Sustainable Schmidt » Miscellaneous Schmidt

Roof Gardens

schmidt — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:10:50 +0000

In dense cities such as San Francisco, roof gardens are becoming an increasing popular way to go green. In fact, we are exploring options for some roof spaces available on apartment buildings in the Tenderloin & Mission districts and plan to publish our preliminary research soon.

Design Ecology offers a variety of gardening services and water saving devices. Live Roof is a more sophisticated and popular roof option using engineering techniques to use a minimum amount of soil, save the most amount water, and be readily available to most buildings (even those on slopes). Furthermore, the plants come pre-grown so once installed, it’s ready to go.

In addition to the live gardens available for roof space, native gardens are also available. Native gardens are unique because they promote natural wildlife including insects and birds (10 – 50 times as many compared to non-native). Most likely, this is the type of garden that will be on the roof of our buildings. A few companies that offer quality native plants and trees are the Buckeye Nursery and Central Coast Wilds.

In South Boston, one of the first all green structures made was the Macallen building. You can check out a review here of the building, and make sure to look out for the amazing rooftop garden!

So if you are looking to use that empty space on the roof of your house, know that you have the option to build an eco-friendly garden!

Health club rooftop garden - San Francisco, California

Underwater video of the Gulf Disaster

schmidt — Wed, 26 May 2010 21:16:56 +0000

The gulf is fucked…

Live Streaming Video of the Gulf Oil Leak

schmidt — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:31:57 +0000

Oil is used to build our homes, take construction material to and from, heat, cool, power… if you do not think this has to do with building homes, your wrong.

Free TV : Ustream

Happy Earth Day

schmidt — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:38:57 +0000

2010 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners

schmidt — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:30:47 +0000

It is time again for the Goldman Environmental Awards – honoring global grassroots activists. North America winner Lynn Henning is profiled below. She is a leader in the movement to hold factory farms accountable for the environmental damage they do, and she follows in the proud tradition of last years winner, Maria Gunnoe, whose crusade to end mountaintop removal for coal mining continues. Great article in today’s Chronicle.

Earth Hour 8:30 PM Match 27th 2010

schmidt — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:40:39 +0000

Al Gore interviewed by Andrea Mitchell

schmidt — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:58:47 +0000

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Toxic Drywall

schmidt — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:59:17 +0000

One of the more interesting stories that has cropped up lately is that of Toxic Chinese Drywall, used heavily during the building boom of the last few years. Homeowners of new construction have been reporting significant rotten egg smells, corrosion to metal fixtures, and respiratory problems in their homes. A 51 home study has found elevated levels of Hydrogen Sulfide. Drywall linked to Chinese manufacturers has been shown in the study to contain elevated levels of “elemental sulfur”, and elevated levels of formaldehyde were also noted. “Investigators believe that the additive or synergistic effects of these and other compounds in the subject homes could cause irritant effects evident in the homes.”

This has not been a big story out west, as most of the drywall was apparently used in the South and along the East Coast, but the way the modern supply chain works, who really knows? This may well pop up in a house near you, so be aware.

Here is a video that shows first hand what is happening.

FAQ’s can be answered at the Drywall Information Center.

Canada to Copenhagen

schmidt — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:02:12 +0000

Here is a Canadian view point on the upcoming talks on climate change in Copenhagen, taken from Current.com. It features blogger Jim Hogan of desmogblog, and author of Climate Cover Up : The Crusade to Deny Global Warming.

350

schmidt — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:37:44 +0000

Ok, I did not call my Senators today, I suck. Tomorrow morning. To tide you over here is a video from Safeco2.org . It is a little low energy, but it is pretty spot on in terms of what needs to be done.