Greenwashing: Luxury Over Necessity

     The idea of "greenwashing" is beautiful, but at what cost? There are skyscrapers popping up everywhere with the idea of a vertical forest (like in the image below), but this is not typically seen in affordable housing...no, this is seen on luxury apartments, but why not? There are many times in which these system fails due to poor maintenance or something happens in the weather that kills the whole system. For example: over watering, drought, tornado, lack of fertilization, not enough soil or poor soil quality. Yes, I for one think this is a beautiful image and the idea of these vertical forests are great for air quality in an urban environment, but how can we implement this type of system in affordable housing? Instead of just trees, it could be vertical gardens that help feed its inhabitants. Of course this type of system would need even more maintenance and education programs would need to be put in place if this system were to survive. Or if you are in a luxury apartment...I guess you would have someone on staff that would take care of it.

Stefano Boeri, Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest), Milano, Italia

Photographed by Jessica Schultz October 2017)