Beautify The World: Rooftop Gardens On City Buses

It’s such a wonderful feeling to know that we can do something to make the world a better place. As Richard and I have talked about before, many people think the only way to do that is to do something big, profound and time consuming. However, that’s not the case. Sometimes the simplest little things can make a beautiful impact on the world and how we view it.

For example, when I make breakfast in my kitchen for ten people, box it up and deliver it to my friends that live under the bridge off I-85, it’s not a huge world-changing event. I don’t deserve any special credit for doing that. It’s simple. However, I know it makes those few people very happy, which is good enough for me.

Another example of this is gardening. When we plant pretty flowers or start a garden, it adds joy to the world. It represents new growth, new beauty and new possibilities. There is nothing like nature to help us gain a new perspective on life. We’ve written about this before on Bit Rebels. Richard wrote about a guy named Steve Wheen who plants colorful flowers in the cracks of cement on sidewalks and streets. I’ve written about seed bombs, which are little pellets you can just throw wherever you want outside, and a small green patch will grow where it lands.

Recently, NYU graduate student and artist, Marco Castro Coslo, had a similar idea. He figured out a way to make New York City more beautiful and green. He calculated that each city bus has a surface area of 340 square feet (that is a lot of space!). He decided that if they grew a garden on the roof of each bus, the residents of New York City would have 35 more acres of green space. His brilliant idea, called Bus Roots, even earned 2nd place at the DesignWala Grand Idea Competition.

So far, there is a garden on top of one of the 4,500 city buses rolling around NYC. The prototype, called The Bio Bus, is basically a mobile science class that visits schools. I hope there will be more bus top gardens soon; this is just so cool! I love it Marco!

[Via: Inhabitat, Treehugger] [Image Credits: Wonder How To, Take Part]