Welcome to Gaia! ::

Faux Trees made from recycled plastic bottles and convert CO2 to O2

Its rather aesthetically pleasing at night, providing light at night. The day time its a bit bold. Solar and Kinetically powered, it sounds like something out of a scifi movie. I wonder about durability of it, and what they do with the carbon afterward, I doubt its sugar that its converted into.

There are plenty of things that have been left out of the discussion from the articles- but 2cents right now, more info updates later biggrin

Though many people would say "PLANT MORE TREES!", I would agree that planting trees is more practical, it would be more natural, but sadly the life span of a tree is greatly reduced in an urban setting, due to soil, water, sun, nutrient and depth and width it can grow its branches and roots. All these are limitations.

Then we get all that ugly hastily done pruning during the seasons. And all the terrible abuse it gets during (coughblizzardseasonwithsnowplows) we often see these, scraggly, sickly, unhappy, hoisted and propped up juvenile trees, that probably get complaints about it once the fall comes or when it starts cracking the pavement, or tangling the cable lines.

Going Natural vs Artificial is a stunning and bold move. However, if you're going to talk about capturing energy, you can probably add these trees to the whole 'other energy resources' such as hydro power, solar and wind power, this one is actually a bit pleasing to look at in the dark from the images they provided, it is a very 'City-esque' structure. Versus the complaint of "these wind turbines are disrupting the mountain-valley scenery"

But don't get me wrong supplementing it with actual trees would be a good idea, because you can't go wrong with going with something that's worked for millions of years.

More to come, feel free to share articles that relate to this subject.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-faux-trees-co2-o2.html
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/16/need-more-air-artificial-trees-to-convert-carbon-dioxide-to-oxy/

I would totally play on the see-saws they would have at the base of it.
People, get your exercise! That same motion you do at your desk when you're not working and in your chair, almost the same!

Indeed, but I'm not too concerned about jumping planets. I believe Earth is home and we've more or less partied and ruined the house, now we have to fix it before the Parents come home and smack us silly for it.

I'm all in favor for trees, the only quarrel I have with the article is one line about the fires, but its minor. Sequoias are gymnosperms that REQUIRE fire to reproduce, to melt the resin and sap covering their cones and release seeds. Taking clones is a good idea for these trees since you know that these individuals are well adapted and have good health over all to be able to survive this long, though I still favor, new individuals from seed, since variation has always been the movement for better adapted individuals-for the present time. But like I said its only one line. I can't complain about it.

The idea to use these tree clones to boost sales and give some pride to the buyer, 'it feels good to have a sequoia in my backyard.' is brilliant, its like collecting antiques but they're still living and growing.

Though back to the faux trees, it agrees with the statement from the article you gave us, that live trees pose an issue in cities, and complaints will soar, with this and that, silly complaining. It would beautiful to have them work in conjunction though, live trees and the faux tree. I would still love to go walk in the park during the day to hear the rustling, and then at night to see these lights line the park pathways and still hear the rustling.

I'm note sure how sequoias would do in a city environment, apparently they're quite susceptible to air pollution. Perhaps more native trees in the cities, first to clean and lessen the stress and strain, then maybe some redwood? biggrin