Our Greenmantle Page
Greenmantle In Action What is greenmantle?
Greenmantle is what you get when you put a blanket of planters on a rooftop. Doing it right is somewhat tricky but the results can create a wonderland that is beautiful, cuts costs, and does wonders for several ecological concerns. Replacing blacktop with a meadow doesn't have to exceed weight limits, damage the roof, or require special maintenance.

Rooftops don't have to be stressed by this. The biggest stress on most city rooftops is upward pressure from wind. In New York and Chicago winds are so bad that sometimes heavy equipment has to be tied down to keep it from blowing right off. Last year a building I know had brick pavers tear loose and scatter about the roof. So not only would the weight not be a problem (as long as the planters are designed properly) but the planters would actually cut down on maintenance costs.

We know that plants can survive in cities without watering. Just look at any abandoned lot. It's just a matter of choosing the right species. Not only that, but while current rooftops are suited only to birds like pigeons, planters of hardy perennials like English Ivy, Sedum, and beach grasses would create habitats for birds that need more gentle conditions and would increase biodiversity.


Who's doing it now?

In much of Europe and Asia greenmantle is becoming commonplace. In countries like Switzerland and Japan rooftop greenspace is the law. They've found that covering buildings with flora makes environmental and business sense.

It's strange to think that we are having to take cues from Europe and Asia since rooftop gardens are a key part of native American heritage. When the Spanish arrived in Mexico, they were amazed at the beauty of the gardens on every roof. Many of our own skyscrapers were built for rooftop plantings. Look at the original drawings for buildings from Rockefeller Center to the Marriot Marquis and you'll see ivy, trees and grass. This isn't a strange idea; it's what the architects wanted in the first place.

This booklet, done by Chicago's government is both a clear review of technical issues and a good explanation of the greenmantle project on their own city hall.

This article gives a great overview of what's going on now around America. (If you're only going to check out one link, I'ld suggest this one.)

Even large conservative real estate powers like the Durst Organization (primary developers of Times Square before Rudy the G.), the Zeckendorfs (builders of Worldwide Plaza among many others), Helmuth, Obata and Kassabaum (one of the biggest architecture firms in the world) and DeutcheBank all acknowledge that greenmantle is practical.

So how is it done?
These folks are doing greenmantle in the United States on institutional buildings.
And this company is doing some positively surreal stuff in Japan (lots of pictures).
Here's a tech overview of the Japanese systems.
And last but not least, this company has some beautiful pictures of greenmantle buildings and more tech data than you can shake a straightedge at.

So now what?
Well, here in New York we're facing three environmental crises.

  • Mayor Bloomberg says that there's no money for recycling.
  • Dust from the WTC disaster is still all over the place and the construction to rebuild ensures that the dust problems will continue for years to come.
  • We're facing another hot summer with untrustworthy deregulated powerplants (Enron, anybody?) In fact, the New York Times just reported (July 12th) that we're facing widespread brownouts or even blackouts this summer.

    We can respond to all three at the same time.
    -Let's take organic debris and compost it. Mix it with shredded styrofoam and other city waste to make a lightweight soil (as demonstrated by the Gaia Institute over ten years ago and tested many times since).
    -Put it into lightweight shallow planters made of locally recycled plastic. Seed the planters with drought-resistant species.
    -Put the planters on the rooftop of every building willing to take them.

    This gives us a use for our plastic waste for several years to come (some glass too as we'll explain later), gets particulate matter and other pollutants out of the air, and superinsulates the rooftops of New York buildings at almost no cost to building owners.

    Materials would come from the city's waste stream so processing and transport are the only substantial costs. Can anybody really show that this would be more expensive than having waste landfilled? In fact, one option would be to scatter flattened "pebbles" of melted waste glass and plastic over the soil, which would reduce evaporation and cut down on both summer and winter heat stresses on the plants.
    Here is a more detailed overview of what we've got in mind.

    Here in New York programs like Materials for the Arts and Greenthumb show how well city government can work when they get the chance.

    Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Pataki, and their staffs and legislatures are throwing up their hands and calling New York's problems unaddressable, or even worse, counting on the circus down in Washington to help. Instead, let's take action. We can initiate a program to turn our garbage into gardens and give us the first skyline in America to mix skyscrapers with skymeadows.

    If this makes sense to you then please sign our petition. Every signature counts and ones with comments help even more.

    Thanks.

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