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Gayfunguy t1_j6uh8pz wrote

Plant SO MANY TREEEEEEEES!

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SassiesSoiledPanties t1_j6vinhz wrote

Problem is that trees take way too long to grow to a desirable height. I wonder if geneticists and botanists have ever designed a tree that would reach its maximum height in less than 10 years.

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Yodan t1_j6w624p wrote

the real problem always was that we have a monetary system that incentivizes infinite growth based on % annually forever but live on a planet with finite resources...so we outpace the growth/replacement rate of natural normal biology

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ashoka_akira t1_j6xb9ym wrote

The problem with a plant like that is the line between helpful plant and invasive species would be very thin depending on where it landed. in my part of the world we have issues with palm trees choking out native species because they grow so fast.

There almost needs to be a different plant solution for each different geographical area using plants that are indigenous to the area

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SassiesSoiledPanties t1_j6xizpp wrote

Yes! Palm trees, my sworn enemies...not really but I don't really like that people plant palm trees to the detriment of trees with big fronds just because they like the way they look. Its not just planting trees, the trees need to block sunlight to the ground around it. This should prevent the creation of heat islands (areas of ground that reach high temperatures and thus prevent cold air from coming down there because hot air rises).

I agree, a solution integrating native trees to the area is the way.

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DrabDonut t1_j6xz68p wrote

Sounds like the sooner we plant native trees the better imo.

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TTigerLilyx t1_j6z3b7c wrote

Sure, decades ago for the paper industry. Problem is, they are pretty fragile, not meant to live long.

Im sure they are frantically working on the problem if slow growing trees. Heck, in my City, native Elm trees can grow several feet a year, but thats just tall, the trunks take awhile to catch up.

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SebRLuck t1_j6ulza1 wrote

The NYTimes just published an article on Baghdad losing a lot of green space due to a building boom, which is driving up temperatures in the city.

>Baghdad Loses Green Space to Real Estate Boom

>The problem is driving up temperatures in what is already one of the hottest cities in the world, where air-conditioning is a luxury only the rich can afford.

(The link I posted is without pay wall.)

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SocialMediaDystopian t1_j6upxmm wrote

This is so depressing ie that fact that in 2023 itxs "news" that trees are important to mocroclimates/human survival/life on the planet.

Like f-ken "DER".

Yes I get that it needs to be laid out in a paper to get anything done.

Yes I get that it's "good" to officially "know".

But...fuuuuuuuc.

We've known for decades that it would not lead to good things to not pay attention to this.

Now we're here frantucaly trying to patch things up from the wrong end of history and we have to watch the scientific equivalent of toddler level concepts being floated as "surprising and/or important".

Just....f-k.

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kerfitten1234 t1_j6v2m7y wrote

Did you even read the paper? What the paper authors did was take a real heatwave (August '15 I think), model what the cities temps would have been with 30% more trees(something that requires a decent understanding of the effect you claim is just being 'discovered' here), calculate new death tolls from that, then compare the new death tolls with the real death tolls.

Your annoyance is misplaced, scientists know that trees make cities better in many ways, which is why they are performing studies like this one, to convince policymakers and developers to consider the benefits.

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Kennyvee98 t1_j6w48bq wrote

No way,... Nature fixes urbanisation by being nature? Madness....

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turnipmeatloaf t1_j6wwmqw wrote

Eh I like using scientific evidence to prove hunches instead of just running policy based on “commons sense”

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Kennyvee98 t1_j6yw1uw wrote

Sir, we don't do that around here. This is reddit!

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thegreatgazoo t1_j6wui9a wrote

I live near Atlanta. It has been dubbed the "city in a forest", as there's about a 50% tree canopy.

Other than the pollen, people killed and power outages caused by falling trees, and dealing with loblolly pines (they are basically 80 ft/20 m tall weeds) they are great.

That said, it only works because Atlanta had mostly low density housing. For instance I have a suburban tract house with around 20 mature trees. As the housing density is bumping up, we are losing tree canopy.

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winterbird t1_j6vxoln wrote

Who knew that the plant life the earth grew was something it actually needed to successfully harbor life.

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realitysuperb t1_j6x9l2l wrote

Forest fire fuel though. Better make sure you keep a good fire break.

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