let me introduce you to this: scientificamerican.com/…/robo-bees-could-aid-inse…
humans are crazy. You want to know whats wrong with trees and bees? It’s pretty hard to make a profit of them
Liquid Trees
Submitted 10 months ago by sundray@lemmus.org to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/635eaf11-bb4e-46be-915d-86b1a946d8cb.jpeg
Comments
shrugs@lemmy.world 10 months ago
DimFisher@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Keep in mind that tree roots can brake through anything
ubergeek@lemmy.today 10 months ago
Not all do. That’s an oak thing really. Pines, most stone fruits, etc, take a path of least resistance, unlike oaks which are more “I am going that way, and NOTHING will stop me!”
iamkindasomeone@feddit.org 10 months ago
Wake me up as soon as some goofy ass startup found out how to arrange the algae to display ads.
InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Add a blockchain and you could get libertarians tripping over to invest
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
Alternative in what sense?
scala@lemmy.ml 10 months ago
Pretty sure some cities have about zero areas for a tree to grow. Algae produces a much larger percentage of oxygen compared to any tree.
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
Pretty sure trees in cities aren’t there to produce oxygen or capture carbon.
VampirePenguin@midwest.social 10 months ago
Welp, all the trees are gone but at least there are these cloudy stinking tanks of goo everywhere. Does anything not dystopian happen anymore? Like these things are a set piece from Blade Runner FFS.
echodot@feddit.uk 10 months ago
It’s a pretty bad example in this case because the picture is literally on a street with trees. What these are probably for is putting in places where no one’s going to look at them but places where you can’t put trees, like industrial estates and the rooftops of buildings. Aesthetics aren’t important if no one is ever going to look at them aesthetically, and anyway they kind of look cool.
arararagi@ani.social 10 months ago
The issue is that the roof is smaller than the bench, so it doesn’t even provide shade.
VampirePenguin@midwest.social 10 months ago
I’m sure they’re probably a good idea, I’m just crabby.
CitizenKong@lemmy.world 10 months ago
These algae also produce biogas that can be used for heating or producing electricity.
BottleCaptain@lemmy.pt 10 months ago
Damn if only trees created something gaseous that was useful
AlolanYoda@mander.xyz 10 months ago
They emit carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and oxygen, which causes rust in metals and aging in humans. So it’s a negative really…
matlag@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
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.
echodot@feddit.uk 10 months ago
That’s an incredibly negative spin.
All these technologies are improvements on the natural version, not a replacement for the natural version, but an upgrade. If you want nice trees go take a walk in a city park, these aren’t for looking at they have a different objective. We can have both things, one isn’t trying to replace the other.
matlag@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Trees provide shades that cool down the cities. These algae don’t. The main benefit of these “liquid trees” is to reduce pollution. You know what reduces even more pollution? Electrification and public transportation. Combine both. You’ll need much less space for motor vehicles lane inside the city and no need for “depolluting” inventions. Add some bike lanes and you’ll still have plenty of space for trees. They’re better looking and will do the cooling job.
So, as I was saying: praising a less efficient solution that may bring new unexpected issues down the road because the efficient solution requires people to change.
AlolanYoda@mander.xyz 10 months ago
Yeah, can plant a tree? Plant a tree. If you can’t, the alternative right now is nothing. This introduces another option.
desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
trees take don’t come with actual requirement lists. An algae pool can and will come with explicit instructions that are able to be met and won’t destroy the sidewalk for no reason.
ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I would be fine with changing my ways if changing my anything didn’t require endless paperwork. How is it fair that some guy invents agriculture and now I have to have a credit score
matlag@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
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 10 months ago
Deja Vu
Sunflier@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Few things about trees in cities: (1) tree roots ruin sidewalks because they upend that stuff; (2) tree roots get into and ruin infrastructure, (3) not every cut can sustain a tree; and (4) they damage stuff when thet fall over in storms.
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Crazy thought - instead of just putting trees near curbs, have dedicated green spaces in cities where there aren’t sidewalks or other important infrastructure near the trees.
echodot@feddit.uk 10 months ago
I think the current plan is to simply depopulate the United States through fiscal, and have everyone move back to Europe.
Sunflier@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Why not both?
trolololol@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Where did you get these ideas you freak
The_Caretaker@lemm.ee 10 months ago
You see, trees get in the way when we want to put down more asphalt to make more room for cars. We need more lanes for cars to park in and more parking lots for cars to park in. The goal is to turn the city into a place devoid of anything but asphalt. Then with no access to dirt to grow food or water to keep them alive, the people will be 100% dependent on their capitalist overlords. Everyone wins.
FrowingFostek@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I would support legislation that mandated these be used around the highest carbon emitting facilities. Maybe a few very well designed structures (algae tanks) in very densely populated cities.
These would be in no way a replacement for trees in a community but, I could see forcing the corporations to use them. Such as those that must pollute because, they can not manufacture these products without polluting.
CaptainHowdy@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Dumb take. If someone crashes their car into one of these, it can be replaced in a few days. Trees take decades to grow in ideal conditions. Between tall buildings in a city is far from ideal conditions.
Also algae is way more efficient at converting CO2 into O2; I think it’s maybe multiple times more efficient using the same amount of light.
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 10 months ago
Dumb take, by the guy who has no idea how much it costs to maintain these tanks or any understanding of the scales involved.
wildcardology@lemmy.world 10 months ago
The problem with trees is they are used as lumber. The national parks has always been protected. But Trump has unprotected parts of the national parks to be cut down for lumber.
RedFrank24@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Trees take ages to grow, and their root systems damage buildings and pavements.
HK65@sopuli.xyz 10 months ago
You can take trees and replant them in the city, you don’t have to grow it there. There are tree farms.
Oni_eyes@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Also really really hard to keep trees alive on the sides of buildings where these units could conceivably be used. Modular trees plus trees where we can fit them.
Charlxmagne@lemmy.world 10 months ago
All these braindead silicon valley tech bros trynna reinvent existing solutions to problems in very expensive and unnecessary ways, marketing it as “revolutionary” and “groundbreaking”
BussyCat@lemmy.world 10 months ago
The majority of our oxygen comes from algae, they aren’t reinventing existing solutions they just put a tank of them in a city and blow air into it so that a city can use the same more efficient fauna that is available in coastal cities
NichtElias@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
I believe algae are flora, not fauna
Xatolos@reddthat.com 10 months ago
[deleted]sqgl@beehaw.org 10 months ago
In Australian temperate climate areas we have the brush box whose roots do not cause these problems. Unfortunately evergreen, casting shade in winter.
CaptPretentious@lemmy.world 10 months ago
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.
Oni_eyes@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Even with the misleading headline, has nobody commenting about how bad it is ever seen how many trees die when set up in low light conditions? These can be used in places trees wouldn’t be effective, and that’s before the whole “they’re better at cleaning the air” bit.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
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
RQG@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Good thing people don’t like to vandalize glass.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
Usually spray paint it rather than breaking it
JackbyDev@programming.dev 10 months ago
Carbon sinks? Dude, people are planting trees in cities for the shade.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
There’s a quote about planting trees and not living to see their shade
I’m a bit more pessimistic of people
pyre@lemmy.world 10 months ago
even your trees will be slop. nice.
MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
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 10 months ago
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 10 months ago
annoying how?
jerkface@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
I guess I’m too…born and raised in a forest?..to be the same species as those people.
LordWiggle@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yeah trees are assholes. They always ring my doorbell trying to sell me the book of Gaia. Constantly telling me “you can’t smoke here, sir”. There’s a tree behind my house who constantly wears the same glasses as me. Whenever I buy new ones, a day later this tree has the same. He’s constantly mocking me for no reason.
I think all trees should be cut down and burned. Algae never complain, are always kind and always say “good day sir” when you walk by.
moakley@lemmy.world 10 months ago
A tree stole my wallet and had sex with my wife!
bane_killgrind@slrpnk.net 10 months ago
That’s just unhinged. The trees are the view.
Draegur@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Those “people” would better serve as fertilizer (specifically for trees)
very_well_lost@lemmy.world 10 months ago
What happens when one of these breaks and drains into the sewer system? Algae blooms cause noxious odors and would proliferate quickly in the nitrogen-rich environment of human waste water, potentially building up as clogs in the sewer lines. And if the system drains into a natural body of water, the algae can have devastating toxic effects on the natural wildlife. If it doesn’t drain and instead gets recycled, then the water treatment process becomes much more difficult and expensive.
andybytes@programming.dev 10 months ago
“Why do you say this is stupid? You’re so negative.” Run of the mill conformist toxic optimist tech bro dildo
Formfiller@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Trees don’t create shareholder profits
Anomalocaris@lemm.ee 10 months ago
useless pests they are. who cares that they provide free shade, free oxygen, free beauty for all to enjoy. Fucking commies.
Formfiller@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I agree trees are commies. Must be why Trump is going to clear cut several hundred million acres of the last remaining old growth forests …because they’re full of commie trees
LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 10 months ago
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 10 months ago
useful in places trees don’t fit
I have a tree sitting in a pot on my desk.
BussyCat@lemmy.world 10 months ago
How much CO2 does the tree on your desk take in? Do you think it approaches 1/1000 of the amount that a bunch of algae can take in? So maybe it’s not the same and comparing it as being the same is done in bad faith. Trees are great and in many cases are superior as they also provide shade, but you can’t ignore the negatives of them(mostly related to their roots) and that they don’t work in every situation
LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 10 months ago
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 are predominantly provided by larger trees.
RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com 10 months ago
Does its root structure break the pavement above it?
WizardOfLoneliness@hexbear.net 10 months ago
“What’s wrong with trees” ask people who have never had an allergy or thought about what roots do to all those nice expensive foundations
bennypr0fane@discuss.tchncs.de 10 months ago
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” pesticide any kind of benefit at all.
InFerNo@lemmy.ml 10 months ago
The roots destroy sewer systems etc too. There’s a bike path I take to work where the pavement is all distorted by the roots, making it very unsafe, but I still prefer that the trees are there.
pdqcp@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
That’s why you have to properly select the species that will be planted, there are many different species which have roots that won’t cause this type of damage and you can most likely get by with native plants for better adaptability
skisnow@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
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 10 months ago
A cursory search for “liquid trees micro algae” led me here: liquidtrees.org/urban-solutions
LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 10 months ago
The amount of water required is trivial compared to most other water uses. Especially if correct species are selected.
MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
The London plane tree is particularly suitable for urban areas, it’s resistant to air pollution.
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 10 months ago
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 10 months ago
In Vienna, Austria, Europe, every tree removed has to be replaced with a new as per regulation
But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 10 months ago
In Toronto Canada if you plant trees you get arrested
bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 10 months 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.
syklemil@discuss.tchncs.de 10 months ago
Same in Oslo
stebo02@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
trees take a loooooong time to grow
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 10 months ago
But they look good and provide shade. Worth it.
epicstove@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
When I was visiting Europe, seeing all the trees so well integrated into urban areas was so nice.
Then we git our flight back to Toronto. Concrete jungle.