Ariel Kettle, Kai Okazaki, Kate Piotrowski
Imagine this: walking through a city flourishing with living flora rather than the unyielding cement and metal walls we see today. What if we transform this city from static hard surfaces that give nothing in return to vertical pastures that improve the air that we all breathe?
We can make this transformation by adopting a green policy; a policy
that ensures all new buildings have greenskins incorporated into their
structures. Greenskins are living walls, roofs, and ground level areas
surrounding buildings. These walls are alive with varying plants from
grasses to shrubs, and even small trees. Imagine an entire building
flourishing with buds, springy leaves, and flowers!
Why does this matter? For one, we all save money.
Greenroofs help keep buildings cooler in the summer and warmer in the
winter. During the summer, the plants shade the building, absorbing heat
radiation and UV light, as well as insulate the building, keeping cool air in,
and warm air out. For the winter months, the extra layers of soil media and
flora also help insulate the building, requiring less internal heating to keep
the temperature at equilibrium. This amounts to less heating costs and
less cooling costs.
Taxes may go down: greenskins help mitigate stormwater, which is the
rush of water that our pipes experience when during heavy precipitation.
It is our tax money that goes into the repair and installation of new
water pipes to help divert and transport this water. Greenskins assist in the absorption of large
rainfalls as the plants take up the water in their roots, stems, and leaves for
their own purposes. This is especially true in a type of plant called
succulents.
Improved air quality: plants are the world’s most efficient air-recycling
machines. They convert carbon dioxide (what we exhale), back into oxygen (what
we inhale). Incorporating nature into urban areas will greatly increase
this air-recycling process right in our very own living and working
environments. With increased levels of oxygen, feelings of lethargy will
go down, breathing will be easier, and work performance will be enhanced. This
is especially important in heavily air-polluted regions.
There are more ways that greenskins improve our urban environment: greenroofs
dissipate heat island effects caused by excess heat that rises from the rooftops
of buildings. These heat islands disturb the natural flow of air
circulation, causing changes in weather. In our area, this leads to more
rain. Installation of greenroofs absorbs the heat given off by buildings as
well as cools the surrounding air through the transpiration (loss of water
vapour to the air) of plants.
Why
are we, the students, discussing optimistic and futuristic ideas to implement
in our region? Students value the importance and the intrinsic values of
natural resources and conservation. We are born and raised in a generation
where sustainability practices become a part of our everyday lives. These
behaviours are more acquired at a young age and more contact with green spaces
and the outdoors (recreational and leisure space) would be beneficial for the
city and for the students’ education. Green urban spaces and buildings can be
educational for students as they are exposed to an outdoor classroom, learn
about the closed-loop system and, ultimately, begin the shift to a new style of
understanding that is needed for change today. Think about it: students outside and learning, at the same
time! The future generation needs to be exposed to a learning environment that
goes beyond the conventional bland white-walled classrooms and concrete buildings.
The
aesthetic beauty of what we can envision for the future has endless
possibilities, both for people and the earth. Imagine this.
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