this post was submitted on 04 May 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 27 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Trees don’t attract VC funding the way some dumb new invention does.

I guess this could be useful in places trees don’t fit but I think there are other simpler solutions.

[–] glitch1985@lemmy.world 7 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

useful in places trees don’t fit

I have a tree sitting in a pot on my desk.

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 7 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

Your potted tree isn’t a tree in the sense that I’m talking about. The environmental services trees provide are all based on size and so are predominantly provided by larger trees. Cities usually avoid planting these under electrical wires and in smaller tree basins to avoid damage to infrastructure. So practically, there are many urban locations where big trees won’t fit.

[–] randamumaki@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Are you discriminating because lil' tree is lil'? /s

[–] xx3rawr@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 hours ago

My tree is not small, it's average sized

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[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 71 points 23 hours 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.

[–] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 11 hours ago

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 23 hours ago

No standing or sitting allowed. Resume consumerism!

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[–] bennypr0fane@discuss.tchncs.de 49 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (3 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.

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 16 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

The amount of water required is trivial compared to most other water uses. Especially if correct species are selected.

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[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 7 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I think the problem is putting them in those dumb tanks where a tree would be, as if to say "do this instead". The principle would be fine if they got a bit more creative with it and played to its strengths, e.g. if you make a train platform out of it, or the railings of an overpass, or the external wall panels of buildings etc.

Ofc OOP didn't actually provide a source so we've no idea what the creators were actually thinking...

[–] nickiwest@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

A cursory search for "liquid trees micro algae" led me here: https://liquidtrees.org/urban-solutions

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[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 18 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Trees don’t create shareholder profits

[–] Anomalocaris@lemm.ee 10 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

useless pests they are. who cares that they provide free shade, free oxygen, free beauty for all to enjoy. Fucking commies.

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[–] bratorange@feddit.org 92 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (12 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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[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 9 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (2 children)

People really like vandalizing trees, diseases exist, and they are less efficient carbon sinks

Like how we found it’s better to feed cattle seaweed than grass but nobody wants to because it’s different

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 13 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

Carbon sinks? Dude, people are planting trees in cities for the shade.

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[–] RQG@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Good thing people don't like to vandalize glass.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Usually spray paint it rather than breaking it, and you would hope it’d be fiberglass so it doesn’t just break

[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 33 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I recently learned that there's a group dedicated to planting 1000 trees in the city of Trenton, NJ, USA. I'm really glad to see a city working to bring back a little nature!

[–] bennypr0fane@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

In Vienna, Austria, Europe, every tree removed has to be replaced with a new as per regulation

[–] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 7 points 20 hours ago

The problem even with that is that an old, standing tree and a young one are very different in their ability to provide the services we seek from them.

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[–] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 138 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (13 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 60 points 1 day 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

[–] zea_64@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

They seem to be focusing on CO2. Trees in cities are going to capture a negligible amount of CO2 and for relatively high cost versus doing things outside a city. The point of trees in cities is shade and looking nice (good for mental health). Liquid trees solve neither of those.

[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 1 points 10 hours ago

And ameliorating the heat island effect.

But mainly quality of life.

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[–] rivvvver@lemmy.dbzer0.com 114 points 1 day ago (5 children)

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

[–] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 64 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Also, where do I find the shade?

[–] NoForwardslashS@sopuli.xyz 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You will shelter next to the goo tank and you will like it.

[–] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 18 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Only until a person who is unhoused tries it and they decide to install spikes all the way around.

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[–] notthebees@reddthat.com 34 points 1 day ago (6 children)

A few reasons: Trees need a lot of space and the space underneath a sidewalk isn't enough for long term life. They can die after like 30 years? This is tree dependent and location dependent.

Tree roots can destroy sidewalks making it harder for people to go over them. (Think people in wheel chairs)

Liability in terms of damage (have you seen trees after a storm?)

[–] MightBeFluffy@pawb.social 16 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

Sounds like we need to remove the need for sidewalks. Rip up all the roads in the city and replace them with green space. Problem solved

[–] stray@pawb.social 28 points 22 hours ago

I disagree. Pavement is valuable to pedestrians, cyclists, emergency and service vehicles, and the disabled. While it's important to preserve nature as much as possible, some urbanisation is also a good thing. That said, I'm not sure algae tanks would be necessary in areas where huge tracts of land aren't dedicated to parking. I can't really think of where my city would benefit from them.

[–] spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Yes to ripping up roads for greenspace, not to removing sidewalks too.

Make the citu green and walkable, and you solve so many problems in one go

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[–] termaxima@programming.dev 41 points 1 day ago

We can have both trees and this ! Let’s replace the stupid ad spots on bus stops with these 😮

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

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

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[–] pyre@lemmy.world 4 points 18 hours ago

even your trees will be slop. nice.

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