Greening The Cities' Roofs

The PhilanthroMedia team spent Monday filming one of the Drum Major Institute's Marketplace of Ideas series. This event's topic centered around Mayor Daley of Chicago's Green Roof and Cool Roof Project, and how we can work to get something similar adopted in good old New York City. The panel, and crowd, consisted of many politicians and activists who had a lot to say on how we can move forward with efforts to make city-living as environmentally sound as possible. The main conclusion? We need to adjust the average American's knee-jerk negative reaction to the cost that greening new (and old) buildings costs. Thanks to tax breaks and stimulus dollars, the amount it costs to get solar panels or eco-friendly roofs built and retrofitted is only about 10% of the market price in most cities. And, in the long run, these measures are financially worth it, with many alterations eventually leading to income (and a decreased dependency on oil and gas retailers) for the resident and owner of the property. See some video clips from the panel below:

Mayor Richard Daley on the Stimulus Reaching the Communitites


New York City Councilmember David Yassky on Letting the Market Decide

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn on Chicago Making New York Look Bad

Sustainable South Bronix ED, Miquela Craytor, on Green Roofs

Carter Strickland, advisor to New York City Mayor Bloomberg, on Green Building

Dana Variano