Simply speaking, a green roof is a living roof. While green roof design has its roots in ancient civilizations (think hanging gardens of Babylon), as American cities have become more concerned about managing quantities of stormwater runoff, air quality, and building heat transfer, large modern green roofs have been appearing on commercial properties across the country. Now, FLOWER ot the PEOPLE, Inc. has green roof solutions specifically designed for Southern California private residences. Here the Beverly Hills green roof at Greystone Manor Estate is still growing strong more than two years after its installation. Succulent-covered roofs, like the one at Greystone and the green roofs pictured here, even provide a fire-retarding alternative to traditional shake or stone roofs.

A living roof provides superior energy efficiency for any building (saving on energy costs), extends the life of the roof membrane, is beautiful to look at, provides the local environment with beneficial air-cleaning, cooling and storm water reduction, and promotes greater biodiversity.

Green Roof Section View

1 roof flashing

2 EPDM waterproof membrane

3 root barrier

4 drainage mat

5 "L" sheet metal edge

6 1/2" pea gravel

7 nonwoven separation fabric

8 planting media

9 plants

10 gutter (optional)

It's delightful to discover a thriving treasure-- whether it is a garden or a business!  Flower to the People is such a treasure right in my own community!  Visit their website for a delightful array of garden designs that bring nature and sustainable gardening solutions to the urban landscape.  Their "Exterior Design Portfolio" in particular is expansive and a bloomin' delight!

Flower to the People is located in West Los Angeles, CA at:

11409 Charnock Rd., Los Angeles, CA 90066

FLOWER to the PEOPLE is a sustainable exterior design and outdoor lifestyle firm. Their residential and commercial clients rely on them to create unique environmentally-friendly exterior spaces that suit their contemporary lifestyles.

What is Edible Forest Gardening?
Edible forest gardening is the art and science of putting plants together in woodlandlike patterns that forge mutually beneficial relationships, creating a garden ecosystem that is more than the sum of its parts. You can grow fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, other useful plants, and animals in a way that mimics natural ecosystems. You can create a beautiful, diverse, high-yield garden. If designed with care and deep understanding of ecosystem function, you can also design a garden that is largely self-maintaining. In many of the world's temperate-climate regions, your garden would soon start reverting to forest if you were to stop managing it. We humans work hard to hold back succession—mowing, weeding, plowing, and spraying. If the successional process were the wind, we would be constantly motoring against it. Why not put up a sail and glide along with the land's natural tendency to grow trees? By mimicking the structure and function of forest ecosystems we can gain a number of benefits.

Why Grow an Edible Forest Garden?
While each forest gardener will have unique design goals, forest gardening in general has three primary practical intentions:

• High yields of diverse products such as food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizer, 'farmaceuticals' and fun;
• A largely self-maintaining garden and;
• A healthy ecosystem.

These three goals are mutually reinforcing. For example, diverse crops make it easier to design a healthy, self-maintaining ecosystem, and a healthy garden ecosystem should have reduced maintenance requirements. However, forest gardening also has higher aims.

As Masanobu Fukuoka once said, "The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings."

SOURCE:  www.edibleforestgardens.com

Invasive species means an alien species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

Threat to Freshwater Ecosystems

Invasive species are one of the largest threats to our terrestrial, coastal and freshwater ecosystems, as well as being a major global concern.

Invasive species can affect aquatic ecosystems directly or by affecting the land in ways that harm aquatic ecosystems.


Threat to Biodiversity
 
Invasive species represent the second leading cause of species extinction and loss of biodiversity in aquatic environments worldwide. They also result in considerable economic effects through direct economic losses and management/control costs, while dramatically altering ecosystems supporting commercial and recreational activities.

Effects on aquatic ecosystems result in decreased native populations, modified water tables, changes in run-off dynamics and fire frequency, among other alterations. These ecological changes in turn impact many recreational and commercial activities dependent on aquatic ecosystems. Common sources of aquatic invasive species introduction include ballast water, aquaculture escapes, and accidental and/or intentional introductions, among others.

Ballast Water Carries Invasive Species

A major concern is the introduction of invasive species through ship ballast water carrying viable organisms from one waterbody to another. All mainland coasts of the United States - East, West, Gulf, and Great Lakes, as well as the coastal waters of Alaska, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands - have felt the effects of successful aquatic species invasions.

Over two-thirds of recent non-native species introductions in marine and coastal areas are likely due to ship-borne vectors, and ballast water transport and discharge is the most universal and ubiquitous of these.

EPA is working in conjunction with our Federal and State partners to address this source of aquatic invasive species both domestically and internationally.

• Useful Links to Ballast Water Related Information

Solutions For Landscapers

We don't think about how our purchasing habits affect natural systems.  But heavy global traffic on the oceans directly affects the invasive species on both water and land.  In the water, we are finding clams, water plants are hitching a ride.

These same ships bring containers that contain seeds and eggs for snakes, spiders, even parrots that escape their confines and invade areas with little or no natural deterrents such as wildlife that eats them for food, or bacteria that control their growth and reproduction.

A simple solution is to buy local, native plants whenever possible.  Even tools and equipment bought locally or in the US is a move to reduce ocean traffic to a manageable level.

When international trade is essential, it is important to work with reputable distribution systems that have safeguards in place and have stringent control systems that are explained to you...and measured.

Golf courses frequently are large enough to include wetland areas.  But until recently, the manicured course was the norm.  More natural golf courses are beginning to emerge, but still need advocates to encourage the reduction of chemicals in landscaping, and preservation or restoration of natural and native flora and fauna.

This interview by Golf Digest with Robert Wood, the deputy director of the Wetlands Division, the EPA's representative in the Golf & the Environment Initiative, and an 18-handicap golfer.

Why do wetlands matter on golf courses?

Why shouldn't I be able to fill in the wetland on my golf-course project?
 
Wetlands are a vital part of any aquatic ecosystem. They provide habitat to a wide range of wildlife from fish, shellfish, all the way down to insect communities. Wetlands are the unique habitat for something like 30 percent of all endangered species, and 50 percent of endangered species spend at least part of their life cycle in wetlands. They're very ecologically rich.

To most people, endangered species are things like snow leopards and elephants, but there are more than 1,000 endangered species in the U.S. alone.

That's right. People are not thinking about salamanders or vegetation in a wetland. They're critically important as a habitat. And they're critically important as a filter: We build all this infrastructure to keep water clean, and wetlands provide very much that same kind of cleansing capacity in a natural way. And they provide a buffering capacity for storm events. We saw this very much with the Katrina and Rita storms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Is there a figure for the size of America's wetlands? A lot of the wetlands have disappeared.
The first statistical wetlands status-and-trends report in 1983 estimated the rate of wetland loss from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s at 458,000 acres per year. Wetlands then were largely thought of as a hindrance to development. In the 1991 report, which covered the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, we were still losing wetlands, but the rate had declined to 290,000 acres a year. The third report, from '86 to '97, indicated that the rate of loss was down to 58,500 acres per year. Now the 2006 report, which covers 1998 to 2004, shows that the wetland area actually increased by an average of 32,000 acres per year. This was the first report to show that we were in a period of increasing wetlands. There was, however, some issue with this report over how wetlands were defined.

[Note: The report states that the total area of wetlands in the U.S. in 2004 was 107.7 million acres. Wood goes on to explain that the claim of wetlands growth has been contested. A New York Times story, for instance, explains that over the study period, 523,500 acres of true wetlands, swamps and tidal marshes were lost, but this was offset in the report by gains of 715,300 acres of ponds, including man-made ornamental ponds -- hardly a fair trade.]

To some golfers, wetlands and wild areas are just a nuisance, places where you're going to lose your ball. They'd rather see the golf course mowed from fence line to fence line. What do you say to them?

When you provide a bit of education, you can get a very different answer. You can say, for example, that not mowing certain areas is better for wildlife, better for water quality and allows native vegetation to thrive and maybe prevents an invasive species from moving in. It might change the look of the course a little bit and the way it plays a little bit, maybe not. I'm a golfer, and to me what's intrinsically attractive about the game is that you are essentially in a natural setting. And it's the restrictions and unique features of that natural setting that make a particular course challenging, one that you like and remember and want to go back to. That's been a design principle of golf courses from the beginning. It's part of the game.

One of the influential landscape architects of the last century was Ian McHarg, who was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He came out with a book in 1969 called Design with Nature. The audience was really urban planners and landscape architects, but it applies to golf courses, too. It's the tradition of the game, and we're rediscovering that tradition.

READ THE REST AT THE SOURCE: GolfDigest

Learn! Explore! Take Action!

Celebrate the vital importance of wetlands to the Nation's ecological, economic, and social health.

May, American Wetlands Month is also a great opportunity to discover and teach others about the important role that wetlands play in our environment and the significant benefits they provide - improved water quality, increased water storage and supply, reduced flood and storm surge risk, and critical habitat for plants, fish, and wildlife.

In organizing its activities this year, EPA is placing special emphasis on encouraging Americans to:

1. Learn about wetlands. This is a great time to better understand what a wetland is, where wetlands can be found, and the importance of wetlands. Activities may include reading and studying about wetland areas, drawing maps or illustrations of wetlands, and identifying native species found in wetlands. Information on wetlands and the important benefits they provide is available on this website, through EPA's wetland fact sheet series, or by visiting the websites of our partners.
2. Explore a wetland near you. Unless you live in the most extreme climate zones, there is a good chance a scenic wetland exists nearby for you to visit and explore during American Wetlands Month and throughout the year. To find a wetland near you, consult your local parks department, state natural resource agency, or the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (http://www.fws.gov/refuges). If you live in the Washington, DC area, a guide has been created to highlight wetlands and wildlife sanctuaries.
3. Take action to protect and restore wetlands. Support and promote wetlands informing community members about wetlands' vital roles, "adopting" a wetland, joining a local watershed group, or participating in a wetland monitoring, restoration, or cleanup project. There are many other actions Americans can take to help conserve wetlands.To learn more about what you can do to help protect and restore these valuable natural resources in your state or local area, visit http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/awm/#you.

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released a new water resources data management tool called the Integrated Water Resources Information System (IWRIS).

Web-based Geographic Information System for Water Management

IWRIS is a Web-based Geographic Information System application that allows users to access, integrate, query, and visualize multiple sets of data from diverse sources.

Some of the databases currently accessible through IWRIS include DWR’s Water Data Library, California Data Exchange Center (CDEC), United States Geological Survey streamflow data, Local Groundwater Assistance Grants (AB303), and data from local agencies. The system will be expanded with additional data sets and functionality in the future.

Improve Water Data Management for Integrated Regional Water Management

DWR developed IWRIS to improve water data management and scientific understanding in support of Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM).

The California Water Plan Update 2005 identifies IRWM as a key initiative to ensure reliable water supplies through the year 2030.

The Department of Water Resources operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs.

RESOURCE:
Integrated Water Resources Information System
Department of Water Resources
Division of Planning and Local Assistance
901 P Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
www.iwris.water.ca.gov

Indoor Water Conservation

Plumbing conservation is widely accepted and routinely called for in federal, state and local legislation, ordinances for new development and agency rebate programs.

These devices are making a measurable difference. For example, Los Angeles saw a 25 percent decrease in demand in the 1990s with a plumbing retrofit program funded by water agencies.

The major benefit of low-flow plumbing device programs is that they can be implemented without requiring a change in the behavior of end users.

Outdoor Water Conservation

Saving water indoors with low-flow plumbing is easy compared to controlling outdoor water waste. Yet the vast majority of household water flows outside.

A study conducted by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) shows that 58 percent of residential water is applied to landscapes.  Gardening, recognized as the number one outdoor leisure activity, is growing in popularity as a national pastime.

According to a report published in the journal Environmental Management, some 40 million acres of the U.S. are covered in lawns, making turf the nation’s most irrigated crop.

And according to the American Water Works Association, most landscapes are overwatered by 30% to 300%, accounting for 80% of all landscape damage...and water waste!

SOLUTION:  Remove the TURF and replace it with DROUGHT TOLERANT GARDENS or NATIVE HABITAT, etc. that reduces water use.

See more research studies that can help you save water at the Independent Research Studies webpage provided by WeatherTRAK.

SOURCE:  WeatherTRAK.com

The Earthbound Farm Farm Stand in Carmel Valley, California, offers more than unique organic produce and flowers fresh from our fields — there's delicious food from our certified Organic Kitchen, gourmet groceries, and engaging events for the whole family. Come visit us!

Our Farm Stand: The hub of our 30-acre organic R&D farm offers unique fresh produce and flowers, gourmet groceries, plus a Cut-Your-Own Herb Garden and more.

Organic Kitchen: Hungry? Every day our certified Organic Kitchen in the Farm Stand creates organic treats for every taste — from beverages, baked goodies, and entrees to a tempting all-organic salad bar.

What's Happening at the Farm Stand: From April through October, a wide range of engaging events take place each Saturday.

Ask Farmer Mark: What makes organic farming so special? Ask someone with more than 26 years of organic farming experience: "Farmer Mark" Marino, our Carmel Valley farm manager — we sell his premium organic produce at our Farm Stand.

Our Farm Stand is Open Year-Round
Hours: Mon-Sat 8-6:30, Sun 9-6
7250 Carmel Valley Road (just 3.5 miles east of Highway 1), Carmel, CA
831-625-6219

The Land Institute's strategy includes collaboration with public institutions in order to direct more research in the direction of Natural Systems Agriculture.  

The team at the Land Institute feels comfortable having demonstrated the scientific feasibility of their proposal for a Natural Systems Agriculture. Because this work deals with basic biological questions and principles, the implications are applicable worldwide. If Natural Systems Agriculture were fully adopted, we could one day see the end of agricultural scientists from industrialized societies delivering agronomic methods and technologies from their fossil fuel-intensive infrastructures into developing countries and thereby saddling them with brittle economies.

Perennial Grain...a hybrid of intermediate wheatgrass and triticale could produce a more sustainable food crop that lives for years and builds deep root systems to tap deeper water sources. 

According to Scientific American's article about the Land Institute in 2007, Americans assume food production is easy and highly efficient already.  However, reality is that agriculture requires vast areas of land, regular high quantities of waer, energy and chemicals to meet the demands for our escalating human and animal populatons.

The UN sponsored Millennium Ecosystem Assessment suggested that agriculture may be the "largest threat to biodiversity and ecosystem function of any single human activity."  OUCH!

"Today, most of humanity's food comes directly or indirectly (as animals feed) from cereal grains, legumes and oilseed crops.  These staples are appealing to producers and consumers because they are easy to transport and store, relatively imperishable, and fairly high in protein and calories.  As a result, such crops occupy about 80% of global agricultural land.  BUT, they are all annual plants, meaning that they must be grown anew from seeds every eyar, typically using resource-intensive cultivation methods. More troubling, the environmental degradation caused by agriculture will likely worsen as the hungry human population grows to eight billion or 10 billion in the coming decades."

Plant Breeders, Agronomists and Ecologists Strive for Solutions

Grain-cropping systems that functin much like natural ecosystems that have been displaced by agriculture is the holy grain for agriculture researchers.

Significant advances in plant breeding science are bringing this goal within sight at last!

Kansas plant geneticist Wes Jackson looked at the ecosystems that preceded agriculture to look for a solution. Mixtures of perennial plants once dominated nearly all the planet's landscapes and they still do in uncultivated areas today. 

More than 85% of North America's native plant species are PERENNIALS.

Because annuals have relatively shallow roots -- most less than 0.3 meters -- farming areas have problems with erosion, foil fertility depletion and water contamination...and lack of nature's natural farmers, wildlife.

Today the traits of perennials are becoming better appreciated for their root depths of more than two meters, plant communities that regulate ecosystem functions such as water management and carbon and nitrogen cycling.  They are also highly productive yet resilient in the face of environmental stresses.

Timothy grass, a perennial hay crop, is roughly 54 times more effective in maintaining topsoil than annual crops.  Scientists also find a fivefold reduction in water loss and a 35-fold reduction in nitrate loss from soil planted with alfalfa and mixed perennial grasses compared with soil under corn and soybeans.

Carbon sequestration by perennials is also boosted.  Carbon is the main ingredient of soil organic matter and can contain 50% more than annually cropped fields.   And perennial fields do not need to be worked every year, so less farm machinery cycles and less fertilizers and pestcides also reduce fossil fuel use.

Wildlife also benefits -- bird populations can be seven times more dense in perennial crop fields than annual crop fields. 

And perennials are far more capable of sustainable cultivation on marginal lands, which already have poor soil quality or would be quickly depleted by a few years of intensive annual cropping.

Perennial plant breeding research are focusing on wheat, sorghum, sunflower, intermediate wheatgrass and other species as perennial grain crops.

At The Land Institute, breeders are working both on domesticating perennial wheatgrass and on crossing assorted perennial wheatgrass species with annual wheats.  Although perennial crops such as alfalfa and sugarcane already exist around the world, none has seed yields comparable to those of annual grain crops...and  here is where creative plant breeding  works with  the growing environment, selective  breeding stock, and  judicious use of fertilizers to increase the yield of these perennial grains.

Deep roots mean resilience, and that trait might be more important than many short term plant attributes currently valued by agriculture.

Additional programs include the Climate and Energy Project (CEP)   See www.climateandenergy.org . The Land Institute formed this new project on climate and energy in February 2007. Because of the close connections between climate change, energy from coal, and agricultural vulnerabilities -- research is growing to explore the issues and find solutions to the issues that connect energy and farming.

The Land Institute
2440 E. Water Well Road,
Salina, KS 67401
785-823-5376
www.landinstitute.org

Nancy Jackson, Project Director
Climate and Energy Project
P.O. Box 442217
Lawrence, KS 66044
Ph: 785-331-8743
jackson@climateandenergy.org
www.climateandenergy.org

 

House 97: The Buck House, original home of the Center.

Campus Center for Appropriate Technology in California is a live-in demonstration home and educational center for appropriate technology and resource conservation.

This home based center is located on the Humboldt State University Campus in Arcata, California. Motivated by an approach of "education by example," CCAT offers tours, workshops, and opportunities for hands-on involvement to university students and the general public.

CCAT began in 1978 when a group of students, with the support of faculty and community members, renovated a dilapidated house on the university campus and initiated an experiment that continues today. CCAT works with fifteen HSU classes a year to incorporate new appropriate technologies into this living laboratory in sustainability.

The Campus Center for Appropriate Technology uses less than five percent of the energy consumed by the average U.S. house, produces almost no waste, and serves as a national model for appropriate technology.

Just as important as what the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology does, is how it is done. Three students live in the house and direct the program for one-year periods. Eighteen student employees keep operations going. Being directed, staffed, and funded by students makes CCAT a place where young adults become leaders; it nurtures creativity and hones professional and technical skills. CCAT helps to infuse their local university community with a practical idealism and a desire to serve the global community.

In 2007, the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology began rebuilding in a new location, offering another generation of students the opportunity to develop skills that lead to a greener future at the hands-on environmental learning center and demonstration home for sustainability projects.

A variety of university course students spend classroom time at CCAT, where students learn about everything from renewable energy to organic agriculture to green construction and design. Little by little, workers are reshaping the yard into a miniature eco-topia. “We joke that this is our little patch of South America or Southeast Asia,” Hart says, standing in the terraced gardens behind the home. The area used to be a bramble patch of invasive plants and weeds. As well as common fruits and vegetables, the garden includes edible native plants, herbs and wildflowers.

The recently installed solar panels should provide all of the home’s electricity, and a solar hot water heating system will not only provide hot tap water but also warm the house in winter by circulating the sun-warmed H2O through radiant concrete floors on the ground level. The concrete floors themselves are a thing of beauty, covered in a swirl of natural pigments made from iron sulfate and coffee topped with a soy-based sealant. The energy efficient home’s walls are filled with blown-in cellulose—made from shredded recycled newspaper—rather than industrial fiberglass.

Future projects include the installation of a rainwater collector to gather and store runoff from the roof, which will be used to quench the gardens.

For more information about the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology. Or stop by any Friday, volunteer day, to participate in the ongoing reconstruction effort.