this post was submitted on 04 May 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] Etterra@discuss.online 1 points 6 days ago

Trees won't get some tech bros bought out by Google.

[–] matlag@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The issue with trees is you need to adapt the city to them, you can't adapt them to the city. And people have proven once and again that they would invent anything to not move by an inch when our way of life is put in question.

So we push forward with absurd solutions one after the other: carbon capture, atmospheric geo-engineering, a damned nuke in antarctica, and now "liquid trees".

Because the alternative is to change our ways, and we can't face that.

[–] nailbar@sopuli.xyz 3 points 6 days ago
[–] Redredme@lemmy.world -1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Can we please, stop reposting this same shit pic for the last, I dunno, year?

This is the gazillionth time. I get it. Is a stupid algea tank. where a simple tree does the same for a fraction of the cost. It's of no use in the public space except as a tech demo or art object.

So. Yeah... Next?

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[–] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 149 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (16 children)

While I don't want to spoil the joke (but I will) and I hate techno-optimist solutions that displace actual solutions for our biosphere as much as the next person: supposedly, Belgrade is such a dense concrete hell that trees aren't viable solution (at least in the short term).

There is some rumbling that liquid trees are not the solution to the real problems caused by large-scale deforestation, nor does it reduce erosion or enrich the soil. However, much of this wrath is misplaced as Liquid tree designers say that it was not made as a replacement for trees but was designed to work in areas where growing trees would be non-viable. Initiatives like Trillion Trees are laudable, but there is something to be said for the true utility of this tiny bioreactor. The fact that they can capture useful amounts of carbon dioxide from day one is another benefit for them. Such bioreactors are expected to become widespread in urban areas around the world as the planet battles rising carbon levels in the atmosphere.

Source

[–] tostiman@sh.itjust.works 65 points 1 week ago

They can thrive in tap water and can withstand temperature extremes.

So maybe they can be used in regions that are too hot for trees, like desert cities

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[–] rivvvver@lemmy.dbzer0.com 120 points 1 week ago (5 children)

im guessing "where will the animals go" is also a stupid question?

[–] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 66 points 1 week ago (8 children)

Also, where do I find the shade?

[–] ExtantHuman@lemm.ee 1 points 6 days ago

Under the actual tree next to it. This is effectively just a large bench. Which also helps the air.

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[–] bratorange@feddit.org 95 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (13 children)

Like I always think that people don’t get one thing about trees in a city. There purpose is is not about co2. The co2 reduction of city trees is neglectable. The reason you need them in a city is temperature regulation, shade, air quality, mood, the local eco system and maybe solidifying unsealed ground. Putting these tanks in a city is laughably inefficient w.r.t. co2 conversion if you compare this to any effort to do this in instustrial capacity ( which is is also still laughably inefficient)

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[–] CaptPretentious@lemmy.world 72 points 1 week ago (2 children)

ITT: People who looked at some random headline, didn't bother looking further and assumed they knew everything.

It's a stupid headline. These tanks, are to directly affect air polution/quality in urban areas. Trees are terrible at that. The microalgae is 10-50x more effective in cleaning the air.

They aren't going to rip out trees for these. It would have taken you 10 seconds to find the source of the image and the article from 3 years ago to find out, the social media post was misleading. You spent more time making incorrect and wild accusations.

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[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 71 points 1 week ago (3 children)

This is missing out on likely the most important part of trees in urban areas. Shade. They give you a cooler place to stand or walk through.

taller buildings and smog do a more consistent job of providing shade than a new tree will in a decade.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 49 points 1 week ago

No standing or sitting allowed. Resume consumerism!

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[–] jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de 62 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (6 children)

They get in the way of parking spots. The steel cages must rule supreme.

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[–] MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works 57 points 1 week ago (8 children)

I discovered when I joined a volunteer litter-picking group in my town that some people really hate trees. And I must emphasise HATE. They hate the shade they cast in summer, the way the leaves block the all-important View. They hate the fallen leaves in autumn. They hate the bare branches in winter. They hate the risk of branches falling in storms. They hate the racket the birds make. I was astonished - it never occurred to me that people would feel so strongly.

Turns out I'm a bloody tree-hugging extremist.

[–] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone -5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Leaves are annoying in urban areas with full concrete/asphalt/metal/glass environments. Different people like different things and some aesthetics are incompatible.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 days ago

annoying how?

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[–] bennypr0fane@discuss.tchncs.de 49 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (10 children)

I guess the "problem" with trees is obvious: it takes decades for them to produce the desired cooling effect in urban areas. You plant a dozen young trees today, you can begin to reap the cooldown 10 years later at best. Also, they need a lot if water, and many of them just don't make it - urban surroundings are just much hotter and more stressful (smog, salt...) then standing with other trees in a forest. I fail to see though how these artificial "trees" provide any kind of benefit at all.

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