New Perspectives in Science Education

Loss of green areas and increase in waste are among the most important environmental problems today. Due to urbanization and infrastructure projects, green areas are decreasing and forests are disappearing¹. This situation causes the decrease of important ecological services such as ecosystem balancing, water cleaning and climate regulation. Effective management of waste, encouraging recycling and protection of green areas will form the basis of a sustainable future. In this context, cooperation and awareness-raising activities between societies stand out as important steps in reducing waste production and protecting green areas. In this project, a green roof system was studied as an alternative to recovering lost green areas². In order to ensure that the soil required for the green roof has a high nutritional value, composting from the recycling area was preferred. With the green roof cat house project, an easy-to-make, animal- and environment-friendly product that individuals, municipalities and institutions can participate in was developed. In the study, compost products were formed from the waste of our school kitchen and by preventing it from going to the trash, both recycling was ensured and waste was evaluated. Shingle and geocell materials were used as a green roof system on the roof of the cat house. The shingle protects the main material of the roof from water and soil weight, and geocell provides water drainage and air intake to the soil. When the findings of the study are summarized; it was observed that the grass seeds planted in the soil mixed with compost emerged in 1 week. No organisms that would harm the grass were observed in the soil. Thanks to the holes in the geocell material placed on the sloping cat house roof, water drainage was achieved and no deterioration was observed in the grass. The green-roofed cat house placed in the garden of our school is used by our cats. It was observed that the students liked this structure and that it comforted them. In addition, the product received a Design Registration certificate from the Turkish Patent Institute.

Keywords: green roof, compost, stem

REFERENCES [1]  Getter, K., Rowe B. (2006). “The Role of Extensive Green Roofs in Sustainable         Development”, Hort Science, 41(5): 1276-1285.

[2] Kuhn, M., Peck, S.(2003). Design Guidelines for Green Roofs, Ontario Association of Architects.