Key Concept: Responsibility and Form What can you do to balance out the ecosystem and the urbanization?

Urban cities have many problems that hurt the environment, so some solutions have been made. However, many of these solutions have problems, therefore, people have to be very cautious when trying them out. One of the very first rooftop gardens was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Rooftop gardens have many positive impacts on urban settings. Space does not have to be made to plant these gardens because they are just planted on the roof, and space will not be wasted! These clever gardens absorb rainwater so that it will not clog up sewers and will prevent polluted storm water. As well as doing this, it purifies the air so that citizens will not breathe the bad fumes. In Honolulu alone, there is 17 million square feet of roof! Imagine how much more there is on our island, let alone the state. We definitely dont want our beautiful Hawaii to turn into an urban heat island, right? So why not start planting? The catch is the expense. If you want an extensive and simple rooftop garden, it costs $10 per square foot. For a more complex and intensive one, it costs $25 per square foot. This estimate came from 2001, so prices may have decreased or increased. (Info from the article Reducing Urban Heat Islands: Compendium of Strategies-Green Roofs.) One local business that works on making rooftop gardens is Farm Roof and their first garden was established on Auto Mart USA. Farm Roof works to make their gardens extra lightweight so that roofs can handle them. Managing the garden does not take up much energy, so it is even more eco-friendly. The gardens can also be on the side of buildings or homes, called vertical gardens. The

gardens can help prevent the heat islands, so insects and animals, like Hawaiian moths, will have more habitats. You can also do simple things like building a regular garden, aqua-ponics system, or even plant a tree. Next to your garden, you can build a compost heap to help wastereduction so that your urban environment will be cleaner. There is a local business that puts gardens in peoples yards. The business is Island Foodscaping, run by Mr. Justin Franzmeier. Mr. Franzmeiers dream is to provide a good food source for families. He started his business in 2010, but from 2011-2013 he has been more involved in it. On average, he creates 3-4 gardens monthly. In the whole time he has been in this line of work he has built approximately 30 gardens. Mr. Franzmeier not only works to make the gardens in the residential neighborhoods, he also works with schools and commercial businesses. There is one at Kahala Elemetary, in Aikahu, and a Waimanalo Health Center. Another resolution for helping the urban environment is solar panels. Although the solar panels are now very expensive, the impact on the environment is very positive. They provide good renewable energy. Every hour, the amount of solar energy that hits the earth is equivalent to the amount of energy used by humans each year. When the solar panels produce this renewable energy, it does not emit greenhouse gases or any type of air pollution. As always, there are some problems with solar panels. You might not know how these panels are created. Maybe the factory that made them used fuels or oils that was bad for the environment. The factories also might have been built on an important ecosystem. You need to really read up on getting a solar panel installed, just to make sure of the specifics. When it is cloudy or at night, the sun power is blocked and you will not have any electricity. Same with the hot water solar panels; your source of warm water will be gone. In Hawaii, we have an advantage. Because Hawaii is so sunny and hot, we have become the most productive and

successful solar water-heating program in the country

There is an estimated 85,000 residential solar waterheating systems are in operation around our state. That is like 1 in 4 single-family homes! Previously, I mentioned that solar panels are expensive. Luckily, the cost is decreasing rapidly as the years go past. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Energy predicts that the cost of solar energy will be almost equal with the cost of energy obtained by burning coal. There is a list of the top ten especially eco-friendly cities that exist. Unfortunately, none of them are in Hawaii, but one of them is in the United States. It is Portland, Oregon. Yet another solution is wind energy, or windmills. By the North Shore you might see wind turbines. There are 12 in total, managed by Kahuku Wind. The total generating capacity is 30 MW. The project can produce enough energy to power 7, 700 homes in Hawaii. Sometimes, the turbine tips spin so fast that the managers have to slow them down, for fear of breaking the speed of sound. 1% of all power in America is made by windmills. Despite this mere 1%, the U.S. is the second highest wind power producer in the world. These windmills do have some drawbacks. Some worry about the birds getting caught in the blades and dying. There is something called urban metabolism. Urban metabolism is basically the sustainable city works, how everything and everyone is connected, and how they can connect with each other. These are only some of the many answers to the urban problems. Some are simple and inexpensive, like planting a garden or tree (these are called carbon sinks), and some are more complex and expensive (not to mention time consuming) like a putting up rooftop garden, windmill, or solar panel.