“If we can do it, you can do it”
“Let’s grow Dublin in a new way”

On March 28th 2013, The Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr. Clare Byrne launched the Youthtop Garden and Mural  to a group of 70 people at the Greenhouse.

RTÉ’s Carla O’Brien filmed the Rooftop Gardeners before the launch and then broadcasted the piece that day on News2Day.

We are a group of young people concerned about food sustainability and climate change. We are creating a rooftop garden in The Greenhouse on St. Andrew Street. We aim to show Dublin how rooftop gardens can contribute to reducing waste in Dublin. Through the construction of the garden, we hope to promote up-cycling which is the reuse of old materials into new products. The concept of a rooftop garden exhibits how all the available space in the city can be used beneficially. We aim to encourage others to create rooftop gardens as well.

As part of the Youth for Sustainable Development programme, we all learnt about the three pillars of sustainable development: environment, social and economic. When it came to deciding on our action project for the Young Environmentalist Awards we wanted our project to meet these three pillars:

– Environmental: Rooftop gardens can cut down on carbon emissions as they reduce the transport time of food and can act as a carbon sink. They also provide a use for the rising level of food waste in the form of compost.

– Social: Rooftop gardens are aesthetically a good idea for a city centre and a great way to create a sense of community.

– Economical: Rooftop gardens are a possible source of employment

Many of our group members also attended the Rio+20 Transnational Conference where they focused on the issues of food sustainability and food waste. We had previously visited a local Dublin rooftop garden which really impressed us and inspired us to do something similar.

Our Vision

Numerous policy makers will be approached and shown how rooftop gardens can reduce waste, contribute to food security and tackle unemployment in the city. The ultimate goal is to have lots of other organisations and individuals in Dublin join in creating rooftop gardens eventually becoming a tourist attraction in Dublin

www.facebook.com/youthtopgardeners

www.twitter.com/youthtopgardeners

youthtopgardeners@gmail.com