A green wall is basically a wall covered in plants. They are also known as vertical gardens and are a beautiful and effective trend that’s sweeping the world. Green walls are becoming more popular now that there is more evidence of the negative effects of the urban heat island effect. This means that very urban environments experience higher air temperatures than the areas around them, which happens due to the amount of people, asphalt, and energy use in that concentrated area. Green walls help mitigate the effects of heat islands by providing better insulation to buildings and using the plants’ natural ability to actively cool the air around them. This helps to reduce energy use from things like air conditioning, and also includes health benefits such as pollution reduction and providing beauty to areas that otherwise appear neglected and dirty.

There is a group of architect students at Harold Washington College in Chicago that are focusing their efforts on building temporary beautiful green walls in obvious parts of their city in order to promote the idea of them. I would like to see more businesses and buildings continue the trend in every city. They have a Kickstarter project started with only a few weeks left to donate, and would love your support! Kickstarter.com is a very cool website, by the way. There are a lot of people out there doing a lot of cool things, and this is a way to find out about local projects going on in your area and support them. Go support the Harold Washington Green Wall, your local community, and build yourself a green wall!