Urban Changes
Lessening the Impact
Cities are growing; that’s for sure.
How can we lessen the impact of a city on the environment?
In other words, can we decrease the amount of resources that we use?
Rooftop gardens could cool buildings because plants keep
surfaces cool. Food could also be grown on these roofs.
Can you imagine a city with green rooftops?
What would you grow in a rooftop garden? Why?
People are smart! We can make buildings to reduce the
energy needed for heating, cooling, or lighting. We can do
this through:
Making windows that darken, to keep hot sunlight out in the summer
Building underground
Using straw bales in walls!
And by:
Using skylights to brighten
things up
Facing windows towards
the warm sun if winters
are cold, or away from the
sun if climate is warm
Compact fluorescents
LED bulbs
Using more efficient light bulbs
And we can use less water by catching rainwater to use later!
This big building has three water tanks to catch rainwater falling on the roof.
Can you see them?
We can also use things over and over, in different ways.
Then, we don’t have to use the energy to make something new,
and we don’t have to dump it into a big yucky pile.
Who is re-using things above? Who is dumping things?
How do you re-use things in different ways?
What other things could YOU do to use less energy and water?
Photo Credits
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
DOE NREL
Robert Young
State of Arizona
EPA
City of Chicago