Cities Alive
HERE’S ANOTHER ONE FROM THE VAULT: two video clips of David Miller, mayor of Toronto, inviting delegates to the Cities Alive conference on green infrastructure technologies last month. In the first video clip, he lists the various ecological initiatives that the municipal government has implemented over the last several years, explaining why he believes that Toronto is leading the world in fighting climate change. In the second video clip, he talks about the new Green Roof bylaw that city council enacted back in May. I hope you don’t mind the odd colouration of the video; the room was very dark, because while he spoke, he was screening a series of slides, so I had only a small colour spectrum to work with. In any case, I certainly hope that his enthusiasm for the environment will translate into many more green roofs across Toronto! Here’s hoping!
HERE’S ANOTHER VIDEO THAT we shot at the Cities Alive conference. In this clip, Alan Darlington, Adjunct Professor at the University of Guelph, discusses the results of his research on a number of local Living Walls, to test how effectively they filter out Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOC’s, in enclosed areas. By the end, the walls had performed so well that they exceeded even his own expectations. By combining the science of biofiltration with the floral artwork of Patrick Blanc, Darlington has pioneered a kind of vegitecture, a truly holistic system for human housing. Bravo!
WHEN WE ATTENDED THE Cities Alive Conference on Living Roofs and Living Walls, one month ago here in downtown Toronto, we made the effort to videotape some of the lecturers. Ever since that time, we’ve been pretty busy building our very own Living Wall at the Green Apple offices. But now that the Living Wall is up and running — and looking very beautiful, I might add — we’re able to upload some more of the footage that we filmed at Cities Alive, for your viewing pleasure. Here is a brief clip of Dr. Brad Bass speaking about his scientific studies into the potential energy savings of living roofs. Enjoy!
WE SURE LEARNED A LOT at the Cities Alive Conference two weeks ago, but part of the problem was that there were so many speakers all presenting simultaneously, that it was impossible for any one person to take in all of the interesting information. So as a service to the community of green infrastructure designers and builders, I’m uploading this ten-minute video of one of the panels that Peter and I attended. The speaker in question is George Irwin, principal of Green Living Technologies, a company out of Rochester, New York, that has developed a pre-fabricated tray system for embedding soil on roofs and walls. George is a very emotionally engaging speaker, and he makes a very convincing case for building living walls. Well, we’re convinced, anyways!
THE DOWN SIDE OF DOING a tour of green roofs in the autumn is that it can be damp and cold outside. Yesterday, it was both. But the upside is that the roofs that you visit aren’t all green: they’re green and yellow and orange and red, and every shade in between, because in northeastern North America the leaves cycle through the colour spectrum before they fall off the trees and bushes. What a sight to behold!
