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Green Roofs Sprout Good Things

Perhaps James Taylor had it right: “Up on the roof” really is where it’s at.

That’s even truer today than when he popularized the old Drifters hit nearly 30 years ago, because America’s city rooftops are going green. Following a trend begun in Germany in the 1950s, urban developers today are designing rooftops lush with vegetation that helps to insulate buildings, filter air and absorb rainwater.

Green rooftops not only create a relaxing place to go when this old world starts getting you down, they actually help to reduce pollution and keep heating and cooling costs down, too. In China, they are even used to collect storm water to feed self-sustaining water systems in case of drought.

With almost 300,000 square feet of green roof space, Chicago leads the way in creating green rooftops in America. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley installed a green roof on City Hall in 2000 and offers developers more incentives to go green than any other city in North America. Nationwide, the practice grew 80 percent last year.

Green rooftops are just one of many ways Americans are starting to work to reduce their impact on the environment and yet another means of slowing global warming trends. And that’s sure to help us all feel “trouble free.”

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To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org