So I literally came back from that job, quit school, hung my filmmaking shingle and just never told anyone that I didn't know what I was doing.

I mean the world where advanced building materials means cement roofing tiles that are made by hand, and where, when you work 10 hours a day, you're still only earning 60 dollars in a month.

Re roofing most of the city s five million homes in lighter colors, painting a quarter of the roads and planting 11 million trees would have a one time cost of about 1 billion. Each year after that, this would lower air conditioning costs by about 170 million and provide 360 million in smog reduction benefits.

Both can be used instead of petroleum based roofing materials that absorb heat, contribute to urban heat island effect and degrade under the sun, which we in turn breathe. Green roofs also retain up to 75 percent of rainfall, so they reduce a city's need to fund costly end of pipe solutions which, incidentally, are often located in environmental justice communities like mine.