The Ecological Society of America held its 2017 Annual Meeting in Portland, and included an ecoroof tour organized by Olyssa Starry at PSU, and supported by GRiT. We visited a wide range of waterfront ecoroofs, with 25 ESA members from all over the world. After traipsing around on extensive, intensive, agricultural and park-like green roofs, we took the sky tram to OHSU, landing atop one of their loveliest rooftop healing gardens. Tour guests discussed their research, city planning, and other efforts to promote the wide-ranging benefits of green roofing in their own hometowns in China, India, Australia, and Israel among other places.

While ecoroofs have a major impact on stormwater management in Portland, in Israel that is not as important as the microhabitats they support. In China, green roofs are all about air quality, and municipalities in India are exploring how they can solve a host of problems from water quality to food production with these systems. It is very inspiring to see people from all over the world visiting Portland’s ecoroofs as the model for working towards solutions of air and water quality, habitat destruction, food shortages and scorching urban temperatures.

Tour Highlights

The Mirabella’s water cycle, as it cascades from the upper roof down onto many levels of green roofing, and then showing it all off in the waterfalls and fountains on the lower courtyard roof garden.
The collective gasp as first-time skytram riders hit the big swing.
Discovering that we are not alone – people of intelligence and influence across the planet are working on the very same solutions as we are at GRiT, with just as much passion and dedication.

Click on the image below to view a slideshow from the tour.