Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2013 - (Page 1)

FROM THE FOUNDER DESIGNING FOR RESILIENCY IN AN AGE OF UNCERTAINTY W hat would you do if the lights went out and the water stopped flowing through your taps for a week? Is there a building in your community that can provide safe drinking water, shelter and heat during times of crises? How long will community food supplies last if they are interrupted? These types of questions have recently given rise to popular culture shows like Survivorman, The Walking Dead and Doomsday Preppers, wherein individuals try to survive extreme conditions (such as the zombie apocalypse) or prepare for future disasters. The popu- larity of these shows is not surprising, unless you are in deep denial about the climate change crisis. You’ve probably noticed that the polar ice caps are melting, the oceans are acidifying, and the weather is changing rapidly, and certainly not for the better. In fact, according to the US National Climatic Data Center’s 2012 weather and climate disasters information, 2012 saw 11 weather and climate disaster events, each with losses exceeding $1 billion in damages. This makes 2012 the second costliest year since 1980, with $110 billion in damages. The two major drivers of the damage costs in 2012 were READ THIS ISSUE ONLINE AT WWW.LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM Sandy at approximately $65 billion and the yearlong drought at approximately $30 billion. Sandy led to record storm surge, large-scale flooding, wind damage and mass power outages along much of the East Coast of North America. The year long drought, which affected more than half the US for the majority of 2012, was the largest since the 1930s. Drought impacts are costly to agricultural centers and have lead to several devastating wildfires that burned over 9 million acres in the United States during 2012. As the costs of weather and climate related disasters continue to mount, there will be growing political pressure for policies and investment to address resiliency as a means of adapting to climate change. In June, Mayor Bloomberg of New York announced a 400 page, 19.5 billion dollar plan to protect New York from future storms and rising ocean levels. Fifty-eight mayors have signed on to the Resilient Communities for America campaign—a joint effort by the US Green Building Council, International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), the National League of Cities and the World Wildlife Fund. These mayors are acknowledging the tragic reality that a certain degree of global warming is already happening, and that our nation’s high density urban areas are guaranteed a dangerous future of extreme weather, flooding, storm surges, blizzards and droughts. Fortunately, the design and construction industry has the capacity to develop buildings, infrastructure and communities that are resilient in the face of weather related natural disasters. As an industry, we have an obli- gation to understand how living architecture systems like green roofs and walls can contribute positively to the resiliency of our buildings and communities. Green façades, for example, have proven to be effective at reducing building envelope damage caused by debris during heavy winds; while green roof farms, if sufficient in number, may be able to help supplement a disrupted food supply. We are exploring these and other cutting edge design issues in this issue of the LAM, as well as at CitiesAlive in San Francisco October 23-26, 2013. At CitiesAlive we will hear from notable designers such as Eric Corey Freed and Peter Busby, engage in expert discussion panels, and learn from two design contests, one focused on a specific area of San Francisco— Student Design Challenge (land8. com/citiesalive) and the other, on the more general topic of resiliency—The Great Community Resiliency Project. Please join us in San Francisco and let us turn the power of living architecture to the challenge of resilient buildings and communities. Sincerely, Steven W. Peck, GRP Founder & President, GRHC FIND OUT MORE The Great Community Resiliency Project: http://goo.gl/dUWVP Resilient Communities for America: www.resilientamerica.org LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / FALL 2013 / 1 http://www.land8.com/citiesalive http://www.land8.com/citiesalive http://www.goo.gl/dUWVP http://www.resilientamerica.org http://WWW.LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2013

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2013
Inside
From the Founder
Bookshelf – Eat Up: The Inside Scoop on Rooftop Agriculture
Green Roofs Boost Efficiency of Solar Panels
Grey to Green a Great Success
New & Upcoming GRHC Courses
On the Roof With… Industry Leaders
West Coast Green Innovation
Industry Research Collection
The Green Façade Inquiry
Creative Stormwater Landscaping
Leadership – Green Roof Leadership
Plant – Selecting Plants for Living Walls
Conference Agenda — CitiesAlive in San Francisco
Project – Green Walls for Greener Cities
Project – Living Architecture That Feeds
Project – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
New Corporate Members
GRHC Buyers Guide
Hey EPA

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2013