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Green Roofs - My Ah-Ha Moment

Posted on May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters, Mid-Atlantic, Sewage

Katherine Baer, Director
Healthy Waters Campaign

Standing with Barbara Deutsch on the green roof at Casey Trees here in Washington, DC, I had my ah-ha moment. Now, Gary has done a great job of explaining what a green roof is and how it works, but I needed to experience one for myself. So we went on a green roof mini-tour visiting Casey Trees as well as the green roof at the American Society for Landscape Architects (ASLA). At Casey Trees, the roof was green, or at least brown-green, covered with sedum plants that cool the building, extend the life of the roof and reduce polluted stormwater runoff.

“Just look at all these other roofs,” said Barbara pointing out toward the buildings surrounding McPherson Square. “All of that prime rooftop real estate is just wasted space.”

Wow. A whole new perspective, the bird’s-eye view of real estate. We’re wasting a whole dimension of our cities by leaving rooftops flat and devoid of life. If every building had a green roof, cities would be greener, more attractive, and cooler. In fact, Casey Trees and Limno Tech (pdf) found that if 80% of eligible rooftops in DC had green roofs combined sewer overflows to the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers would be reduced by 15% and air pollutants reduced by almost 17 tons.

So with all these benefits the real question is - why aren’t we doing this all the time to increase the effective green infrastructure of our communities? The usual barriers exist, like lack of familiarity, although that’s waning and there is now quite a green roof industry in the U.S.

But what are the best ways to institutionalize green roof techniques so they are the norm for all new construction and roof replacement. Ideas, anyone?

Rain Barrel Sale: a Success in Toledo!

Posted on April 10, 2008 | Filed Under Great Lakes, Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters

Katie Swartz, Conservation Associate
Healthy Waters Campaign, Great Lakes Region

As a follow up to my previous blog, Are Rain Barrels needed in the Great Lakes, I wanted to let you know about American Rivers’ first rain barrel distribution event.

It was a sunny, yet chilly day in Toledo. In fact, it had just snowed the day before. Jack and Joan Freele of New England Rain Barrel Company came in from Massachusetts with nearly 100 rain barrels and were ready to give installation instructions or “Rain Barrel 101″ to everyone who had purchased a barrel or two.

The Mayor of Toledo, Carty Finkbeiner, stopped by the event (see photo above). He spoke about the conversations he has been having with Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur about our water resources in the Maumee River watershed and Lake Erie.

He also mentioned Toledo’s sewer systems and how the aging pipes could benefit from rain barrels by stalling the first rush of water after a large rain event. Before he left, he purchased a barrel for his home and offered to put a demonstration in his office. I would like to thank the Mayor for his continued support of “green” practices in relation to storm water.

Over all, it was an exciting day to see people take initiative and responsibility to reduce their storm water impact and conserve water! Thanks to the volunteers from City of Toledo Environmental Services, Nature Conservancy, and Start High School who came to help load the barrels into cars and trucks.

Due of the overwhelming response of those who missed the first sale, we decided to continue the sale with a second distribution on August 2^nd, at the Erie Street Market in Toledo.

You may begin to order online at www.nerainbarrel.com or call 1-877-977-3135.

Great Lakes - An environmental history lesson

Posted on April 2, 2008 | Filed Under Clean Water, Great Lakes, Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters, Rain Gardens

Gary Belan, Director of Healthy Waters Campaign
Healthy Waters, Catching the Rain

While my colleagues and I write and make videos on rain gardens, rain barrels, the importance of addressing stormwater pollution, and in general using green infrastructure to improve our rivers, I think it’s important to keep in mind why we do this. Ask anybody who is involved in conservation, whether it’s their job, they participate in a clean-up or they’re donating money, and they will tell it’s because they love being outdoors and they love the environment.

But for many people, including myself, the environment is more than just being outdoors or some abstract concept that needs protection because someone says it does. It is an active part of our lives. For my friend Patricia Pennell the Great Lakes are more than “the environment”, they are her history. Patricia is writing a series of blog posts on the Great Lakes Town Hall about her ancestors and the Great Lakes. It is a beautifully written series on how the environment, in this case the Great Lakes, runs through the blood of one family. She also has some really cool photographs, and I really recomend taking a look. Patricia first writes about the importance of the Great Lakes as a place, and then delves a little more into her family’s history there.

I think this is something we all have to keep in mind when we think of the environment. That vacation at Yellowstone, the honeymoon to Niagra Falls, or the hiking trip last weekend. These aren’t just abstract notions of the “environment”. These are all warm moments of life that we keep in our hearts and memories for our entire lives. And in Patricia’s case, generations.

Where Has All the Money Gone?

Posted on February 29, 2008 | Filed Under Clean Water, Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters

Katherine Baer, Director
Healthy Waters Campaign

Guess how much money is needed to fix our crumbling water infrastructure? Now guess higher. The Environmental Protection Agency’s now estimates that we need over $202 billion to fix sewer and storm water systems to meet Clean Water Act goals. Guess how much money the President proposed in his budget for clean water. $555 million - talk about fuzzy math…

The decline in funding for clean water infrastructure is felt all over the country as we’ve documented on our Act for Healthy Rivers site with more and more sewage spilling from old pipes into our local streams and rivers. We need more money at the local, state, and federal levels and it must be better spent, as American Rivers president Rebecca Wodder pointed out recently in the San Francisco Chronicle:

We can stretch those [federal] dollars even further with smart storm water management techniques such as rain gardens, permeable surfaces and by protecting our wetlands. These proven approaches capture rainwater before it becomes a problem, instead of allowing it to overwhelm the system and threaten public health and safety

Green infrastructure approaches are gathering momentum and create jobs that cannot be exported. Hopefully, this will be combined with the increased recognition that failing infrastructure is a national problem that will only worsen in the face of global warming forcing us to make smart investments in our water infrastructure for the future. Instead of promoting sprawl and creating more problems (as documented in a new report by Environmental Advocates of New York), federal money should be used to fix existing problems and fund infrastrcuture that can best adapt to emerging ones. As the Senate looks to reauthorize the federal clean water revolving fund and a new clean water trust fund is being proposed it will be key to keep sustainability at the forefront.

Give A Green Boost To The Economy

Posted on January 30, 2008 | Filed Under Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters, Water Conservation

Rebecca Wodder
President

What our economy needs right now is a whole lot of green: Green jobs, green projects and green investments that will boost local economies while improving our environment and quality of life. (read Katherine’s post, Ring Around the (Green) Collar)

Congress is looking at ways to jump-start the economy and avoid a recession. Recently, we’ve been hearing from a lot of governors, mayors, and economists saying that infrastructure investments are among the most powerful and enduring things we can do to grow the economy. Investing in “green�? upgrades to our nation’s sewage and drinking water systems may not sound sexy (know any Hollywood stars who want to speak up for sewage treatment?) but I’d argue it is the most important thing we can do to create jobs, improve clean water, protect public health and safety, beautify our communities, and revitalize our economy

Our nation’s pipes and sewers – many built 50 to 100 years ago – are old and quickly deteriorating. The report card released by the American Society of Civil Engineers on the state of the nation’s infrastructure gave a grade of D- to sewers and water treatment plants — very near failing. The Environmental Protection Agency warns that we could soon see sewage pollution levels that we haven’t seen since the 1970s. This means more waterborne illnesses, more beach closures and fewer opportunities for fishing and boating.

Investments to fix these outdated structures and systems would pump money into the economy and create tens of thousands of jobs — for every billion dollars invested in water infrastructure construction, 47,000 jobs are created. And it’s important to invest in environmentally-friendly public works projects wherever possible. Green approaches to managing water and sewage not only save us money, it brings all kinds of other benefits to people, rivers and wildlife.

Philadelphia, Chicago, Portland, New York, Washington DC, Seattle, and Los Angeles are already leaders when it comes to green projects. These cities are embracing green roofs, rain gardens, urban tree planting, and other ways to reduce storm-water runoff. Instead of funneling stormwater into a pipe, it can be used to cool buildings and irrigate landscapes, or simply allowed to seep into the ground to replenish streams and groundwater. If every city embraced these ideas, think of how many “green collar” jobs we could create.

Another great way to create green jobs is to boost funding for retrofits of old toilets, plumbing fixtures and water-using appliances to more efficient models. Much of the country is struggling with drought and impacts to their water supplies from climate change, so investing in water efficiency is a smart solution. Over a decade ago, New York City created jobs and dropped water consumption by 26 percent by installing more than a million low-flow toilets.

The bottom line is that green investments pay off. They can make our rivers cleaner, create green collar jobs, and make our communities better places to live. Our message to Congress: Want to jump-start the economy? Go green.

The post, Give A Green Boost To The Economy, was first posted on Trehugger.com.

Ring Around the (Green) Collar

Posted on January 24, 2008 | Filed Under Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters

Katherine Baer, Director
Healthy Waters Campaign

I was folding laundry and listening to one of the Presidential debates the other night - not listening too closely as the candidates were mostly squabbling. Suddenly, I heard one of them say “green infrastructure” and then another said “green jobs.” I looked up from my unmatched socks - were the candidates really talking green infrastructure, like using natural techniques to reduce polluted stormwater runoff?

It turns out that, people (and politicians!) are finally making the connection that good decisions for the environment are also good for the economy and communities. The Washington Post describes several proposals for green collar workers to create jobs in green industries as part of the plan to achieve energy independence. And as Thomas Freidman explained in his column The Green Collar Solution, activists like Van Jones who work in low income areas know that communities need jobs more than they care about melting glaciers. Thus, projects at the Ella Baker Center and elsewhere are aiming to create green collar job training programs to reduce poverty while also creating a broader constituency to stop global warming.

Jobs for clean water are also key to healthy rivers and healthy communities. Around here, D.C. Greenworks trains people to install green roofs and Americorps has trained thousands in ecological restoration techniques.

It might take a while before green collar jobs are as common as blue and white collar ones, but there’s certainly a lot of work to be done. Think of all the people who could be employed retrofitting high efficiency plumbing fixtures and installing rain gardens with a well trained green work force.

Now back to my laundry pile - I’m only folding green collared shirts now…

Go Green New Infrastructure

Posted on January 18, 2008 | Filed Under Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters, Rain Gardens

Katherine Baer, Director
Healthy Waters Campaign

Buffers, wetlands, and green roofs, hooray! Green infrastructure, the use of soil and plants to filter and treat water on-site, is really catching on. This includes preserving natural landscape features like streamside buffer zones as well as well as recreating landscape features by using techniques like raingardens and swales.

Green infrastructure works to help keep stormwater runoff from causing flooding problems and sewer overflows and can save energy and cool buildings, as well as providing an aesthetic benefit for communities. Additionally, these natural systems provide communities with added resilience to mitigate the changes we’ll face in a warming world.

As a way to translate these ideas into action, EPA just released their Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure Action Strategy of which American Rivers is a partner. The strategy includes goals for how to incorporate green infrastructure into permit requirements for combined sewer overflows and stormwater - Washington D.C. has already incorporated these measures into their new stormwater permit, including tree planting and green roofs. New federal buildings will also be using more green infrastructure as a result of a new provision of the Energy Act.

And just in time, too. The recent Clean Watershed Needs Survey shows that $9.0 billion is needed for storm water management nationwide alone - green infrastructure is looking like a smart investment as well a good looking one.

Rain Garden Tips: Design

Posted on January 16, 2008 | Filed Under Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters, Rain Gardens

Gary Belan, Director of Healthy Waters Campaign
Healthy Waters, Catching the Rain

So far in our video series we have talked about winter rain gardens, where to put your rain garden, and evaluating your soil. Today’s post will focus on designing your rain garden. Patricia Pennell of the West Michigan Environmental Council (home to Rain Gardens of West Michigan) wrote a little bit to accompany her video:

The other day Gary talked about how to locate and shape your rain garden so rain can get into it more easily than it can get into the storm drains. The rain garden he was standing in was beautiful, with river birch (Betula nigra) in the background. But how did the garden designer know that tree would be a good choice? How did they select the right plants? Well, they did some very good homework.

And winter is the very time to do this kind of homework, the kind of thing I call “Green Dreaming”. There are books that can help you choose beautiful native plants that will thrive in your rain garden location. One of my favorites for the Midwest is Lakescaping for Wildlife and Water Quality, by Carrol Henderson, Carolyn Dindorf, and Fred Rozumalski and the Minnesota DNR.

Garden design by a professional is a big help. There are many rules of thumb for rain gardens, such as “one plant per square foot”, but we have discovered that is not always a good idea; spacing depends on the size the plant will be when mature. If a plant will take up a space three feet by three feet in two years, the garden can get very crowded. We try to create rain gardens that have a pleasing design, a good progression of bloom, and look intentionally designed since that is what most of our beholders prefer to see. Watch the video for more handy tips and tools for designing rain gardens.

Rain Garden Tips: Soil

Posted on January 14, 2008 | Filed Under Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters, Rain Gardens

Gary Belan, Director of Healthy Waters Campaign
Healthy Waters, Catching the Rain

Last week I wrote a brief intro for my blog post on testing your soil, and below is the video I promised. You’ll see why I wanted you all to get some supplies.

A couple things I forgot to mention in the video: Even if your soils don’t drain well, and replacing your soils with a better mixture is too expensive, you can still do a rain garden. Just put in native plants that grow deep roots. Over time, this will loosen up the soil. The drawback is it takes a year or two for the plants to establish themselves in a way that improves infiltration. That’s why we promote putting in looser soils, because you’ll be able to infiltrate more water, and sooner.

Additionally, the test I do with the water bottle is very basic, and is just supposed to give you a general idea of the ratio of clay, sand, gravel and organic matter is in your soil. I should probably do a video just on that little test, but for now this should give you a good idea. I highly recommend getting a professional soil evaluation though, if you really want to get involved with your yard and/or garden. Knowing your soil composition and pH will really help in deciding what type of plants you want to use. Patricia talks about soils in a really concise way on her page for evaluating your soil.

Later this week I’ll post a video of Patricia talking a bit about design. So keep an eye out for that.

Rain Garden Tips: Pre-video supplies

Posted on January 10, 2008 | Filed Under Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters, Rain Gardens

Gary Belan, Director of Healthy Waters Campaign
Healthy Waters, Catching the Rain

The next topic for our rain garden tip series is going to be evaluating your soil. I was going to trying making the video yesterday, but realized later in the day that I didn’t have the right supplies. So, unfortunately I think I’ll have to postpone the video until Friday or Monday, since I’m out in the field most of today.

But the fun part is that not only am I going to talk about what to do to evaluate your soil, I’m going to show you a couple of neat little tricks on how to figure out what kind of soil you have in your back yard and also to test and see how well your yard infiltrates stormwater. I love science projects!

You don’t have to have these materials ahead of time, but in case you want to, here’s what you’ll need:

1. A clean, empty spaghetti jar with a lid, or something similar.
2. A handful of dirt from your back yard
3. A empty clean soup can with both top and bottom removed
4. A permanent marker
5. A small pitcher of water - or at least have your sink handy.

Curious? This’ll be fun. Oh, and Patricia is putting the finishing touches on her video on designing a garden, so that’s in the line-up as well. You’ll have to have your pencil and paper ready for that one.
Stay tuned…

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