Raise the roof
Urban dwellers who think they have no space for planting a garden or trees should look up. To their rooftops, that is, where a little greenery can go a long way in the fight against global warming.
"Green roofs are an innovative and great way to minimize the urban heat island effect," says John Walkey, chair of Boston's Urban Forest Coalition, which is coordinating the city's Grow Boston Greener initiative (growbostongreener.org). The urban heat island effect refers to metropolitan areas that are much warmer than surrounding areas due to the fact that vegetation has been replaced by buildings and concrete, which absorb heat and inhibit cooling. Walkey explains that green roofs help alleviate this effect by providing insulation and shade, and through the transpiration of the plants.
Planting an urban rooftop garden isn't as easy as planting one in the yard, though it requires advance planning. Buildings "need professional structural analyses to ensure that even a small garden, let alone a tree, will be supported by the roof," Walkey says. "Retrofits will be a big thing in the coming green roof movement in Boston."
Even if you can't put a garden on your roof, you can support rooftop gardens around the city. The restaurants L'Espalier (lespalier.com) and dbar (dbarboston.com) grow herbs, greens, and other produce on their roofs and use what they grow in dishes on their menus. The Boston Children's Museum (bostonkids.org) and WGBH's (wgbh.org) headquarters building recently installed green roofs, and the Boston Marriott Cambridge (marriott.com) has a rooftop garden, too.
Got unusual ideas for ways to live greener in the city? Please e-mail them to globegreenside@yahoo.com.
Christie Matheson is the author of "Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style." 