Plant
Your Roof
It's a wonder that this concept attributed to the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon, one of Seven Wonders of the World, didn't catch on sooner
in the modern world. Legend has it that the roofs, balconies, and terraces of
the royal palace of Babylon were turned into gardens by the king's order to
cheer up one of his wives. Roof gardens help absorb heat, reduce the carbon
dioxide impact by taking up CO2 and giving off oxygen, absorb storm water, and
reduce summer air conditioning usage. Ultimately, the technique could lessen
the "heat island" effect that occurs in urban centers. Butterflies
and songbirds could also start frequenting urban garden roofs, and like the
king's wife, could even cheer up the inhabitants of the building. Here, a green
roof is tested at Chicago's City Hall.
Let
Plants and Microbes Clean Up After Us
Bioremediation uses microbes and plants to clean up
contamination. Examples include the cleanup of nitrates in contaminated water
with the help of microbes, and using plants to uptake arsenic from contaminated
soil (like the Arabidopsis in the image above), in a process known as
phytoremediation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has used it to clean
up several sites. Often, native plant species can be used for site cleanup,
which are advantageous because in most cases they don't require pesticides or
watering. In other cases scientists are trying to genetically modify the plants
to take up contaminants in their roots and transport it all the way to the
leaves for easy harvesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment