Green Initiatives

Green Initiatives are becoming more and more common in our community, state, nation, and world. There are great examples all over the Birmingham Metro-Area. Jeremy Erdreich, a local architect, has Green in mind with every job he takes on. He's responsible for the renewal of the 2nd Avenue area. This photograph shows a portion of 2nd Avenue with a number of different places in this building. To the far right is Erdreich Architects. The store with the tree in front is Faith Skate Supply, a supply center for skaters and skateboarders. The door/window front in the very middle of the picture is actually Jeremy Erdreich's home. He built an apartment within this former commercial space. He used the existing building and also used recycled materials to create his home. As you walk past his window front it appears as though this space is a art gallery or something of that sort. Jeremy also built his parents a home on 2nd Avenue, which I believe has the first "green roof" downtown. Their roof has a garden on it which helps to reduce heating and cooling costs, create fresh air, and provides a destination for storm water. Downtown also has the Max and Dart buses which technically are Green Initiatives to get more cars off the road and to lower emissions. But I think this is where we are falling short. Once we get the transportation situation in Birmingham figured out, we'll be very Green.