensive green roofs.  However, the majority are in the Midwest, although Phildelphia and Washington ,DC are now on the US top ten cities list for green roofs.  We need to work on Boston! 

Green roofs are a good thing to install any and everywhere, but the most important impact is along our coasts where our urban centers are cement ovens emitting great amounts of heat into our atmosphere. 

It has been seen that conventional roofs can get as hot as 150-200ºF.  Almost hot enough to fry an egg!  And we all know that when we are barefoot in the summer we jump from the hot black asphalt to the cool green grass.  This is because vegetation tends to remain between 77-90ºF.  That large mass of hot air rises over our coastal cities and settles down over our coastal waters. 

There is a constant exchange between the land and water.  The hotter the air over the land, the warmer the air is over the ocean.  This is likely impacting our fisheries and our coastal currents.  Do you know that the slightest rise in our ocean temperature is a signal for jellyfish to move in?  Once jellyfish move in to a fishery they can overtake the fishery and turn it into a desert since they have virtually no predators.

Roslindale already experienced its first blackout this year and it was not yet summer.  Do we know what is in store for us?  If we have more heat waves, we will have more blackouts where people will be without airconditioning and fans to keep them cool.  This puts young children and elderly at risk. 

In Chicago in 1995 there was a heatwave that killed 785 people.  Two years ago there was a terrible heatwave in France and Spain in which they estimate 20,000-30,000 people died.  Mayor Daley has been making a dramatic effort to cover Chicago in green roofs to help protect the city from the heat. 

Europe, particularly Germany , has been working for more than 50 years to put green roofs on their buildings.  There is an incredible impact green roofs have on the peak demand that we experience in a heatwave when everyone puts their aircooling systems to the highest notch on the knob.  Green roofs can bring our knobs down!  They can also reduce our need to build costly power plants to supply electricity for a few weeks in the summer to cover our short but critical peak demand.

Let us install more green roofs to make our cities healthy.  We will have more beautiful places to live and we will stay cool.  And we can keep our hands off our A/C knobs….