Green Roofs are an environmentally friendly way to decorate roofs in whatever way fits the homeowner’s desires. While solar panels are a great way to store energy and help the earth, due to government prohibition, these panels are hard to come by. Encouraging a green alternative is what “The Green Roof Project,” started by Miami Palmetto Senior High junior Jean Blandon, strives to accomplish.

“The Green Roof Project is essentially trying to promote green roof activity in Miami-Dade County by posting on our Instagram, @projectgreenroof. We conduct experiments and inform the public what green roofs do, what a green roof is and the multiple benefits of a green roof, making them more accessible to the public,” Blandon said.

Blandon and his partners, junior Joshua Cohen and sophomore O’Neill Cooper, have been planning to open workshops to teach people more about these green roofs and what they entail. They plan to present these workshops to classes, hoping to make an impact and have the audience think about how they will do their part to help the environment.

“We did not have specific assigned roles in our group; we all worked together on each section of the project. I provided the most support and work for the actual building and maintenance of the prototype. We built the prototype at my house, using my tools and wood that I had for previous projects, and I maintained the prototype at my house,” Cooper said. “I already had all the wood for the prototype green roof. One piece of Project Green Roof that we all worked on was the report we submitted, which we are extending into a complete professional report that we hope to publish.” 

Little by little, the group began finalizing their prototype. Once completed, the group submitted their prototype to a competition.

“We won second place and a prototype award at a competition called Innovate To Mitigate. It’s basically a competition where teams have to find an innovative solution to climate change… specifically carbon emissions, for this year,” Cohen said.

This award allowed them to use this project as their answer to finding an innovative solution to climate change, winning them second place at the world competition, Innovate To Mitigate.

Though this project may have helped them win international competitions and allowed them to help care for their local environment, the reason why this project began originates at MPSH.

“I was at a secret Santa and made my friend a terrarium as a gift and then after that, being in my APES [Advanced Placement Environmental Science] class, I started learning more about terrariums and the environment and that is what made me want to start this project. Then, I got a group of my friends together, and we have been working on this project and going to competitions,” Blandon said.

This project has gained support from APES teacher Pamela Shlachtman, as she places this project in competitions and helps motivate the three students throughout their project.

“A green roof is a vegetative system, a multi-layer system on your roof, and the idea is that you can customize it to your own needs. A problem with green roofs is that it can weigh down your roof, so you can customize the layers, helping that problem. It absorbs heat from the environment so it can heat up your home but also supports evaporation of rainwater, cooling the atmosphere, and when it absorbs heat, it cools and heats your house, lowering the energy bill,” Blandon said.

No matter the conditions of a house, the green roof, along with its many layers, will meet the individual needs of the homeowners and home while also aiding the environment.

“The overall point is to make people think environmentally about how they can help… You don’t need to cover the entire roof to make an impact. In Chicago, one of the buildings covered 52% of their roof and saved about $10,000; not only is this saving money but also saves the energy on Earth,” Blandon said.