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A gift guide for Mother Earth

How to make the world a better place
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Have a little room on your gift list? What about adding Mother Earth? Face it; she’s been good to you, so this year it might be time to say thanks with a special little something for her.

Like all gift guides, this one starts with the gold, uh, green standard and includes ideas simple and affordable enough for everyone. Whatever you get her, Planet Mom’s going to love it, after all, she really does appreciate the effort.

Green on top

When Santa alights on the rooftop of Senga Lindsay’s live/work space, it won’t be the clatter of eight sets of tiny reindeer hooves that alerts the landscape artist to their arrival. More likely it will be the gnashing of eight – nine if they let the guy with the red nose come along – tiny sets of teeth that will let Lindsay know the jolly ol’ elf and company have landed. Chances are that after an evening of several transcontinental flights, the team that pulls Kris Kringle’s sled along will be looking to have a nibble on Lindsay’s roof. Because instead of the traditional North American roofing materials of shakes, asphalt shingles or metal, the roof Lindsay keeps over her North Vancouver combination home and office consists of soil and plant matter.

Green roofs. They’ve been around, in one form or another, for years. Thatch roofs anyone? Well, maybe those made of dead and dehydrated grasses are probably better described as golden roofs. However, in the last century, the idea of using living plants to roof commercial and residential buildings has taken root, particularly in Europe.

Lindsay, through her company, Senga Landscape Architecture, which also has offices in Whistler, began offering the service last fall to fill a deficiency in the local market. She points out that while green roofs have been used locally in commercial buildings for the last decade, the idea of green for residential buildings is relatively new.

"Green roofs are starting to be installed in Vancouver. I guess from a homeowner’s point of view there are two different levels of interest – economic and environmental consciousness – and both are valuable," says Lindsay.

"From the economic point of view green roofs have been able to save home owners 30 per cent heating/cooling costs."

The other savings comes from the longevity of the roof. A homeowner can expect to replace a traditional roof sometime around the 25-year point, the typical length of time that roofing membranes are guaranteed. The membrane is essentially a barrier to prevent moisture from seeping in and attacking the integrity of wood.

Lindsay points out that studies and records have shown that green roofs, with their three to four inches of growing medium (also known as dirt) and plant matter exceed this accepted standard by up to three times. In the Netherlands, for example, it is not uncommon to see green roofs that are 75 years old.

When most people think of green roofs the image is a fairly industrial one: a flat topped building – such as the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library – covered with a ragged assortment of spiky-looking succulents. While this may be the norm in North America, Lindsay points out that the roofs are as flexible as any other type and allow for various rooflines.

"When I was in Germany I saw a regular pitched roof with a sod roof about 12 inches thick. There’s no reason you can’t have a sloped roof. This is very common in Europe. What is used to keep the plants in place is something called geo-cell. Essentially it’s a honeycomb system consisting of a mat pinned to the roof that you accordion all the way down and plant the plants in the individual cells as you go," she explains. "You can also create forms with two by fours."

Traditionally, green roofs are planted with dwarf species of ornamental grasses and 2" to 6" sedums – a species of succulents with thick fleshy leaves that are drought proof. The sedums Lindsay prefers to use are mix of indigenous and non-indigenous plants, some from as far away as Africa.

Lindsay cautions that the terms green roof and drought proof aren’t insurance of a year-round emerald rooftop. "Your roof will turn brown in the summer."

For people in the position of having to consider a new roof, Lindsay notes that retrofitting is not a problem.

"We’re doing eight commercial buildings in Gastown. The big thing there is the weight. You have to have a structural guy come in and review the existing structure," she says.

Lindsay points out that three inches of soil is the same weight as a typical ballasted roof, but the weight differential comes from the water absorption.

"Green roofs hold a lot of storm water… 65 to 70 per cent of water stays out of the sewer system," she says. "So that’s good for the infrastructure."

Green roofs are also good for generating casual conversation.

"Our house is a typical post and beam, ’50s residential structure – with a different type of roof. People are quite fascinated by it."

However, taking fascination and turning it into action requires education and that’s an important part of what SLA is doing.

"One of the things we’re going to be doing is demonstration prototypes, at places like VanDusen Gardens, to educate the public," she says. "We’re building 6’ x 8’ roof cutaways so people can see how the roofs work. We’re going to all the municipalities to educate them about green roofs and develop a checklist of what people need to know. We are a design/build firm so we can sit down and go through the whole education process."

"It’s interesting because it’s new to people. My partner is from Germany and he was installing green roofs in Germany 30 years ago. The practice has been around for hundreds of years."

These education efforts are supported by the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s Green Roof Research Facility, which is collecting data for municipal and public education.

As a designer, Lindsay is also interested in developing ways to make the roofs more attractive.

"I would like to see more ornamental and sculptural roofs. Big swaths of plants, patterns and mosaics. There are people who want to go out on their roof and enjoy it," she says, noting that the roof of her home has an adjacent deck.

So how does a landscape architect end up plying her trade metres above the ground?

"We’ve joined up with one of the biggest roofing companies in Canada, called Flynn Roofs. They were lacking a design and landscaping component. They install the membrane and the drainage system and we put in the soil and the plants," she explains.

"It’s easier to team up with roofers. There’s a fine line between what is roofing and what is landscaping. We’re providing all the green aspects. By working together, we can have an ironclad warranty. You don’t have to worry that someone has taken a shovel and punctured the membrane."

Part of the ironclad warranty is maintenance. The company checks on how things are going about once a month until the greenery is solidly established, which takes between 18 and 24 months. The warranty, which includes servicing the roof, can be extended for any length of time, but most consumers choose between two and five years.

Although a typical green roof costs between $20 and $30 a sq. ft to install, in the long-term, energy and roof repair savings make it less expensive. There are also benefits that are impossible to quantify.

"It’s rich in habitat for insects, birds and butterflies," says Linsday.

Bringing it all together

Over the years, Oisin (o-sheen) Little has followed his interests to some interesting conclusions. A bass player in the late ’70s and ’80s London music scene, he garnered a gold record for his work on a funk/disco single, discovered Seal and played with Fat Boy Slim. He owned a record shop in London that bore an eerie resemblance to the one featured in Nick Hornby’s novel cum Americanized-film High Fidelity . With that came the development of his own record label and production facility. His love of music led to his learning to become a luthier, a builder of handcrafted stringed instruments.

Along the way, he fell in love with an animation artist, married her and ended up relocating to Canada. With marriage came kids and the concern of what kind of world his two daughters and son would inherit. His interest in science, the environment and computers merged about a year and a half ago with the creation of Climate Change News Digest, a website clearing house of stories related to global warming (climatechangenews.org).

"I noticed the news about global warming was getting quite alarming, but you couldn’t find the news outside of scientific journals and that sort of thing," says Little.

In the course of doing online research to substantiate a letter he was writing to his Member of Parliament on the issue of global warming, Little had his Eureka moment.

"I thought: ‘wait a minute, if I put this all up on a website, people could have access to news they’d otherwise have to spend hours researching, it would be in one place.’"

Little cites British publications, The Independent and The Guardian among his favourite sites for climate change news.

"The advantages with those papers is the stories are really put into context as opposed to being presented as just a collection of facts," he says.

The differences he’s seeing between European and North America media, is that there seem to be a lot more denials in the U.S.

"I just read a story that claimed that the U.S.’s contribution to green house gases is trivial, which pretty much contradicts what’s been said for years."

Little believes that an informed public is one that is prepared to take action. Without knowing all the facts, it is too easy to simply feel powerless.

"I’m not sure that we can reverse the trend (of global warming) because C02 lasts for a long time. Even if we halted all emissions today, there’s a good chance the temperature would continue to rise.

"So how do you stop yourself from going mad? I think we have to do what we can. And that’s what I’m doing.

"If people believe that nothing can be done, then they can use that as an excuse for not doing anything. It’s self-fulfilling. We can’t stop fighting it."

Little sees hope in developments such as a carbon dioxide absorbing enzyme that can be placed in smokestacks to help neutralize emissions, as well as an emerging consciousness about the real effects of global warming.

"I’m very confident that once educated as a society people will be very ingenious and come up with ways to help," he says. "I also believe as people become more aware of the dangers they will be willing to make sacrifices to bring down their emissions."

Little says that developing a website has increased his knowledge of the carbon cycle.

"I’m at the point where I’m thinking I should take some of my money and put it into foresting areas without trees. That’s something I can do."

Little will be celebrating Christmas this year in England, and that means a transcontinental flight – not exactly environmentally friendly transportation. With more than a pang or two of guilt, he went about researching the emissions impact of packing up a family of five and jetting across the Atlantic. He found what he was looking for in The Guardian .

The dollar and cents impact of the trip? About $100. A modest donation to a green organization would balance out that "emissions debt."

Little wishes that some of the terminology used in the global warming discussion was different.

"I think ‘The Greenhouse Effect’ is unfortunate wording. If you think of a greenhouse, you think of something that is insulating, safe… which is not the case, the real effect is more like turning up the dial on your oven."

So how do we get people informed and talking about the issue in a way that reflects the reality?

"People have this strange division. On one hand, human beings feel tiny compared to the world and on the other hand, we’re very, very cocky about what we and science can do.

"In terms of global warming I think you have to shock people. They need to know what’s going on. We need to be honest. At this point we don’t know that if in 50 or 60 years we’ll have the climate of Venus or if in 200 years we’ll just be a little warmer and wetter."

Climate Change News Digest lets people know what’s going on with a colour-coded series of stories: red is essential, black is recommended and green is hopeful.

The information is solid, comprehensive and most of it surprisingly accessible to the layman. In a time when information is seen as power, websites like www.climatechangenews.org are important tools for social change. And best of all they are free.

While he obviously sees global warming as a serious global issue, Little does not see it as being intrinsically tragic: "It’s only a tragedy if you don’t do anything."

Shopping locally

Ever read Utne magazine and wondered why you don’t live in one of those idyllic, co-operative communities that are featured in the alterna-rag’s pages with taunting regularity? These utopias, either urban or rural in nature, have one thing in common, a high level of citizen engagement. Moreover, a high level of engagement directly translates to a healthier community, because where there is interest, there is concern.

The recent municipal elections were a great example of how citizen engagement can be generated. Local media and community organizations fostered springboards from which dialogue sprang. Can that energy be harnessed to continue to build more engaged communities?

Village of Pemberton councilor Jennie Helmer thinks it can.

One of the ways she sees building citizen engagement is through the development of a "local, living economy."

A recent Rhodes College commerce graduate, Helmer, who has owned a small business, knows firsthand that importance of supporting a local economy.

"Spending money locally keeps it local," she states. "The stronger local owners are, the more that they spend locally."

A committed environmentalist, the new councilor also points out that shopping local minimizes environmental impacts in a number of ways.

"Local businesses are not built on such a large scale. Keeping business in a smaller contained area – like downtown Pemberton – keeps business out of surrounding areas and has less impact on the other resources such as land and water."

Helmer cites a study from the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies B.C. that estimates a dollar spent locally has twice the economic impact of a dollar spent elsewhere.

"If you spend a dollar in your local economy, the dollars are magnified if spent locally," explains Helmer. "A dollar spent at Walmart would be spread quite widely. It could be going to wages of middle managers or mangers that don’t live in the community, or to pay shareholder dividends."

Add in the cost of time, energy and fuel and shopping local makes greater economic sense as well.

"For people with children having an economy that’s growing is essential," says Helmer. "You want those kids to be able to enter the workforce at 16 or 17 and learn life skills here."

Donate locally

Since shopping local is ultimately more affordable, it might be worth looking into spending some of those savings on community amenities.

"We definitely accept donations for specific projects," says Sheena Fraser, deputy clerk for the Village of Pemberton.

Traditionally, people tend to donate community amenities, such as park benches, as a memorial to deceased love ones. Instead of donating a water fountain "In loving memory of William Smith" why not consider the same donation as "A gift from The Smith Family"? Alternatively, you can choose to give anonymously if you’re the shy type.

Donations can be earmarked for just about anything you’d like to see in public space, such as a community notice boards, playground equipment and gardens for public spaces. And your magnanimous gesture is not without some benefit.

"Tax receipts are given for donations," confirms VOP’s financial officer Cecile Arnott.

Take ‘the loser cruiser’

Large victories start with small steps. And while making the world a better place may seem like a tall order, making and keeping commitments can be quite attainable when done in incremental steps.

Suggesting to the average North American that he or she divest themselves of a vehicle would have the same result of substituting veal for the tofu at a vegan dinner party.

The bus, long maligned in our car-loving culture as "the loser cruiser," needs to be revisited. And not just as a transportation device, but also as a source of social engagement and entertainment.

On a recent Greyhound trip to Whistler, I sat behind two young guys in their mid-20s who were on their way to Vancouver for a rollicking night in the city. Listening to the two of them go on about planned adventures and life philosophy was a little like a low-brow take on My Dinner With Andre , more like My Quick Snack With Andy . As someone else dealt with the hassle of driving, I listened to these two dudes go on about the virtues of various poker games and in which order they were going to tackle at least three of the deadly sins. It was thoroughly engaging – it reminded me of the lure the city had once held for me in my youth, what it is to be young and really how little people’s core desires have changed over the years. For $4.33 it was a helluva bargain. The bonus? It was cheaper and more sustainable than driving solo for 30 km.

You don’t have to put the SUV up for sale, just decide on taking the bus once or twice a month. No parking hassles, no driving nightmares and no decision to make regarding having that second drink.

Merry Christmas! Now go pick out something for Planet Mom.

For more information:

• Senga Landscape Architecture at

www.slainc.ca

• Business Alliance for Local Living Economies at

www.ballebc.com

• Climate Change News at

www.climatechangenews.org


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