THIS WEEK, our crew is in the Beaches neighbourhood of Toronto, transforming a home on Hambly Avenue. Here are some photos of John, Victor, and P.J. on site, working away. If you’re in the area, feel free to drop by and say hi to the guys! Click on any image for a higher-resolution version.
IN HONOUR OF Toronto City Council Bylaw PG25.3, we present the third blog in a series about green roofs. Meet Malcolm Wells: octogenarian eco-architect, artist, author, and time-traveller. Yes, you heard me correctly: time-traveller! How else could one possibly account for his beautiful and brilliant designs? They are not of this era, they are evidence of a large leap forward in human evolution. If people immediately and permanently cease all destructive activity, then perhaps in seventy-five or a hundred years, the earth would return to itself and reclaim the rooftops of our man-made structures. The genius of Malcolm Wells is that he has the super-human ability to see through the misty sands of time and envision entropy a hundred years hence.
Continue reading about Recovering Civilization One Roof at a Time
IN THE CURRENT political climate, there is a tendency to herald every baby step taken in the general direction of sustainability as a giant leap for humankind. Sure, it is important to give positive reinforcement to young children when they achieve even modest accomplishments. But we are not children! We may be acting like spoiled children, despoiling the environment for our own short-term convenience, without a thought for the long-term consequences. But we have the mental acumen of full-grown adults, and we can no longer claim ignorance of the ecological emergencies in this day and age. So let’s be a bit more humble about our tiny triumphs and encourage each other to strive higher. Let’s not compare ourselves to ecological laggards — but to environmental visionaries like Freidensreich Hundertwasser.
EVERYONE ECO is excited about the recent May 26 Toronto City Council 36-2 decision to mandate the allocation of at least some percentage of the roof space of all newly constructed buildings to topsoil and plant life, and the inclusion of a clause that financially penalizes developers that don’t comply with the code. There’s no need to let the fact that this law is the first of its kind in North America go to our heads — Chicago has over 600 green rooftops, and in Germany, they’ve been building green roofs for nearly 40 years now! Plus, people that profit from real estate development have harshly opposed the bylaw since it means diminished short-term profits for themselves, and have succeeded in watering down the law significantly. But hey, some green roofs are better than no green roofs, right?
