Environmental Studies

Reduce Runoff: Slow it Down Spread It Out, Soak It In

Sharlene Bund — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:48:43 +0000

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Botanic Garden produced this 9-minute on-line video, “Reduce Runoff: Slow It Down, Spread It Out, Soak It In,” that highlights green techniques such as rain gardens, green roofs and rain barrels to help manage stormwater runoff.

The film showcases green techniques that are being used in urban areas to reduce the effects of stormwater runoff on the quality of downstream receiving waters. The goal is to mimic the natural way water moves through an area before development by using design techniques that infiltrate, evaporate, and reuse runoff close to its source.

The techniques are innovative stormwater management practices that manage urban stormwater runoff at its source, and are very effective at reducing the volume of stormwater runoff and capturing harmful pollutants. Using vegetated areas that capture runoff also improves air quality, mitigates the effects of urban heat islands and reduces a community’s overall carbon footprint.

The video highlights green techniques on display in 2008 at the U.S. Botanic Garden’s “One Planet – Ours!” Exhibit” and at the U.S. EPA in Washington, D.C., including recently completed cisterns. (Article by US EPA Feb 2, 2009.)

ES Featured Articles on Green Roofs

Sharlene Bund — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:55:54 +0000

PHILADELPHIA, PA MAKES TOP 10 LIST OF U.S. GREEN ROOF CITIES - PDF
Nearly 47,000 new square-feet of green roofs installed in 2007 places Philly at No. 8 on annual list joining Chicago, Wilmington, DE, Brooklyn and Baltimore, MD. HTML April 21, 2008

Peco’s Green Roof at 23rd and Market Streets. Making the Sky a Little Greener by Jane Caroll - PDF Green Scene March/April 2009

Did you know Bryn Mawr has 2 Buildings with Green Roofs? Next time you go to Guild or Carpenter Library take a look - hint: ground level.

“Guess Who’s Building a Green City” by Stanley Reed

Sharlene Bund — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:03:39 +0000

There’s a former nursery across from the royal family’s private terminal at the Abu Dhabi airport. It doesn’t look like much now—1,600 acres of sand dotted with small, forlorn trees. But one fenced-in spot on the property hints of a plan so ambitious that it stands out even in a land of seemingly limitless wealth. There, atop concrete slabs, engineers are preparing to test solar collectors. Those collectors are scheduled to power a futuristic 100,000-resident city that will rise from this sandy wasteland by the Persian Gulf. The goal: to create the world’s first metropolis that emits not a single extra molecule of carbon dioxide, the cause of global warming.

Click here to go to the article