Planting greener roofs in New York City

Some environmental activists want to turn the city’s roofs greener by covering them with a layer of soil and seeding that soil with grass and plants. Unveiled last week by a partnership of the South Bronx NewRoof Demonstration Project, the Columbia School of Architecture, and the Columbia Earth Institute, the green roof effort has been touted as a way to naturally reduce energy costs because the vegetation reduces heat in the summer and provides insulation in the winter. more [NYDN]