A Return to Roofs: Replacing Ours!

It was a dark and stormy night.
Sounds like a typical beginning to a Halloween-themed story.

Unfortunately, it's not just a story, it had become our reality after a very wet summer and fall. The rainy nights led to dripping ceiling and drips coming down the wall, right in our bedroom. There's nothing like the gentle plop plop plop of water hitting the buckets. All. Night. Long.

Yes, it's actually a pretty frightful story indeed, especially on a home that's only 30 years old. But somewhere before us, two layers of roofing had been laid, so we bought the bullet--and a brand new roof.

Not a green roof, but of course, as with everything, I view all new major purchases through an environmental lens when I can.

Having never replaced a roof before, we got a bit of education along the way.

We went with GAF Timberline shingles. Here's some roofing environmental fun facts--some of which are GAF specific. (And no, unfortunately, they aren't paying me in free roofs to say this. Not one single shingle!)

• The shingles (& the way they are now made) today, the darker shingles absorb less heat than when our house was first constructed 30 years ago.

• 10% of landfills are filled with roofing waste. GAF has a Zero Waste Jobsite Policy. They also promote Resilient & Sustainable Roofing. 

• Asphalt shingles are often recycled into roads... making asphalt one of the most recycled materials. To find a recycler, the Shingle Recycling Map may be just what you need.

• Using Ecoscorecard, I was able to see the stats on environmental characteristics and certifications. With that, I learned that our roofing has 9.3% post-consumer recycled content and 100% recyclable. I can also find other fact sheets per product on the Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog.

• Earlier this October, GAF donated $1 million in assistance to Hurricane Florence.

• To find out more, check out GAF's Sustainability/Social Responsibility Brochure

Now... if only there were solar panels up there too.

Hmm... maybe that's our next big home improvement--it certainly would be a dream come true! Maybe one day!

House from my camera, shingle picture from https://www.homedepot.com/p/GAF-Timberline-HD-Charcoal-Lifetime-Architectural-Shingles-33-3-sq-ft-per-Bundle-0670180/202052356, Snoopy pic from https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ItWasADarkAndStormyNight

Green Roofs

Once, a long time ago (about 7 years), I helped to build a green roof, on the roof of the greenest school in the world. Unfortunately, about 4.5 years that school shut down. It still breaks my heart.

I did a drive-by about 2 weeks ago, and well... sadly that green roof is not being maintained well. But... I digress.

What is a green roof? GreenRoofs.org and Kids.Net.Au both have a straightforward rundown on why they are so helpful for reducing storm runoff and other perks.

Additionally, there are these videos. Seems to me, everyone would want to have one!!







Video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=howO82-Fd1o and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlJoBhLnqko

Vertical Forests Are On The Rise

As our global population grows and approaches 7.5 billion, cities are becoming more crowded and dense with buildings. The urban sprawl continues outward, and building continue to climb upward, encroaching on our green spaces.

For the most part, cityscapes of our larger cities have traditionally have been a shiny collection steel towers and glass windows. Central Park, that green oasis in New York City, no longer is enough.

Visionary architects like Stefano Boeri want to change that by re-working city models to accommodate for the density of people living in those urban areas--and the pollution that comes with it. By building in a solution for sustainability, Boeri has designed buildings that incorporate nature.

Some examples of vertical forests" include Bosco Verticale in Milan, the La Tour des Cedres in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Nanjing Vertical Forest in China. He's also moving on beyond the ideo of green towers to that of a whole forested city, with drawing set up for ForestCityShijazhuang in China. His portfolio of projects is impressive!

Benefits of bringing the look and feel of nature to the over-populated cities are many:

• All "the green" will help reduce heating and cooling costs by building in natural shade and insulation.
• The vegetation of "all that green" will act as a filtration system, both producing oxygen, absorbing carbon-dioxide, and filtering "urban dust" pollution of highly populated cities (especially in China, where pollution levels are so high).
• Intentionality is put into the plant species that are placed on both the towers and in the cities. Given the variety of plants, the trees and shrubbery will become a bio-diverse habitat for many birds and animals as well.

DISCOVERY CHANNEL VERTICAL FOREST from Stefano Boeri Architetti on Vimeo.

For more on greening up our cityscapes, here are a few other links of impressive green buildings:

• Sierra Club's "The Changing Facade of Urban Architecture"
• CNN's "Garden's In The Sky"
• Treehugger's "The Vertical Forest Comes to China"
• CNN's "Last Look:  Vertical Forests Fight Pollution"

City Skyline pic from http://clipart-library.com/clipart/8izrRpjAT.htm; Vertical forest pic from https://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/en/portfolios/the-tower-of-cedars/; Video from https://vimeo.com/77235516

A Tale of An Environmental Teacher

Once upon a time,....
there was a girl who taught at a very "green" school where they recycled, composted, built rain gardens, had green roofs, raised oysters, grew butterfly gardens, had an entire week dedicated to Earth Day, hosted Earth Hour events, and much much more.

She taught there for a very good long time. There, she was quite in her element, integrating curricular topics on the side of sustainability.  Her students were mesmerized by books like Operation Redwood. They graphed light usage and how long it took different items to biodegrade.  They did biographies on environmentalists such as Jacques Cousteau, Sylvia Earle, Jane Goodall, and John Muir. Her students weekly cleaned and counted Capri Suns to send back to Terracycle to reduce landfill waste. She was even rumored to have a majestic dress made entirely out of Capri Suns. Oh yes! They all ate and breathed the "green" scene.

Until one day....this wonderfully special school closed.

It was at this point the the friends/teachers/colleagues/families/students were quite saddened that they had to scatter like seeds in the wind.  Scatter they did.  They all landed well and started their next phase of happily ever after at brand new schools, public and independent, spread all over the community.

As would not be surprising, our one, same teacher gal also found a new school to call home. Here she got to embark on being the "iPad Lady," bringing new and innovative ideas to classroom teachers at her new school, helping her colleagues find ways to integrate technology and the curriculum.  And all was very good for her first new year at a new elementary school.  Not as "green" as where she'd been, but a good place to land all the same.

Then one summer day about 2 weeks before school started before her 2nd year there, our teacher was asked to do a favor. Would she kindly take on a homeroom classroom due to an unexpected leave of absence by a teacher on staff. This was quite a surprise, but of course she said yes. She embarked on both the hurry and scurry of setting up shop for the incoming students, as well as the "hurry and worry" on mentally getting her game on. She had to switch gears and go into classroom teaching mode versus just teaching tech with an office and classroom visits. It was supposed to be a short-term fill, but as often happens in this tale called "Life," more unexpected things happened, and she stayed in this spot for the whole school year.

There, with her students, she did what she knows how to do best.  She shared the importance of caring for our planet through student-driven tech investigations. She shared the concern of marine debris through mockumentaries and ocean cartoons. She read some of those same books as read-alouds that she had always read in the past. She embarked on a journey with a team of 3 other teachers to help the school become a Maryland "Green" School.  They triumphed and the designation was awarded!

Of course, as happens, the school year came to a close.  In addition to all of those eco-things, our girl helped her students prepare for the next step, write their end of the year speeches, and wrap up the year.  In return, her students surprised her with a very remarkable gift.  Based on her love on the environment, and their love for her, she was given a sizable donation in her name to a local environmental charity, promoted to conserving the Chesapeake Bay.  A gift was given that will keep on giving. The donations will continue forward to help further more environmental programs.

As her son once said in Kindergarten:  "Mom, it's all physics.  The world loves a circle."

A circle indeed. Those seeds that scattered to the wind with the closing of a school, had been sown. More environmental stewards had been grown. The circle of conservationism and environmental sustainability continued to grow outwards.

A circle indeed.  For the love shared and the love spread was more touching than I can describe.   I should know.  I know that girl, that teacher, very very well.

Thank You! Which, of course, is a most delightful way to "End."

GTG logo from http://www.greenteamgazette.com/; Capri Sun dress from http://www.greenteamgazette.com/2015/10/halloween-blasts-from-pasts.html; Michael Recycle costume image from http://www.greenteamgazette.com/2011/10/bein-green-this-halloween.html; CBF image attributes noted above & from https://www.cbf.org/join-us/tribute-gift-e-card?eCardViewKey=5a011206-1af7-4baf-afe6-f1174581b099

The Green View on the Roof

Today, I had the privilege of being part of a crew of at least a dozen or more parents, teachers, and even a grandparent of our school to make "green history" at my school:  Eagle Cove School.  As a Maryland "Green" School, we are all about being green.  Recycling is 2nd nature.  Composting is what we do.  We grow vegetables in the on-campus greenhouse.  We trek along the nature trail, and we seine in the river that neighbors our campus. Today, we ratcheted it up a notch:  today we put in a 15' x 25' green roof on a section of one of our campus building's roofs. 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  If that is indeed the case, then a Smilebox, with embedded video, is worth at least 10,000.  Watch it here, with photos I snapped throughout the day.  It's amazing what you can accomplish in a little over 3 hours when you come equipped with a crew!  Special thanks to Rick Truett, from RF Truett Sustainable Building in Pasadena, Maryland, for all the assistance along the way today, helping our Green Roof take shape.

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