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N1: Two weeks ago Bronx leaders met atop the roof of the American Banknote Building on Garrison Avenue to celebrate the it's new demonstration green roof. Spearheaded by Sustainable South Bronx's Executive Director, Majora Carter, the project showcases a living garden installed on the roof of the organization's building. Carter, born and raised in Hunt's Point, was recently awarded the MacArthur Genius award for her efforts fighting poverty and environmental racism. She firmly believes that in a neighborhood plagued with health issues, the long-term benefits of green roofs outweigh short-term costs.
AX1: Majora Carter: 24.6 sec
When you look at the public health costs of what it actually means to have a population as sick and as unhealthy as we are and also what it means in terms of energy conservation and storm water management and sewage treatment costs then I think we can not, not afford to do this.
N2: The cost of even a modest roof garden is almost twice the price of a normal black tar roof. A low-end garden ranges between $12 and $24 a square foot. Joyce Rosenthal of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, helped with the project. She says New York should look at how creating more green-roofs may be a proactive way to deal with urban environmental issues.
AX2: "The best way to address this higher economic cost is really trying to evaluate what are the public benefits of green-roofs. If we find those public benefits, such as storm water runoff retention, air quality improvement and peak energy demand reduction to be great then perhaps we need to adopt some of those strategies in New York"
N3: Aside from persuading policy makers, South Bronx advocates aim to lobby private developers and builders to consider installing green roofs on their buildings. Con Edison is a corporate sponsor of the demonstration roof. Gail MacMillan, their philanthropy director, says she hopes this will encourage others to use sustainable building practices.
AX3: We actually held a conference on new roof technology and we invited a lot of builders, developers to come in to see the possibilities on how they could revamp their roof or if they were involved in new construction, how they could build it.
N4: The Sustainable South Bronx hopes their demonstration roof will show doubtful officials the cost of making New York a greener city will bring invaluable long-term benefits for residents.
Kendra MacLeod, Columbia Radio News