#pond is so excellent but i can't i watched 50 of them that's enough that's enough i have tears thinking about getting through 12 eps

[guzhufuren]

i don't have it in me for another thai university bl i can't do this i'm too old and have been in this for too long

[the-final-sif]

Hi! I'm going to block you after I offer this correction because you're clearly behaving maliciously, but for those curious as to how I could know that, let's take a quick look at how bad actors can try to smear any signs of progress.

Note how they highlight that part of the article that says "replaces"? I'll offer people the full quote for context,

The microalgae replace two 10-year-old trees or 200 square meters of lawn. The function of the LIQUID 3 is practically an imitation of it. Both trees and grass perform photosynthesis and bind carbon dioxide. However, the advantage of microalgae is that it is 10 to 50 times more efficient than trees. The team behind LIQUID 3 has stated that their goal is not to replace forests or tree planting plans but to use this system to fill those urban pockets where there is no space for planting trees. In conditions of intense pollution, such as Belgrade, many trees cannot survive, while algae do not have a problem with the great levels of pollution.

It's extremely clear to anyone who reads more than two sentences that the term "replace" in the first sentence is meant to mean "equivalent to".

You'll then notice that they get into a strawman argument. No one ever said that algae could do any of the things listed there, although, frankly, urban trees can't really do a lot of them either unless planted in a large quantity that's often impossible in dense urban areas. The Liquid 3 is specifically concerned with air quality. But they pretend that the goal is to somehow replace trees.

Then they get into an argument that boils down to "you have to maintain systems" something that the article also covers,

Dr. Ivan Spasojevic also explained that “the Institute used single-celled freshwater algae, which exist in ponds and lakes in Serbia and can grow in tap water, and are resistant to high and low temperatures. The system does not require special maintenance – it is enough to remove the biomass created by dividing algae, which can be used as an excellent fertilizer, in a month and a half, pour new water and minerals, and the algae continue to grow indefinitely. This project aims to popularize and expand the use of microalgae in Serbia, because they can be used in wastewater treatment, as compost for green areas, for the production of biomass and biofuels, as well as for air purification from exhaust gases from the factories”.

Pulling the biomass out is actually quite a quick project. It takes about an hour when it's not streamlined, there are ways it could be made faster. You can watch a video of it if you'd like, it's on their instagram.

Perhaps more importantly, urban trees take just as much if not more maintenance. In order to plant them in the first place, concrete would need to be dug out, soil needs to be trucked in, saplings need to be planted and that's just to get started. Trees then need to be pruned, they need to be checked for pests, they need to be inspected to make sure they don't intrude on sidewalks or roadways, fruits need to be cleaned up from female trees (male trees can worsen air quality with pollen release), dead trees have to be fully removed and replaced, etc. All of which costs money and can add up quickly. Urban trees already cost quite a bit to maintain. And that doesn't mean we shouldn't maintain them! But much in the same vein, the fact that Liquid 3 would require maintaining doesn't mean it's not a viable option. Nothing is free or comes without needing to maintain it. But the person above acts as if urban trees require no care.

Shutting down Belgrade's two in-city coal fired power plants and replacing them with a clean energy solution would help at once. Guess what? There isn't enough money for that, so you can imagine that there isn't enough money for a sufficient amount of tanks and their maintenance. This is palliative care at best - it doesn't cure the cause.

Now this is a truly wild sentence to behold. For those unaware, Belgrade/Serbia in general is currently very reliant on coal for power. It's a very cold country and they don't have a ton of alternatives. A somewhat bigger problem is that all of their coal plants are very old and thus less efficient and cause significantly more pollution.

The argument put forth here, is that because there isn't money to instantly shut down the coal plants in Belgrade and switch to some magic clean energy source that would just appear already set up, that means algae tanks must be impossible.

In reality, Belgrade and Serbia are taking a number of steps to transition to renewable energy where possible and to also improve their current coal plants to reduce pollution and improve efficiency. Since the 1990s, Serbia has managed to cut it's carbon emissions by about 25%, and they're actively investing billions into both renewable energy where possible and cleaning their current energy. In fact, they've committed to phasing coal out entirely by 2050.

But the fact is that these things more than anything take time. It doesn't matter how much money you throw at a problem, building a reliable renewable energy infrastructure doesn't happen over night.

And again, kids growing up now can't wait for 2030.

That's exactly what stop-gap measures can do. They can help in the here and now while the larger goals are worked on. That's what these tanks are meant to do.

Always be wary of people who kick their feet and demand that "if we can't fix everything right this instant then there's no point in even trying to do something about it". They aren't good faith actors. Efforts like what Dr. Ivan Spasojević are working on might not be a silver bullet that fixes every problem ever created, but they're little steps of progress. They're things that help out people in the here and now. They're chipping away at the massive undertaking of solving climate change.

Plus you get a really fucking cool city bench out of it.

And I'm pretty sure that's a hell of a lot more valuable then anything the person above has offered in the fight against climate change.