NEW YORK—With smokestacks and cranes in the distant view, it is hard to believe a 43,000-square-foot farm can exist on a rooftop.
Although community gardens and rooftop farms have been gaining popularity for helping to produce urban local food and educating children, Brooklyn Grange’s farm has an additional purpose.
Using vegetation, soil, and other infrastructure, the farm is expected to absorb 1.5 million gallons of storm water per year.
“Eighty percent of greenhouse gases in New York City comes from buildings, while 20 percent comes from transportation,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said while touring the farm on the roof of Building Number Three at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Thursday, in an effort to highlight the city’s water improvement programs.
This statistic is the opposite for most other major cities, but with New York City’s heavy rainfall and a major component of greenhouse gases being water vapor, the city is investing in the farm as a part of its water infrastructure.
