Last week the Olympic Village in Beijing officially earned the LEED Gold award from the U.S. Green Building Council under its pilot LEED for Neighborhood Development program. Among the sustainable design features of the complex, as reported in Inhabitat: rainwater, graywater, and storm water collection systems, lots of green roofs and open space, drought-resistant and native plantings, and a network of bicycle and pedestrian paths.

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a trade group, has announced that seven projects have received its 2008 Award of Excellence. They include the California Academy of Sciences green roof in San Francisco, which is designed to provide habitat for the endangered Bay Checkerspot butterfly (one of the designs featured in my article on green roofs as wildlife habitat).

My award for cutest green roofs goes to Sustainable Pet, which creates doghouses, cat houses, and birdhouses topped by green roofs planted with vegetation native to your region.