Ummm... It's a herd of goats. Flock of chickens/ducks/geese/peafowl/sheep, herd of goats/cows/llamas/alpacas. Duh, every urban eco-farmer worth their weight knows that.
It's nice that homeowners are greening up their craftsman bungalows in Phinney Ridge & Ravenna etc. But I hope the Eco-builder's guild is serious about outreach to the owners of these ginormous energy-inefficient buildings, apartment & office buildings around Seattle... I'm staring at a few large rooftops right now - all concrete.
@3, almost any apartment building is more energy-efficient than almost any detached house, no matter how much sod is growing on the roof of the latter or concrete on the former. The units in the apartment house share many walls, ceilings, floors, and usually have central heating, which is by far the most efficient arrangement. The obsession with "greening" large single-family houses in suburban-style blocks of widely separated houses is ultimately pointless, like driving a hybrid Hummer. Pretty much every apartment building in New York City is much more energy efficient than any house you can find in Phinney Ridge.
As Fnarf stated, an apartment in even a small building is much more energy efficient than a house; only car-lessness has a bigger impact on a person's energy consumption. Roof grass on a single dwelling home has about a negative 1% effect, compared to the 200-400% increase in energy consumption that the separate dwelling is responsible for, compared to an apartment.
'Ploughing the roof' has been used in a midrash on the story of Onan as an euphemism for 'unnatural' intercouse. (Onan's sin was not masturbation, but resisting getting his sister-in-law pregnant with a child he would have to support but who would not be accounted his, but rather his late brother's---he could have just refused all carnal knowledge of her and been publicly shamed for it in a ritual involving spit, shame, and shoes, but instead tried to get some fun without paying the tribally-mandated price.)
But I'm not saying this is a green prevert conspiracy organised by folks who know their Talmud; I'm just saying.
And as for pygmy goats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyEiKng0O…
http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climat…
As Fnarf stated, an apartment in even a small building is much more energy efficient than a house; only car-lessness has a bigger impact on a person's energy consumption. Roof grass on a single dwelling home has about a negative 1% effect, compared to the 200-400% increase in energy consumption that the separate dwelling is responsible for, compared to an apartment.
But I'm not saying this is a green prevert conspiracy organised by folks who know their Talmud; I'm just saying.