Rooftop Gardens, Toyota and Japan

This is an interesting article regarding rooftop gardens.

I thought of this last summer when I was at home in Bangladesh. The greenery that is being displaced when a building is being constructed can be easily replaced by shifting that to the roof. Fundamentally, it isn't the same, since the soil underneath is still being robbed of the rainwater it would normally receive, but it would contribute toward cooling the area, and prevent urban heating.

Another interesting article I got off slashdot. Toyota is venturing into biotechnology. The Japanese car maker is apparently researching GM crops and other kinds of plants to help alleviate a possible food and water crisis in Asia.

The Japanese continue to impress me. Not with their mostly awful anime, but through their tech-savvy, environmentally responsible ways. The Japanese People. I salute you.