Chicago Rooftops and the Smallness Revolution
Crenshaw Sepulveda left comments about the Richmond rooftop gardens that resonate with me...Aching to live in a place so humane...
I can relate. As much tenderness as I feel for this little town, there are such depths of the Olympia Way we have yet to experience.
What can we do to encourage this type of growth, beyond planting nasturtiums on our apartment window sills?
When it comes to rooftop gardens, the city of Chicago has a very interesting project. Of course, in Chicago, heat is a big issue. Temperatures in the summer are unbearable, and the city is like a solar oven with all that concrete. So they started using green rooftops as a way to naturally cool the city. They aren't "gardens" in the sense that you can't actually walk around in them. Most of the rooftops are still not accessible to people. (It takes much less structural support to carry just soil and plants without people.)
A side effect of this project which traditional air conditioning lacks is that you can now look out a Chicago highrise window and see a sky meadow beneath you with wildflowers blooming. Isn't that sweet?
Perhaps our city will adopt such a program in the future. But in the meantime, we can begin small.
I believe more and more that smallness is not ineffective. Smallness is flexible, attainable, and efficient. I think that if we ever have a revolution that saves the world from destruction and frees humanity from its plight, it will be a revolution of smallness. Small projects inspiring other small projects, and on and on. Here are instructions from the Journey to Forever website on how to make gardens if you have no soil. Included are instructions on making a vertical garden, as well, if you have very limited space.
I can relate. As much tenderness as I feel for this little town, there are such depths of the Olympia Way we have yet to experience.
What can we do to encourage this type of growth, beyond planting nasturtiums on our apartment window sills?
When it comes to rooftop gardens, the city of Chicago has a very interesting project. Of course, in Chicago, heat is a big issue. Temperatures in the summer are unbearable, and the city is like a solar oven with all that concrete. So they started using green rooftops as a way to naturally cool the city. They aren't "gardens" in the sense that you can't actually walk around in them. Most of the rooftops are still not accessible to people. (It takes much less structural support to carry just soil and plants without people.)
A side effect of this project which traditional air conditioning lacks is that you can now look out a Chicago highrise window and see a sky meadow beneath you with wildflowers blooming. Isn't that sweet?
Perhaps our city will adopt such a program in the future. But in the meantime, we can begin small.
I believe more and more that smallness is not ineffective. Smallness is flexible, attainable, and efficient. I think that if we ever have a revolution that saves the world from destruction and frees humanity from its plight, it will be a revolution of smallness. Small projects inspiring other small projects, and on and on. Here are instructions from the Journey to Forever website on how to make gardens if you have no soil. Included are instructions on making a vertical garden, as well, if you have very limited space.
posted by Jade at 2:22 PM
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