Greenroof at 1425 K Street Marks the Birth of a New Industry in D.C.
Dawn Gifford, Executive Director - June 21, 2004©

I must say I am so excited to see so many faces here today to inaugurate D.C.’s first commercial greenroof in the Downtown Corridor. Thank you so much for being here. For D.C. Greenworks and I, today represents the celebration of a long-held dream finally realized. I want to acknowledge the support, dedication and hard work of Casey Trees and Blake Real Estate for taking a risk to help me make that dream come true.

When I first discovered greenroofing about eight years ago, I became immediately excited by such a practical and beautiful technology and began to travel to learn everything I could. In 2001, D.C. Greenworks helped to build D.C.’s first public greenroof at Matthew Henson Park in SW. Just three years ago, people thought the idea of putting plants on the rooftop was crazy, but we did it anyway, and we tried to build and advocate greenroofing in as many places and with as many different kinds of people as we could. Today interest in greenroofing and LID is higher than ever, as you can see by the numbers around you.

Why is greenroofing so exciting to me? Well, we’ve all heard the bad news: Our local environment is in terrible shape. The Washington Post tells us that according to the EPA, D.C. has failing air quality. Our ability to breathe clean air is not only compromised on every orange, red and purple day we increasingly experience, but directly keyed to federal transportation dollars that we depend upon to repair and build our roads. Every year millions of gallons of raw sewage and toxic storm water pour into the Anacostia, Potomac and Rock Creek waterways, by which many of us live, recreate, or fish. Clean air and water are the staples of life. And the “response ability” for clean air and water is shared by everyone.

But the problems of waste, pollution, and public health are tough ones. They are region-specific, complex problems, and therefore require decentralized, holistic solutions. Top-tier regulatory solutions will only go as far as their ability to reach local businesses and communities, and adapt themselves to local economic, cultural and watershed issues. In order to restore and revitalize the ecology that sustains our very life on this planet, environmentally sustainable best practice implementation must become normative across all strata of society, not just the province of those passionate “green-hearted” few who have the resources to donate their time and money to the cause. If we leave care for our environment to the affluent and altruistic, we’re all doomed.

Recent economic research shows that the "jobs vs. environment" argument doesn't hold water. Communities and states that fail to protect their environment tend to have low rates of job growth, low average incomes, unfair taxes, and high energy prices. They also tend to have huge gaps between the rich and everyone else, and mediocre public health (partly related to pollution, partly related to huge inequalities in income). And finally, they have low participation in elections. Think of all the ecologically ravaged places you know of in the world, urban and rural, developed and undeveloped nations. You’ll find that wherever the environment suffers, people in the world are subsisting rather than thriving. The inverse is also true.

States that enact strong environmental protections tend to create good jobs, spread the wealth around more fairly, have better public health, fairer taxes, and greater democratic participation. In sum, numerous studies now show that good jobs, a clean environment, and better quality of life all go hand in hand. From the community's perspective, pollution does not pay. But preventing and remediating pollution can pay, in the form of business and entrepreneurial opportunities, jobs, and community building.

The potential for an urban "green collar" workforce has never been greater. Several major cities, including Washington, D.C., are beginning to explore how urban green infrastructure can be managed as an ecological resource that returns money to the city and provides business opportunities and jobs for urban residents.

This is where greenroofing comes in. A proven technology that is both ancient and modern, both simple and complex, greenroofs made of cut sod, leaves or thatch are staple roofing materials in many cultures worldwide. Today’s greenroofs have the best of the old and the new: a long- lived understanding of ecology, hydrology and human interdependence with the environment combined with contemporary research, science and engineering.

Greenroofing is an old idea revamped for 21st century issues. Greenroofing is also holistic and decentralized, therefore applicable and adaptable to most bioregions and cultures. Lastly, greenroofing requires a network of decision makers, planners, developers, architects, engineers, manufacturers, contractors, tradesmen, consumers and volunteers like yourselves to make it happen.

What I am implying is that we are witnessing and participating in the birth of a whole new industry. An industry that can meet the “triple bottom line” by providing not only economic wealth across all strata of society, but also social and environmental wealth as well. From the 200 sf greenroof adorning your back porch to the 6 acre greenroof sprawling across Ford’s River Rouge Plant, there is a way to design, advocate, and widely implement new technologies that will not only revolutionize the urban environment and save billions of dollars, but also bring a positive impact on the natural world to everyone.

The opportunity here is vast and we are all standing on the leading edge right here today. If greenroofing is to become normative, and therefore common knowledge and practice, then we have to act as if greenroofing were normal and common practice. We need to be the change we want to see. We need to design homes, communities, towns and cities in such a way that they protect and enhance the economy, culture and natural environment of the people who use them. Greenroofing is a design strategy that—among other green building techniques—can address a multitude of urban issues in an adaptive and holistic manner.

While we’ve all heard the bad news, seldom do we hear good news about what is being done to solve the problem. And even more rarely do we see and hear the stories of the people who are doing something innovative to restore our environment and our communities right now. Today is a different day: today we inaugurate the beginning of something new and celebrate the unique partnership that made it happen. And in so doing I can see that, unlike 8 years ago, greenroofing is no longer ahead of its time. In fact, it seems to be right on time, around me here today, celebrating the 1425 K Street greenroof.

Thanks.