Tuesday, October 13, 2009

More photos



Gallery Exhibit






Thank you for all your hard work!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Sarah Ebling's Gallery


Hi Everyone,

I wanted to send a picture of Sarah and some of her photos. It was a fabulous time. The photo above her of the Pantheon will soon be in my home. :)

Ciao!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Hey Sara... I wanted to ask you how you got the arial view of the buildings you are working on. I've gone to google earth and I've set it to satelite but can't get it to copy. I really dunno how to do it, so my attemps are pretty silly! :-P
thanks.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Checking out the Barbara Marks Gallery





































Today we started organizing where we will be displaying our project. The Barbara Marks Gallery has more than enough space. We gathered to measure and plan a few more details. We are really in the final stages of preparation for our September event. Great work Ladies!
































Wednesday, July 8, 2009

**Mary, I love these renderings of the school rooftop, they are great!!**

Also, I have seen some of you and let you know, but for the others... I am unable to come to class on Friday, Again! My manager was under the impression I was available to work fridays starting July 10th and scheduled me, I have tried to switch shifts with the girls I work with and had no such luck. I apoligize, i know it sucks. If it is raining early enough, I will most likley be told not to come in and then I will be there!

Peggy

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Ideas for School Roof Top



















After meeting last week Chelsey and I began to map out our roof top design. We had many ideas about what curriculum could be taught on the roof. We are planning a green house (science units) and weather station (science and math) that can be easily entered all year long, it will be placed closet to the stair way onto the roof. There will also be a map of the world that will be a central gathering space for the students and it could be used to teach history. We are placing solar lights on the main paths. There will also be sculptural objects, a fountain and a telescope area. We are working on our final photoshop drawing for Friday.

Mary







Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Monday, June 29, 2009

Blair Kamin article

Below is the link describing the controversial Jordan Mozer's Cheesecake Factory project after it was installed at the John Hancock Building.


http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=25905881&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=47448&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Friday, June 26, 2009

Hello  "John Hancock" group, Peggy, Michelle and YoungJi,

I enjoyed the powerpoint yesterday and was impressed by all of you great computer skills!  I forgot to tell the rest of the groups and the three of you that all the photos I have taken of the out door, basement level, Hancock Center were adjusted and brightened up with iphoto.  

The plaza area is so dark with all the black reflective marble that you could see nothing.  I will post two photos to show you the difference.  I bring this up because it is a dark area with black materials even a black waterfall, that is hard to really see.  The Living Green wall will cover the flat part of the waterfall and add color and texture.  Also changing all materials to a lighter color will make the whole area appear larger.  

There is very little sitting area due to the 4 sets of stair cases, each with 28 steps to the lower level.  The monograph of the 1969 Hancock Center, shows a rectangular area with one pair of center stair cases on Michigan Ave.  Adding the shops and the additional stairs, with large sitting steps next to them, left little room for seating.  I love the idea of removing the center large seating area steps,  increasing the water pool and then with a "glass type" cover over the pool create a new seating area, so people sitting at the tables feel that they are "floating on the water as the walk and sit on it.  the Sketch-up pictures showed that well.

Even though the management and shop owners had mentioned making the area available year round, so that it is not a closed area in the winter, due to Chicago's extremely cold and windy winters that leave ice on the steps and only inside access, I feel at this point, for aesthetics and the iconic nature of the Hancock building it should be handled in winter, as a ski resort rest area would be.  

New flooring could be done with heating elements under it and on the staircases.  The waterfall could be replaced by a large fire pit for the inclement months.  A three to five foot glass over hang could be installed around the perimeter of the area with heat lamps and lighting installed under the UV glass.    

The "dome"  done as a green house with a movable glass roof, as we saw in the Italian piazza and other S.O.M. buildings, (that the restaurant owners and management have expressed an interest in) were an interesting design experiment, but Liz felt it should be abandoned at this point as the wrong approach because it would take away from the building itself, and I think we all agree.  Maybe changing the street level railing from steel to taller glass panels and door like entrances at the staircases, would enclose the area and be less obtrusive and offer more shelter than is there now.

I will meet all of you Monday at Harrington after Michelles class at 5:00pm to finish up.

Peace,

Anne Marie

  




Hi Everyone!

Here are the items I have worked on but didn't have to show you this morning.

Let me know if you have any thoughts.

Thanks,
Sarah


Thursday, June 25, 2009

Hi everyone!

***** Date TBD!****


Hey Everyone,
I'm really sorry that I can't be at the meeting tomorrow. I'm pretty sad about it because
I'm anxious to see what everyone has come up with. I figured I would post these things that I
showed everyone at one of our meetings. It was the start of documenting our project for
a Gallery Show. Don't worry about the spelling error, I have corrected it, however I do not have the program at home so all I have is a PDF I made a previous time. Anyways! Can't wait to see/hear about the projects after tomorrow!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Peggy


Wednesday, June 24, 2009

So here is the site that Laura and I are working on, with lots of space for and impressive cafe and green walls.


Starting at $100 per square foot, G-Sky will install plant-filled wall panels that can go on any vertical surface--meaning G-Sky just quintupled its opportunity. After all, "for every roof out there, there are four walls," says Steven Peck, founder of the Toronto- based industry association Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, who says he expects the vertical greenery market to be "huge."

Green walls can provide as much bill-saving insulation as green roofs, but put less load-bearing strain on the building. Whole Foods (Charts), Vancouver International Airport, and the W Hotels (Charts) chain are early G-Sky clients.

And that's just the start. G-Sky is looking long-term, to a world where carbon-trading is king and companies are eager to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. What better way to do that than to cover your building with greenery?

"Even in small plants, there's a very easy calculation for how much carbon they offset," Sichello says.

Green walls can also help offset the newly identified urban heat island effect: All the heat-absorbing surfaces in a city raise its temperature to as much as 8 degrees higher than that of the surrounding countryside. Peck says no North American city will have enough green roofs and walls to combat this effect before 2027--not even Chicago.

It's time for entrepreneurs to find their green thumbs: There's a lot of growing to

Sunday, June 21, 2009

MORE PARK PICTURES
















Here are some pictures od the park spaces on both sides of the floral garden and beside the museum.

JACKSON PARK PICS






HEY GUYS WENT TO THE PARK TODAY TO GIVE YOU A VISUAL OF SOME OF THE AREAS TIFF AND I ARE THINK ING ABOUT. THIS PARK HAS A BEAUTIFUL GARDEN WITH TWO OPEN FIELDS ON EACH SIDE THAT CAN BE USED AS WELL AS A FIELD RIGHT NEXT TO THE MUSEUM TAKE A LOOK.


Floral space....I didnt know they had!


Space that sits right nexts to the flower garden below

floral garden...thinking of placing a living wall/ fountain adjacent to this.
Lovely greenery in this garden

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Residential Rooftops

Hi Everyone,
Work on the residential side of the project is going well.  I'm attaching a few pictures of the alley way where I live.  You can see that some of the garages are simple black top, but some people have converted theirs to patio areas.  My goal will be to introduce a green roof to the garage tops that are not accessible, but that will provide both a positive environmental solution as well as an attempt to beautify an otherwise ugly view of the alley.
Sarah

This is a photo of my rooftop.  Half of it has a built on deck but the majority of it is just a black top roof.  I'll be designing a green roof with a gazebo type seating solution for this space.


The previous two photos show the garage rooftops I was mentioning.  There are many others in the alley but this shows a good example.  




Thursday, June 18, 2009

Hello Everyone,
See the article links below, read on. Don't forget you could create a structural environment.
Liz

'Cloud Gate' at Millennium Park
--------------------

Van Berkel's temporary pavilion an interactive salute to Burnham

Blair Kamin Cityscapes

June 18 2009

Traditionalists recoiled last summer when it was announced that two paragons of the architectural avant-garde -- Zaha Hadid of London and Ben van Berkel of Amsterdam -- would design temporary pavilions in Millennium Park to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Burnham Plan.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0618-pavilionjun18,0,1270808.story



This page was sent to you by: eawdesign@msn.com DINING & WINE June 17, 2009 Urban Farming, a Bit Closer to the Sun By MARIAN BURROS Gardeners are raising fruits and vegetables on rooftops, high above the noise and grime of urban streets.

Still researching plants that can be used on a roof

While at NeoCon I saw a company NEDLAW Living Walls. I'm getting ready to watch their video that they gave me. Sad that I am not getting a responce from The Latin School to try and view their roof top. But excited to read that the new patient tower at Advocate Lutheran Hospital in Park Ridge is the first hospital in the state to achieve gold leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Mary
Hey girlies!

I'm getting more and more excited about the projects we're all working on. Here are some sites of other green roofs that schools around the U.S. have begun for learning purposes and of course helping the environment.

Check them out, they're neat, but with our creative minds, I think our designs will be more extensive and creative... ;-)

http://www.greenroofs.com/projects/pview.php?id=67

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/green-roof-tries-to-make-building-disappear.php

http://www.ecfs.org/news.aspx?id=86

http://www.greeningschools.org/resources/view_cat_admin.cfm?id=70

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/05/14/2009-05-14_ps_6_breaks_ground_on_nyc_public_schools_first_green_roof_a_dream_of_teacher_who.html

http://www.peterli.com/spm/resources/articles/archive.php?article_id=590

okay... the list goes on, and I'm sure ya'll have probably read some of these, and posted one or two, but they're pretty interesting to see what others are doing.

LET'S ROCK THIS!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

John Hancock Plaza Update

Hi All!

The John Hancock Plaza project is going well! We are also in the middle of receiving plans from the management company. We would like to improve this space with better seating arrangements, shaded areas, possibly a sustainable material for the stairs and fountain wall, possibly a living wall on each side of the fountain, and the list goes on!! The ideas are flowing and sketches are in the works.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

Peggy

John Hancock Team is: Anne Marie, Peggy, Michelle & YoungJi

PARK PROJECT UPDATE

Hey guys
Tiffiany and I are working on the park project and have decided on Jackson Park due toits location and history with Chicago. Jackson Park is a huge community park with several areas to for activities ans displays. It is also the site of Chicago's first World Fair and will be the site of the 100th year world fair celebration. Jackson Park has also been included in the plans for the Olympics. Tiffany and I have decided on the following:

We will produce 1-2 public spaces
One or both will include a fountain with an art structure incorporated
One will incorporate an area for dog activity
Our fountain will be interactive
We will try to base the fountain structure and sculpture off a World Fair or Olympic theme possible for attractions

We are now in the process of obtaining plans and pics of the park which will include
the original park before ots expansion and getting more detailed pics of the current park today........look for more pic soon.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Worth the look at these Green spaces

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/05/green-roofs/cook-photography

Direction, Goals, Deadlines!!!!

Hello Everyone,

Today in class we discussed.....

-Meeting in two weeks, June 26th

During these two weeks you should be meeting with your small group and developing your space. We will have a pin up on Friday June 26th and would like to see:

Pictures, Sketches, Renderings (of any sort), concept statement etc..

On June 26th be prepared to present to the class the whole concept and direction of your space. Tweeking can be done after but this is the time to receive feedback and suggestions.

The week after June 26th will be for FINALIZING your space. Although we are not meeting on July 3rd, this date will be a deadline for sumbitting your final presentation elements to Sarah and Peggy to format for the Gallery.

July 10th is our goal for the final project! Let's try to make it!!!

If you were unable to make it to class today please contact one of us or your small group to get caught up and know your next step.

As of today, update on small groups:


Parking Garage: Tiffany & Laura
School: Chelsey & Mary
Park: Ava & Tiffany
John Hancock: Anne Marie & Peggy (Michelle & YoungJi ?)
Residential Garage & Rooftops: Sarah


History of Piazzas: Tiffany & Laura
Documenting Project for Gallery: Peggy & Sarah

Thank you and Have a great Weekend!!

Hi Guys

I'm really sorry that I missed class again this week..
I took cold medicine last night and I couldn't wake up.. I guess I didn't hear my alram.
I promise not to make this mistake again.... I'm really sorry. 
and I don't mind going to school right now but then it's gonna take about at least 30 min to get there so by then, i think it's too late. 
anyway, Im guessing someone will post the class discussion?
I will check this blog and I'll do whatever I'll need to do going forward. 
and, I was gonna say today, since we have (I think) enough information about green roof,
i think it's time for us to start designing our space.. I don't know if you guyes already talked about this or not.. but I'll see the space and start thinking about what will go on the space and stuff..
So.. yea. I'll see what's up on the blog later and do my work! 
sorry guys 

 

WHY CHICAGO NEEDS GREAT PLACES ARTICLE

Hey Ladies,
I realized that the web link may not work from the blog so I just copied it for your convenience to read. I think this will greatly help give an in depth explanation about why we are doing the public space aspect ofthis project and the need for it in Chicago based on individual communities. There are also great definitions and qualifications for what makes a good public space that we can consider.

This is the direct website and it is overall a great resource for this project. Take some time and look through the articles.......very interesting......SOUNDS FAMILIAR!!!!!!!

www.placemakingchicago.com/places/why.asp


A recent global survey showed residents of Chicago are some of the most satisfied and optimistic people in the world. With a population that is expected to grow by 2.8 million over the next 20 years, it is clear this optimism is spreading.

Why Chicago needs great places

A recent global survey showed residents of Chicago are some of the most satisfied and optimistic people in the world. With a population that is expected to grow by 2.8 million over the next 20 years, it is clear this optimism is spreading.
As the Chicago region grows, it is essential to remember what makes Chicagoland truly special. With 552 parks, 33 beaches, one of the world's largest conservatories, an 18-mile linear park along Lake Michigan, and more than 40 community gardens, it is easy to argue public spaces are a big part of what makes Chicago, well, Chicago.

Many of the region's public spaces are officially maintained by the Chicago Park District or Cook County Forest Preserves. Unofficially, the people who live here are the reason these places work. They are the ones who dip their feet in the fountains on a hot summer day and connect with their neighbors at a community dog park. They spend their afternoons reading on a bench, playing pick-up softball games, and hosting impromptu barbecues. Without people, the great public places of Chicago—and thus the region itself—would not thrive.
For nearly 75 years, the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) has partnered with everyone from block club presidents to mayors to maintain and enhance the quality of life in the Chicago region. Through our work, we are continually impressed by how much Chicagoans love their city—and by the variety of projects, large and small, residents tackle in an effort to make their neighborhoods and region even better.

MPC's partnership with Project for Public Spaces represents an exciting opportunity and challenge. For more than 30 years, PPS has been a recognized leader in community-based public space planning. Its expertise has been honed by projects in more than 2,000 communities in 26 countries around the world. By partnering with MPC to create a Chicago-specific Placemaking guide book and Web site, PPS recognizes the tremendous vitality of the Chicago region—and encourages us to do more.
The goal of this Web site is to do just that: help Chicagoans recognize the region's amazing public places and inspire action to preserve, improve and create new public spaces. We have identified the necessary tools and resources, and told the stories of people in the region who have brought positive change to their neighborhoods. Now, we ask you, the reader: What can you do to contribute to Chicago's bright future? What vision do you have for Chicago…your neighborhood…or even your own block?
A century ago, Chicago's visionary planner Daniel Burnham encouraged people to, "Make no little plans." Let's expand our imagination beyond Burnham's call to action and instead make lots of little plans! Even the smallest improvement or change can foster community life and beautify neighborhoods. Whether you are new to the area or have lived here your entire life, you can start making great places today!


Why Chicago needs great places
Placemaking Approach: Placemaking workshop
Placemaking Approach: Chicago River Day
Placemaking Approach: Chicago's Sunday Parkways (Open Streets Chicago)
Placemaking Approach: The 61st Street Farmers Market
Placemaking Approach: Bronzeville Coffee and Tea House
Placemaking Approach: Rogers Park Garden Group
Placemaking Approach: Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail
Placemaking Approach: Every Block a Village
Placemaking Approach: Lincoln Square
Placemaking Approach: 63rd Street Beach Drum Circle
Placemaking Approach: Elmhurst City Centre
Placemaking Approach: Growing Home
Placemaking Approach: Senn Park Unity Garden

What is placemaking?
Placemaking is a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces. Put simply, it involves looking at, listening to, and asking questions of the people who live, work and play in a particular space, to discover needs and aspirations. This information is then used to create a common vision for that place. The vision can evolve quickly into an implementation strategy, beginning with small-scale, do-able improvements that can immediately bring benefits to public spaces and the people who use them.

Placemaking can be used to improve all of the spaces that comprise the gathering places within a community—its streets, sidewalks, parks, buildings, and other public spaces—so they invite greater interaction between people and foster healthier, more social, and economically viable communities.
But Placemaking is not just the act of building or fixing up a space; it is a process that fosters the creation of vital public destinations—the kind of places where people feel a strong stake in their communities and commitment to making things better. Placemaking capitalizes on a local community’s assets, inspiration and potential, creating good public spaces that pro mote people’s health, happiness, and economic well-being. As a PPS survey of its members suggests, this process is essential—even sacred—to people who care about the places in their lives.
What is placemaking?
What makes a place great?
Impacts and benefits
Four key qualities of a successful place
11 principles of placemaking
Power of 10
Background

Placemaking is the art of creating public "places of the soul" that uplift and help us connect to each other.
—PPS member

STEP BY STEP
The following are the steps PPS recommends for assessing and then doing something about the public spaces in your neighborhood. The steps include not only how to get started, but also how to move through a Placemaking process to get improvements implemented.
Getting ready
Step 1: Assess public space challenges Step 2: Select a site Step 3: Identify key stakeholders
Evaluating your neighborhood
Step 4: Collect data
Making a place plan
Step 5: Conduct place evaluation workshop Step 6: Translate the ideas into action with a working group Step 7: Develop a visual concept plan Step 8: Create a summary report and presentation
Implementing your place plan
Step 9: Implement short-term actions Step 10: Develop long-term design and management plans Step 11: Assess results and replicate
About the step-by-step guide
The goal of this step-by-step guide is to teach Placemaking participants how to:
Define the basic elements that create a successful place.
Understand the role that successful community places play in neighborhood revitalization.
Recognize a successful place.
Learn to analyze a specific site.
Facilitate groups of local community leaders, residents and designers to work together on improving public spaces.
Develop a plan of immediate, short-term, and long-term actions to improve a site.
Approach place-related issues or problems differently in the future.
This guide is written for anyone who has a stake in the improvement of neighborhoods. It also is for people who will be managing and coordinating a Placemaking process, whether for a small corner, community center, park, street, or an entire neighborhood. It describes the process and steps for developing a Placemaking program and engaging citizens from the beginning of the project through its implementation—while also bringing in public, professional and technical resources in a supportive and creative way.
The role of the project leader—or a leadership team—evolves during the course of a Placemaking project: at the outset, the leader's main goal is to get people involved and solicit as many ideas as possible. The leader then transitions into a planner, collaborating with a working group and professional resources to put together a program of achievable short and long-term projects. Once these projects are identified, the leader must oversee their implementation.
Finally, while the authors have tried to make this guide as clear as possible, they would like to emphasize Placemaking is not a rigid process; rather, it can and should be modified. Project for Public Spaces knows from its own work that the process is often adapted to fit into different community circumstances. As you gain experience, you will find ways to make Placemaking work better in your community.
Step-by-step guide
Getting ready
Evaluating your neighborhood
Making a place plan
Implementing your plan


The Guide to Neighborhood Placemaking in Chicago is generously supported by


Project for Public Spaces 700 Broadway, 4th Floor New York, New York, 10003 www.pps.org T (212) 620-5660 F (212) 620-3821
Metropolitan Planning Council 140 S Dearborn, Suite 1400 Chicago, Illinois, 60602 www.metroplanning.org T (312) 922-5616 F (312) 922-5619
© 2008 Placemaking Chicago Project partners

WHY CHICAGO NEEDS INTERESTING PLACES

Hey Ladies

While researching Chicago public parks and fountains I ran across this article with the above title. EVERYONE MUST READ IT...its the epitome of what we are trying to create with the public spaces...in effect we are attempting to answer the articles question. Very cool!!!!!!!!!

Here is the web link
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.placemakingchicago.com/cmsimages/chicago-il-devon-street.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.placemakingchicago.com/places/why.asp&usg=__8gz93w1mUCtfwa53bX5Xk7OjDmM=&h=600&w=580&sz=237&hl=en&start=232&tbnid=_QvIjLIiauzsSM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchicago,IL%2Bfountains%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D216

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Goats on the roof at Sister Bay, Wisconsin.

The original in a green roof!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQaVbbJUM9A


Canada's largest green roof

Canada's Largest Green Roof

by Justin Thomas, Virginia  on 06.22.07

vancouver-convetion-center.jpg

This green roof will be the largest in Canada when complete. It's the roof of theVancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre. The whole Centre is being built with high environmental standards. Besides the multi-hectare intensive green roof, it will have energy efficient lighting and electrical systems, an on-site desalinization system, and a greywater treatment that will provide irrigation for the green roof.

The footings for the load-bearing piles have been designed to support marine life. The building will also house the Coal Harbour marine aerodrome, a seaplane airport with more than 400 daily flights. During the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics the building will serve as the international broadcast center.

Here's another rendering with an aerial perspective:

vancouverwaterfront.jpg

See also: Toronto Goes Green (Well, its Roofs, Anyways)

Don't forget about Greensburg! They do as we talk!

In the Greensburg episode "Second Anniversary", The Silo Eco-Home is nearly complete—all it needs now is a green roof. Named after one of the few structures left standing after the tornado, and built to be the strongest building in town, the Silo Eco-Home the perfect spot for a green roof.That's where the Greensburg student Green Club comes in. The Green Club students hope the idea catches on and more green roofs will follow in Greensburg.

The students start by spreading out the dirt then planting flowers in the center. Next, as the dirt settles, they'll move out from the center adding vegetables and vegetation. Adding a green roof to the Silo Eco-Home will help keep the roof cool, purify water and air, improve stormwater management and as the kids point out, provide a cool place to hang out.

Green Club member Alexis Fleener says:

I think the green roof idea is unique and space-saving. I think it will catch on once people see more about it and how cool and efficient it is.

Green walls that have always been in Chicago.

I remember growing up in the Chicago suburbs and everyone had ivy growing on their homes.  It looked beautiful in the summer and kept the house cool.  The ivy changed color in the fall and added a new dimension to a brick home. The only draw back is that the leaves died in the winter months and all that was left to see were the vines.  

I mention this because it reminds me of the living walls the girls spoke of seeing in Spain.

I know there are different varieties of ivy that keep their green leaves all winter because I had it growing on my trees and as a ground cover when I lived in the western suburbs of Chicago.  I will find out tomorrow what the name is of that ivy because I think it is an inexpensive way to start a year round green wall in in Chicago!

Following is also an article on 4 easy ways anyone can do a little greening of their own roof at home on a small scale at low cost. 



4 Ways To Green Your Roof

Utilizing your roof may be a great way to save or harness energy.

Josh Peterson

By Josh Peterson
Los Angeles, CA, USA | Mon Dec 08 10:00:00 EST 2008

green roof photo


Karen Moskowitz/Getty Images

Is your roof going to waste? Is it just sitting there, covered in TV antennas, leaves and old footballs? It doesn't have to be. You can alter your roof to aid the environment. Why settle for a roof that just covers your living space? Make your roof a dynamic part of your home. Here's four ways how.

  1. Skylights
    Skylights are a great way to reduce your electric bills. Installing skylights or solar tubesin your roof, can help you save money. It will decrease your need for electric lighting during the day. It will also bring in natural light which is good for your mental health.

  2. Paint Your Roof White
    By painting your roof white, you can deflect light and heat away from your roof. Not only will it help you cool your house, it will also help control climate change. According to the physicist, Hashem Akbari, a 1,000 sq-ft roof, painted white, can offset 10 metric tons of CO2.

  3. Plant a Rooftop Garden
    Putting a garden on your rooftop is a great way reduce urban heat islands. Did you know that it can also reduce the temperature of the garden-topped building by up to 15 degrees? Growing plants and trees in the city can also contribute to the overall air quality by eliminating carbon dioxide. That's great news for all us oxygen-breathers.

  4. IMount Some Solar Panels
    Why not turn your roof into a power plant? By mounting a few solar panels on your roof and hooking them into your grid. You can generate some clean energy for your home. It's expensive in at first, but it can save you money in the long run.