NYC High Schoolers to Build Green Roofs in New Parks Dept. Program
Sourced from City Limits
Thirty high school students will help defend the city against the effects of climate change — including flooding and heatwaves — by assisting with the design and development of green roofs in all five boroughs, the NYC Parks Department will announce on Thursday afternoon.
The newly-created Youth Sustainability Corps will expand the 200,000 square feet of green roofs overseen by the Parks Dept. — rooftops outfitted with features like native plants, hydroponic towers and bee hives — by 50,000 square feet.
The paid program, which begins this week and runs through March 5, gives young city students an opportunity to gain hand-on training in green jobs.
A report released last week by Just Nature NYC, a partnership between the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance and The Nature Conservancy in New York, says the city has a growing need for nature-based jobs to combat climate change. These jobs would employ individuals to care for the city’s vast network of green spaces, urban forest and waterfront.
The Nature Conservancy’s Emily Nobel Maxwell, who worked on the green jobs report and will take part in the announcement Thursday, called the new initiative “bold and ambitious” as less than .1 percent of the city’s buildings are equipped with green roofs.
From the Living Architecture Monitor
