Green is still greener than white.

We really like this Greenpeace ad, which says, "Simply painting your roof white reflects the sun's rays, which helps cool down the environment. In the fight against global warming, one degree cooler in our cities equates to three degrees cooler at the poles, which means a better chance of survival for animals like the polar bear, whose home is melting at a rapid rate."

Run-on sentence aside, the message is cleverly delivered and so important. Man, juvenile charismatic megafauna gets us every time. But we're a green roof company and we have to say, green roofs are much better for the environment than white roofs. White roofs' benefits are that they're less expensive and easier to implement, so we think they should be used as a stop-gap on roofs whose grading is too steep for a green roof, or until a green roof can be installed. Anyway, we made our own version:

To contrast, check out the actual map of NYC green roofs here.

Green roofs cool the roof, the building underneath it and the surrounding area; protect the roof structure from the elements, thereby prolonging its life up to an additional 50%; create habitat for butterflies and bees (without whom our urban ecosystems would collapse); and most importantly, capture stormwater! New York City alone releases about 27 billion gallons of untreated sewage and wastewater into the harbor every year.

Not only does all that water contain tons of bacteria and pathogens, but it also contains tons of trash. Much of the plastic trash you see on the street every day, from bottle caps to plastic bags, gets washed into the sewer system during a storm. A lot of it will end up in the harbor, and some of it will be eaten by sea turtles and other marine life. You saw that photo series by Chris Jordan that made its way around the internet last year, right?

It's pretty sad.

Point being, consider a green roof if you haven't already. There are low-interest loans and tax abatements to help with the cost, or if you're a business or non-profit, we may be able to get you a green roof for free. Just ask us how.