Toby Barrazzuol says he’s not a garden expert, but he and the team at Eclipse Awards and It’s Saul Good Gift Co have created a beautiful rooftop space for everyone in their office and manufacturing facility to enjoy. They grow food like strawberries, tomatoes, figs and a variety of herbs; flowers like irises, mallow, wisteria, clematis and lilies; edible weeds like chickweed and sorrel; and drought-tolerant species like sedums. That’s a lot of biodiversity for what was recently an asphalt roof!

What’s more, they DIY’d the heck out of it! Most of the garden is made from reclaimed materials scavenged from the community or found on Craigslist. Pathways are pallets and recycled decking, planter boxes are washtubs, and pots are secondhand.

When Eclipse and It’s Saul Good moved in to their current building it required a few renovations to meet their needs. They used the renovation process as an opportunity to incorporate plants and gardening into their office culture. In anticipation of the rooftop garden they added several large crossbeams (made from a sustainable pressed wood product) to ensure that the roof could support the weight of 25 people plus the garden soil. They also added two large skylights that bring enough natural light in to sustain many office plants, including this beautiful mass planting of African Violets. Looking up through the skylights you get a sneak peek at the rooftop garden.

The garden has been a couple of years in the making, and Toby says managing the garden continues to be a learning process. Crows and seagulls show up regularly to snack on young plants and eat tasty berries, and they have free reign since there are long periods where no one is on the roof to scare them off. They have an irrigation system, but some of the plants have nonetheless whithered a bit in the scorching sun of the last few weeks. Also, there’s no formal process for employees to manage the garden, so it’s a bit harder to plan regular tasks like weeding and garden clean up. A recent success is the worm composter they’ve added to their office, which is rapidly turning food scraps into rich soil for use in the garden.

Interestingly, Toby reports that there has been some debate among their office over the purpose of the garden. Should it be wild and green, letting whatever wants to grow take root? Or should it be a place to cultivate food in a more purposeful way? For the time being they have come up with a great compromise, planting a central bed with 100 strawberry plants and letting a few edible weeds spring up in between.

This garden is a great case study for anyone interested in starting a green roof project and making their home or business that much more sustainable. We hope you can learn from Toby’s experience and develop one in your workplace. Congrats to the whole team at Eclipse and It’s Saul Good for working together to make this great project happen!

And for you design nerds out there, enjoy a few more of Lani’s beautiful pictures…

Photography by Lani Johnson

Last night Brian Smith, Business and Social Enterprise Developer at Building Opportunities with Business was honored at the Business in Vancouver 40 under 40 awards reception held at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. I can imagine he’s already getting tired of being repeatedly congratulated and lauded for the recognition of his work in this city but from all of us at BOB, CONGRATULATIONS BRIAN!!

There were a few 40 under 40 winners who traditionally may not have been included in years past as it is an award given out via Business in Vancouver, to business people. I’m glad to see that the judges have now begun to recognize social entreprise, non-profits and even the medical profession in their body of candidates though. It made me think about how much our collective business culture and business philosophy has changed over the past 20 years alone. Brian has worked with a range of people in the DTES to create and manage what many believe is the best social purchasing directory in Canada. The directory is a comprehensive list of businesses in Vancouver’s downtown eastside and inner-city neighourhoods that offer socially responsible and environmentally sustainable goods and services. Many of these companies create jobs for local residents that may have been hard to employ. And he wasn’t the only winner last night who was doing something that was not only good for business but good for communities, the environment and those in need of help. To me it really seemed like what was once on the fringe of business culture had really become central to it.

If one tries to think objectively about the history of business and industry since the industrial revolution we have to remember that all these great challenges within economics, environment, society and culture are byproducts of an incredible and sudden explosion of productivity and change. To put it in perspective, it’s like a few hundred years ago we opened a pandoras box, and only 50 years ago did the revolution in chemistry offer us a chance to create plastics and other materials and with them the effluents, gasses and other byproducts that quickly accumulated. And while the environmental challenges mounted a host of socioeconomic challenges also grew in tandem with rising population and shrinking space and resources.   When considering the age of human civilization this literally happened in a blink of an eye. And all things considered, though we could’ve reacted faster, we’ve reacted pretty fast. 20 years ago was your office recycling or composting? did your building have a green roof? Was it LEED certified? Were green enrepreneurs being honored along with captains of technology and industry?

The fact that business leaders are also being recognized for being environmental leaders and socially responsible leaders is exciting. While some may say it’s just a fad and that when the chips are down we’ll do things cheap and dirty I firmly believe that we’re beginning to leave behind the days when all that mattered was the bottom line. Yes there still exists greed and excess, there are still the Gordon Geckos of the world, but if the recipients of the 2009 BIV 40 under 40 awards were any indication they’re becomming eclipsed by the new breed of socially and environmentally responsible business leaders like Brian. So once again congratulations to him and to all the winners of the 2009  BIV 40 under 40 awards.

Adam Smith would approve of this year's BIV 40 under 40