D.C. Makes Plans to Go Green, Starting With Rooftop Farms

City officials in Washington released an ambitious plan on Tuesday to green the city over the next 20 years. Dubbed Vision for a Sustainable D.C., the plan outlines "goals to slash emissions and fossil fuel usage, plant new trees, clean up the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, and capture three-fourths of rainwater for reuse locally," Craig writes.

Sean C. Cahill, a local developer, intends to lead the charge with a cluster of new buildings along I-395 that will boast rooftop farms – one of the many goals described in the plan. With 2.2 million square feet of primarily office space, Capitol Crossing could host restaurants hoping to emulate the success of Founding Farmers, a farm-to-table eatery that has earned a place among "the city's most popular restaurants."

"We got 30 acres of vegetative roofs in D.C. already," said D.C. Planning Director Harriet Tregoning. "Let's rethink this idea of the green roof and create the kind of environment where we can produce that."