KarunaNews Story

A decade ago, three bus shelters along the Fairmount MBTA corridor had beds of sedum, a low-maintenance succulent, planted on their roofs to help naturally improve air quality and reduce temperatures in areas of Boston most impacted by the rising heat. The program wanted to engage with youth workforce development programs and explore what climate resilience jobs look like in Boston. The green roof program is now the single greatest bus shelter installation of green roofs in the US after the designers and YouthBuild-Boston partnered with the Mayor’s Office to install green roofs to 30 bus shelters. The 30 shelters can currently hold over 1400 gallons of water. If the project is expanded to all 280 bus shelters across the city, they estimate the roofs will hold roughly 15,000 gallons of water.