In celebration of honoring Earth Day 2015 and our planet’s ecology through healthy, regenerative design, we are highlighting each of the 23 awesome videos from our 30+ spectacular speakers from Greenroofs.com‘s Greenroofs & Walls of the World Virtual Summit 2015 ~ Connecting the Planet with Living Architecture: People, Projects & Design, running through May 31st.

Our hope is that by familiarizing you more with each presentation and its particular benefits, you will be enticed to join us during our wonderfully easy-to-navigate online Virtual Summit!  And, along with the speakers’ input, I will identify 5 Key Learning Objectives or “takeaway” bullet points that each video presentation provides to participants.

Today we are spotlighting the collaborative presentation “Small Scale Green Roofs” by Dusty Gedge and John Little.  Everyone knows how much we esteem Dusty – see my recent blog post about his other video at the VS2015: Now Playing at the Virtual Summit 2015: “Biosolar Roofs” by Nathalie Baumann and Dusty Gedge.

Although we had seen John around in a couple of conferences held in the UK, we don’t really know him other than he is a mate of Dusty’s with a quick smile, rather charming, and who is very knowledgeable.

John’s company has built over 70 timber grass/greenroofs and Dusty has been working in the field since 1997. With over 34 years combined experience of building greenroofs, they discuss the opportunities of greening up small roofs both old and new.

Having written extensively on this both in print and online, their work provides an inspiration for individuals who want to make a contribution themselves and also for small building and landscape contractors who don’t yet have the confidence.

Filmed in Essex and London, John and Dusty’s video is just awesome – it’s very practical and informative – but extremely entertaining as well.  Both of their personalities really come through in this presentation!

London, UK.  “Dusty Gedge is a green roof campaigner and designer, who has actively promoted green roofs in the UK since 1997. He has designed a number of seminal roofs and helped develop the London Green Roof Policy. He is also the current President of the European Federation of Green Roof Associations (EFB), and sits on the EU’s working group for the green Infrastructure and ecosystem services policy. His work in Europe over the last few years working on a Pan-European green roof course and he is currently advising on a project on green roofs, pollinators and solar power – Biosolar Roofs.

Dusty is co-author of Small Green Roofs: Low-Tech Options for Greener Living, 2011 and DIY Guide to Green & Living Roofs, among other publications. In 2004 Dusty co-founded Livingroofs.org, a non-profit organisation established to promote, advise upon and seek research into green roofs and similar structures within the context of urban and rural regeneration.” ~ Read his complete bio here from the VS2015.

Essex, UK. “John Little is a landscape contractor and designer. He is well known in the UK for his seminal work on social housing estates, transforming one estate from an amenity grassland desert to wildlife friendly and food growing paradise. He is also well known for his work on small scale green roofs both delivered through his company the Grassroof Company.

John is co-author of Small Green Roofs: Low-Tech Options for Greener Living, 2011 and DIY Guide to Green & Living Roofs, among other publications. With Dusty Gedge he has written a small-scale green roof guide to help individuals, buildings and landscape contractors to construct small wildlife friendly green roofs. Greenroofshelters is another of John’s companies that provides modular small green roofed buildings. The type of buildings that company designs and sells include binshelters, bike sheds and small green roofed freight container buildings.” Read his complete bio here from the VS2015.

You will benefit from these 5 Key Learning Objectives as Dusty Gedge and John Little share on the subject:

1) How their varied, self-trained backgrounds led them to a love of birds, plants, ecology, green infrastructure at ground level like rain gardens and low-impact living roofs; hands-on experience and the reevaluation of their greenroofs 5-10 years later to judge their success have informed their practices; now using shipping containers used 10-15 years at sea; work on social housing greenspace;

2) Sharing information led to the minutely detailed small green roofs guide (2005 and then 2014 for the web-based guide), providing advice and confidence for DIYers, and the workshops which allow for the very gratifying interaction with people; 

3) Different aesthetics of natural roofs; whatever you do to the soil will determine the plant community so play around with soils found on site, what nutrient level is best to make it more biodiverse; 

4) Up on John’s greenroof they discuss plants, soils, and more; advice on how to get water off your roof in a reasonable speed; vegetation must be right for each person; edge details; local, regional materials; native herbs;

5) How can we integrate animal biodiversity more for invertebrates, pollinators, and others?  They always put in habitat walls, bird boxes, mammal boxes, etc., for breeding spaces; how this principle from small scale habitat greenroofs can be taken to the large scale.

Watch the 30:55 video presentation “Small Scale Green Roofs” by Dusty Gedge and John Little now playing at the Greenroofs & Walls of the World Virtual Summit 2015.  If you have not yet registered (only $49 or 25), please do:

Registration fee:

$49 – special discounted pricing;

$25 for students/faculty and government professionals

All Video Presentations, Q & A Transcripts, & Exhibitor Booths are On Demand +
Networking Live 24/7 through May 31, 2015

Earn CEUs including 10 GRP CEUs.  Register here.

Registration Open through May 31st for the Greenroofs.com Virtual Summit 2015

We hope you will support our work!  Please remember that these video presentations will not be made public for at least one year.

Happy watching and participating,

~ Linda V.

Learn more about these awesome video presentations and their 5 Key Learning Objectives at the Greenroofs & Walls of the World Virtual Summit 2015:

“A Green Building Should Look Green, Which Means Hairy!” by Dr. Ken Yeang.

“Biodiversity in the Sky – How Green Roofs Can Be Designed as Wild Life Refuges” by Dr. Stephan Brenneisen.

“Green Roofs to New Cities” by Dr. Diana Balmori.

“A Higher Purpose – Benefits to Human Health and Education through Green Roofing” by Elizabeth Hart.

“Beyond Extensive and Intensive: Defining the Comprehensive Green Roof” by Molly Meyer.

“Biosolar Roofs” by Nathalie Baumann and Dusty Gedge.

“From Passive House to the Cold North—How Vegetative Envelope Components Impact Buildings” Panel with Dr. Bob Cameron, Dr. Allen Lee, Dr. Karen Liu, and Chris Wark.

“Greening Rooftops in Alberta: People, Place + Projects” by Kerry Ross.

“Greening the World Inside and Outside” by Mark Paul.

“Greenwalls in Middle Earth” by Graham Cleary.

“Pollinators on the Parapets” by Angie Durhman.