Lets get our cities invaded by plants.

As we are leading with the global heating climate (it’s not just warming).

Our cities must be adapted. The ground, waterproofed by cement and asphalt are converted in deadly swimming pools in case of torrential rains, and frying pans under the burning sun.

The greening of walls, roofs, public squares, riverbeds of urban rivers, are environmental measures that protect the population from heat and floods.

With regard to torrential rains, our mineral cities could adapt, thanks to plants, to become sponges that absorb excess water, thus restoring the natural cycles of water by its underground aquifers network. Many water sources could sprout again and regain their vital role in our lives.

Green bed ©Christophe Pouplard

The hot summers that await us are going to turn the cities into frying pans for humans. By day the concrete stores the heat of the sun and it prevents the air from cooling during the night, thus depriving the inhabitants of an indispensable sleep. A wall covered with simple ivy regulates the temperature of a building. With a vertical garden one can create a natural climate that saves a lot of energy to cool buildings.

The role of plants in cities is not limited to regulating water and temperature: thanks to photosynthesis and the production of carbohydrates, plants are the most powerful tools for capturing the excess CO2 from the atmosphere, this greenhouse gas that causes the alteration of the climate.

The plants, in addition to the food resource they can represent, are the true solution to the brutal change we are experiencing.

For sure they bring many small animals… biodiversity… just what we need as we’ve lost 70% of it!

We just have to take away the fear that we have … and let ourselves be invaded by plants.

C.P.